September 22, 2009 - Defending champion Greg Rohlf of Winged Foot leads an outstanding field of 35-and-older amateurs in the 3rd MGA Mid-Amateur Championship, to be held September 29 and 30 at The Creek Club in Locust Valley, N.Y.

This will be the first visit to Long Island for the MGA Mid-Amateur, which in just its third year of existence has become one of the most highly anticipated events on the Met Area golf calendar. A field of 86 of the best mid-amateurs from across the Met Area will compete in this year’s championship over 36 holes of stroke play.

In last year’s MGA Mid-Amateur at Bayonne Golf Club, Rohlf won a four-man, sudden-death playoff with a dramatic birdie putt on the second playoff hole, adding the Mid-Am to his three previous MGA major titles (the 2007 & 1999 Met Amateur and the 1998 Ike). All three of the other members of that playoff return to compete again this year: former Met Amateur champion Michael Stamberger of Spring Lake, Alan Specht of Wheatley Hills, and John Ervasti of Sleepy Hollow, the runner-up to Cameron Wilson in this year’s Met Amateur at Hackensack Golf Club.

As in the first two editions of the MGA Mid-Am, the field is exceptionally deep and talented. The winner of the inaugural MGA Mid-Am in 2007, Mike Reardon of Tuxedo, will try and contend yet again, as will Ken Bakst of Friar’s Head, who finished fifth in last year’s Mid-Am and captured the 2009 Hochster Memorial at Quaker Ridge Golf Club. Another player coming into the championship on a roll is Ed Gibstein of Engineers, who claimed low amateur honors at the MGA Senior Open at Woodmere earlier this month. Gibstein also finished in the top 10 in each of the first two MGA Mid-Amateurs.

The Creek is one of the most historic and beloved courses in the Met Area. The 6,402-yard, par-70 layout was designed in 1922 by C.B. Macdonald and built by Macdonald’s protégé, Seth Raynor, on a scenic hillside overlooking Long Island Sound. Two players who will bring good memories of The Creek into this year’s championship are Ron Vannelli of Metuchen and Patrick Pierson of Minisceongo, who battled in the final match of the 2005 Met Amateur here, won by Vannelli.   

Vannelli is just one of a number of seniors who can hold their own with the younger members of the field. The 2009 MGA Senior Amateur champion, Al Small of Fairmount, is having one of his best seasons ever, which included winning the New Jersey Senior Amatuer and advancing to the second round of match play at the 2009 U.S. Senior Amateur in Chicago. Other top seniors in the field include Small’s fellow U.S. Senior Amateur contestants, Jay Blumenfeld of Mountain Ridge and Tom Yellin of Stanwich.    

The Mid-Amateur made its debut in 2007 as the first new MGA championship since the Carter Cup in 2003. The tournament’s permanent trophy, the Westmoreland Cup, is named after longtime MGA Tournament Director Gene Westmoreland, who piloted the MGA tournament department for nearly 30 years prior to his 2008 retirement. The Mid-Amateur is the MGA’s final individual event of the season. After Tuesday’s first round, the starting field of 84 will be cut to the low 40 players and ties, who will advance to the second round.

Scoring updates will be available on www.mgagolf.org, including live scoring for the final groups during Wednesday’s second round.