ELMSFORD, N.Y. (August 16, 2013) - The MGA’s premier event takes place August 20-22 as 146 of the Met Area’s most accomplished professional and amateur golfers convene at Old Westbury Golf & Country Club in Old Westbury, N.Y., to compete in the 98th Met Open Championship presented by MetLife.  Players will compete over three days in a 54-hole, stroke play competition for a share of the $125,000 purse and a chance to have their name engraved on the Walter L. Trammel Trophy alongside some of the game’s greatest players.

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The Open returns to Old Westbury for the third time and the first since 2005, when John Stoltz of Concord Monster became just the seventh amateur to ever win (he’s also the last player to do so). The championship will be contested on the challenging Overlook and Woods nines and will be played to a par 71 of 6,978 yards.

Headlining the field in one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious regional open championships are 18 past champions, including Danny Balin of Burning Tree, who will return to defend the title he captured by one stroke at Plainfield in 2012.  Balin, who recently played in his fourth straight PGA Championship, is coming into the event in top form, having recently defended his title at the NYS Open.

A strong contingent of other past champions are also in the field, including 2011 champ Tyler Hall of Packanack, Bob Rittberger of Garden City Golf (’10), Andrew Giuliani of Trump National – Westchester (’09), Frank Bensel of Century (’07), John Guyton of Metropolis (’06), Jim McGovern of White Beeches (’87), Mike Diffley of Pelham (’91), Mike Burke of Montammy (’97), Mark Brown of Tam O’Shanter (’99), and Mike Gilmore of Winged Foot (’00). Rounding out the past champions are two-time winners Mark Mielke of Mill River (’08, ’92), Bobby Heins of Old Oaks (’88, ’89), and Bruce Zabriski of Westchester (’93, ’96).  Darrell Kestner of Deepdale is the only three-time winner (’82,’83,’95) in the field and is still among the Met Area’s top competitors.

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Expect many accomplished players to challenge the title holders, including Rob Labritz of GlenArbor and Matthew Dobyns of Fresh Meadow. Labritz, fresh off his 2013 PGA Championship appearance, won the 2013 PGA Head Professional Championship, the 2012 & 2013 Met PGA Professional Championships, and is a two-time N.Y. State Open winner. Dobyns won this year’s Long Island Open Championship at his home club and won the 2012 PGA Professional National Championship by a record margin of victory.  Other pros to watch are three-time MGA major winner Tommy McDonagh of Shorehaven, who joined the professional ranks last summer, and host head professional Mike Meehan, who won the Long Island Open in ’08, ’09, and ’12.       

Amateurs are always a major story in the Open, as they were last year at Plainfield. St. John’s senior and 2012 Met Amateur champ Ryan McCormick of Suburban and 16-year-old Met Junior winner Cameron Young of Sleepy Hollow were paired together in the final group and McCormick was able to hang on for a T2 finish. Stanford senior Cameron Wilson of Shorehaven returns to the Met Open where he finished as the youngest low amateur its history in 2008.  The 2009 MGA Player of the Year and seven-time MGA champion (including the last two Ikes), qualified for the 2013 U.S. Amateur and finished runner-up in this year’s Westchester Open.

Reigning two-time MGA Player of the Year Mike Miller of Knollwood is also in top form and was just one of three players (out of 312) to record two under-par rounds in U.S. Amateur stroke play qualifying at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., (he lost in the Round of 64).  2013 Met Amateur champion Pat Wilson of Panther Valley, 2013 Westchester Open and Amateur winner Colin McDade of Winged Foot, 2013 NYC Amateur champion and Ike runner-up Max Buckley of Westchester, and former U.S. Junior winner Jim Liu of Stonebridge are all strong amateurs that will be vying for the title.  McCormick, Wilson, and Miller are paired together on Tuesday and Wednesday and are certainly one of the featured groups to watch.

With undulating greens, penalizing rough just off the fairways, and a variety of hole designs, Old Westbury will pose a great test for all players. The winner on Thursday will take home $27,500 from the $125,000 purse and will join a place alongside the likes of past legends Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, Claude Harmon, and Tommy Armour as Met Open champions.

Live nine-hole scoring will be provided for the first and second rounds of the championship, with hole-by-hole scoring for the last 10-15 groups on Thursday. Check www.mgagolf.org and My MGA mobile app for complete coverage all week long. The MGA/MetLife Caddie Scholarship Pro-Am will precede the championship on Monday and will benefit the caddie scholarship funds of the Long Island, New Jersey and Westchester Golf Associations and the WMGA Foundation.

-       David Gordon, MGA Communications Intern