ELMSFORD, N.Y.--The Metropolitan Golf Association is proud to announce that George Zahringer III of Deepdale Golf Club in Manhasset, NY, and The Stanwich Club in Greenwich, CT, will receive the 2001 MGA Jerry Courville, Sr. Player of the Year Award at the Association’s 104th Annual Meeting on December 5th at the Westchester Country Club in Harrison, NY.

 

This will mark a record ninth time, dating back to 1979 and most recently in 1992, that Zahringer will be the recipient of this award, which was renamed in 1995 to honor the memory of Jerry Courville, Sr., who won more MGA titles than any other player in the Association’s history.  At 48, Zahringer is the oldest recipient of the award.

                                                                                                                       

The Award is presented annually to a Met Area amateur who compiles the most outstanding playing record based on a system in which players earn points for strong finishes in designated local, national and international championships.

                                                                                                                       

During his 2001 campaign, Zahringer earned 1150 points, more than 300 points better than runner-up, Jerry Courville, Jr. of Shorehaven Golf Club in East Norwalk, CT, the 1999 & 2000 winner, and 450 points ahead of young Johnson Wagner of Garrison Golf Club, who became the first player since Zahringer in 1985 to win the Met Amateur and Met Open titles in the same season (but did not play in enough events to qualify for the Honor Roll).

           

Zahringer began the year by reaching the finals of the Travis Memorial at Garden City Golf Club in mid-May, then went on to win the Hochster Memorial at Quaker Ridge in mid-June.  Well tuned, Zahringer headed to the Ike Championship at Greenwich’s Fairview Country Club - the MGA's stroke play championship and first major of the year.  There, he closed with a rush, firing a final-round 67 that propelled him to a two-stroke victory over second-round leader Andrew Svoboda of Winged Foot, and into a commanding lead in the MGA Player of the Year standings.

 

As the summer months heated up, so too did 21-year-old Johnson Wagner of Garrison, whose victories in the Met Amateur and Met Open gave him a narrow lead over Zahringer and Courville.  Zahringer reached the quarterfinals of the Met Amateur, losing to Courville who avenged his playoff loss to Zahringer at the Hochster.  Zahringer then finished tied for second place at Fenway’s Mittelmark Invitational and fourth in the New York State Mid-Amateur Championship to narrow the gap, and set up his late-season rush.

 

Zahringer surged to the lead with victories in the Boff Invitational at Shackamaxon Golf & Country Club and the Nassau Invitational at Nassau Country Club, and with Wagner back in college, Courville emerged as his closest challenger.  With the season’s honors resting on the outcome of the US Mid-Amateur Championship, Zahringer came up with the most impressive performance of his career in a national event, reaching the finals, and taking that match to the 36^th green before succumbing, narrowly missing becoming the fourth Met Area representative to win that title in the last decade.

           

Rounding out this year's Honor Roll were Courville, a four-time recipient who reached the semi-finals in the Met Amateur and finished second in the Hochster to finish second overall; Mark Farrell of H.S. Richardson, the Connecticut Amateur champion; Al Falussy of Indian Hills, the Long Island Amateur and Stroke Player winner; Andrew Svoboda of Winged Foot, second in the Ike and winner of the Mittelmark, rounded out the top five.  Completing the list were Martin Catalioto of Bergen Community, the MGA Public Links champ who also finished fourth in the Ike, Austin Eaton of Sterling Farms, who finished the season strong with seconds in the Boff and Mittelmark; Adam Fuchs of Hamlet Windwatch, a semi-finalist in the US Public Links, Allan Small of Fairmount, who was fifth in the Ike, and Jon Doppelt of Fresh Meadow, who reached the quarter-finals on four different occasions, including the Met Amateur.           

 

Other items of business at the Association’s Annual Meeting will include the election of officers and the presentation of the Association’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award. 

 

For more information, please visit the MGA's website at www.mgagolf.org or contact Richard J. Cerame of the MGA at (914) 347-4653.