ELMSFORD, N.Y.-The Metropolitan Golf Association is pleased to announce its tournament line up for 2003.  In line with tradition, many of this year’s championships will be played over nationally ranked courses at some of the most prestigious clubs in the country.

 

In all, the MGA will conduct a total of 18 championships during the season, as well as 30 qualifying rounds for MGA tournaments and 14 qualifying rounds for USGA championships.  In addition, the MGA will field a team that will compete against a team representing the Golfing Union of Ireland in the biannual Carey Cup.

 

Two of the season’s three majors will be played in New Jersey - the Met Amateur at Somerset Hills Country Club in Bernardsville and the Met Open at Metedeconk National Golf Club in Jackson.  The “Ike”, the season’s first major, and sponsored by Canon USA, will be held in Jericho, on Long Island at The Meadow Brook Club.

 

The MGA welcomes MetLife for the 23^rd consecutive year as sponsor of eight MGA championships and our Calendar of Competitions.  With the continued support of MetLife, the MGA is able to conduct the premier schedule of championships in the country.  The MGA will also welcome Canon USA as a first time sponsor of the Ike and the MGA Senior Open.

 

A complete rundown of the schedule is as follows:

 

MAY

Senior golfers (55 & older) will kick off the season with the two-day Senior Amateur Championship, which will be played at Arcola Country Club in Paramus, NJ, on May 5-6.  The Senior and Pre-Senior (Net) Tournament (50 & older) will follow a week later, on May 13 at Colonia (NJ) Country Club.

 

JUNE

After a six-week hiatus, the schedule resumes on June 24 with the “U.S. Open for the Average Golfer,” the popular MGA/MetLife Men’s Net Team Championship, played this year at the Rock Spring Club in West Orange, NJ.  This will be followed on June 30 by the Father & Son (Net) Tournament at the Huntington Country Club, which has recently undergone a remarkable renovation/restoration. 

 

June will conclude with The “Ike”, the MGA’s Stroke Play Championship, at The Meadow Brook Club. Meadow Brook’s history is as much about polo and hunting as it is golf, yet it produced the first Met Amateur champion, H.M. Harriman, in 1899. The first 18 holes will be played on Monday, June 30, and the final 36 holes on July 1, determining the individual and team champions.  Veterans George Zahringer III, the 2002 U.S. Mid Amateur Champion, and Jerry Courville, Jr., the 2002 MGA Player of the Year, will be on-hand attempting to add another major MGA title to their laurels.  Between them, they hold a combined thirteen MGA Player of the Year titles. 

 

JULY

The first week of July includes the Women’s Public Links Championship, conducted jointly with the WMGA, and held at the challenging Red Course at Bethpage, a second Tillinghast gem adjacent to the fabled Black Course.  The following week, on July 9, the male publinxers will take the stage in the MGA/MetLife Public Links Championship, which will be contested at the sparkling new 36-hole Charleston Springs complex in Englishtown, NJ.

 

The juniors will be in the spotlight during the week of July 14-17, when the MGA Junior Championship will take place.  This year’s eligibility requirement will change to include 18-year-olds who have not yet started attending college courses by August 6th 2003. The nation’s oldest junior championship, which is contested over three days, will be preceded by the MGA/MetLife Pro-Junior Tournament.  The championship will be played at the historic Apawamis Club, which will be hosting the MGA Junior for the 6th time.

 

AUGUST

August, traditionally the most significant month of the season, begins with the Met Amateur Championship, which held its 100th renewal last season.  This year’s venue will be Somerset Hills CC, one of New Jersey’s most prestigious clubs whose course often appears in the “Top 100” lists published biannually by leading golf magazines.  The 36-hole qualifying round will be held on Thursday, July 31, reducing the field to the 16 qualifiers who will compete at match-play over the next three days and culminates with a 36-hole championship match on Sunday, August 3. 

 

The juniors will return on August 6th to compete for the inaugural “Carter Cup” - MGA Junior Stroke Play Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, NJ.  This new invitational event, named in honor of Michael P. Carter whose life was tragically cut short in a fatal automobile accident last year, is sure to become one of the country’s most prestigious junior events.  The leading father-son teams will compete the following week, on August 11th, at Wee Burn Country Club in Darien, CT, for the MGA Father & Son (Gross) Championship 

 

The MGA/MetLife Boys Championship (not yet 16 years of age) will return to the Gardiner’s Bay Country Club on Shelter Island on August 14-15 for the 7th time.  The MGA Mixed Pinehurst will follow on August 18th at Metropolis Country Club in White Plains, NY.

 

The season’s final major, the Met Open, will be played for the first time at challenging Metedeconk National, in Jackson, NJ, which opened in 1987.  Metedeconk’s first and third nines will be used for the championship, played August 26-28, and all three championship nines will be used for the MGA/MetLife Caddie Scholarship Pro-Am preceding the championship on August 25th.  The players will compete for a purse of $125,000, and it is hoped that Johnson Wagner will be on hand to attempt to become the first since Walter Hagen in 1920 to win three consecutive Met Open titles.   

 

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER

The 2003 season will conclude with two championships after Labor Day, before the Carey Cup Matches.  The MGA Senior Open, sponsored by Canon USA, will be played on September 10-11 at the beautiful Preakness Hills Country Club in Wayne, NJ, and the MGA/MetLife Women’s Net Team Championship will follow on October 1 at the Silver Spring Country Club in Ridgefield, CT.

 

In October, the Golfing Union of Ireland and the MGA will resume their biannual rivalry with the 7th playing of the Governor Hugh L. Carey Challenge Cup Matches.  Eight-man teams from both Associations will meet on home soil this year at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, NY on October 7 and 8.  The event is preceded by an Am-Am competition on Thursday, October 2nd.

 

In addition to these MGA events, the Association will again conduct the local and sectional qualifying rounds for many USGA national championships. For more information on 2003 Tournament Schedule or other MGA events, please contact Hugh Smith or Tara Casey of the MGA Tournament Department at Golf Central – (914) 347-4653 or visit our website www.mgagolf.org.