ELMSFORD, N.Y. (March 25, 2010) – Two Met Area golfers have the chance of a lifetime to play in the 2010 Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge at Pebble Beach. The Golf Digest Challenge offers the opportunity for an “average golfer” to join three celebrities for a round of golf at Pebble Beach under U.S. Open conditions. The group, accompanied by a USGA Rules Official, will play in front of a gallery and NBC Sports will film the round and air it as the lead-in to final-round coverage of the U.S. Open on Sunday, June 20. This year’s celebrity players are Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees, hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and actor Mark Wahlberg.

For the first time in the event’s history a woman was named as a finalist for the U.S. Open Challenge. Met Area resident Margaret “Peg” Ference, of Skillman, N.J., plays out of Cherry Valley Country Club, and has a 4.1 Handicap Index. Ference is an active player in Women’s Metropolitan Golf Association championships and her highlights include a hole in one during one of the association’s competitions in 2009. Golf Digest had the following to say about Peg: “When this recession cost Peg her job in biotech sales and marketing leadership two years ago, she did what every avid golfer would love to do: She got serious about her game. When she wasn't interviewing for a job, Ference was on the range with an assistant pro or on the course lowering her handicap. Soon she was a 4-handicapper and winning the women's club championship at Cherry Valley Country Club in New Jersey. Now she'd like to be the first average American golfer to break 100 in the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge and find out just how good she can be.”

Joining Ference as one of the five finalists is fellow Garden State-resident Scott Fahrney of Wayne, N.J. Farhney plays to a 6.2 out of Passaic County Golf Course. Golf Digest described Fahrney’s application for the contest with: “Fahrney’s dad taught him how to play, was his only golf coach, and until a few years ago was his favorite playing partner. But after Scott graduated from law school, got married and headed off to New Jersey to practice law, father and son grew apart. Fahrney hopes playing in the Challenge at Pebble Beach, with his dad at his side, will begin the healing of their fractured relationship. ‘I haven't played with my dad in two years, and we used to be able to talk about anything on the course,’ Scott wrote. ‘A round of golf at Pebble with him as my caddie could allow us to become father and son once again.’”

Voting opens March 31 and lasts until April 30. To vote, visit www.gdopencontest.com.
 

About the MGA: The Metropolitan Golf Association was founded in 1897 and is one of the nation’s oldest and largest amateur golf associations representing more than 500 clubs in the tri-state Metropolitan Area. Through a network of more than 300 volunteers, and a full-time staff operating out of its “Golf Central” headquarters in Elmsford, N.Y., the Association fulfills its role as a true non-profit service organization. Through a variety of unique, relevant, and innovative services for member clubs and area golfers, the MGA has established itself as a leader among local and national golf organizations.