Young, Waugh Cruise Into Sweet 16 at Met Junior
GREENWICH, CONN. (July 16, 2013) – It took 2011 MGA Carter Cup champion and top seed Cameron Young of Scarborough, N.Y. just 26 holes to make his way into the final 16 at Fairview Country Club in Greenwich, Conn. in the 96th Met Junior sponsored by MetLife. The 16-year-old who's returning to form after an early season shoulder injury cruised to a 7 and 5 victory in both matches over Sean William Copeland of New Paltz, N.Y. and Bradley Lankler of Westfield, N.J. He and 15 others will continue their quest on Wednesday, as the Round of 16 and quarterfinals will be held.
Clancy Waugh of Quogue, N.Y., a member of the winning 2012 Williamson Cup along with Young, also moved on to the third round in convincing fashion with a 4 and 3 over Chris Gay of Bronxville, N.Y. in his first match and 7 and 6 over Johnathan Granville of Garden City, N.Y. in his second. Waugh will take on Ryan Rodriguez of Highland Mills, N.Y.
Last year's Met Junior runner-up Will Bernstein of New York, N.Y. won his morning match with ease over Garrett Weir of Irvington, N.Y., but needed a late birdie on 16 to go 1 up in a victory over strong opponent Daniel Eidman of Englewood, N.J. Bernstein will play Brent A. Ito of Ardsley, N.Y. on Wednesday.
The Met Junior Sponsored by MetLife, the nation's oldest junior championship, has a long history of having a highly competitive field, and the championship records are scattered with big names in both national and regional golf circles. From a starting field of 64, the field gets narrowed down in 18-hole matches for the three day event. The field is composed of juniors who have not yet turned 19 and who have not yet started college.
Brothers Ethan and Jeremy Wall of Brielle, N.J. will both be moving on to round three. Ethan took down Matthew Sweeney of Floral Park, N.Y. in the morning and Nicholas Rencis of Long Valley, N.J. in the afternoon. Jeremy, a semifinalist last year, defeated Sam Ignatuk of Denville, N.J. and Kieran Purcell of Nutley, N.J.
Ethan will face off against James Nicholas of Scarsdale, N.Y. Nicholas dominated his morning match 5 and 4 over James Corrigan of Irvington, N.Y. but his afternoon match took 20 holes and he won with a birdie on the par-5 2nd hole in sudden death over Ryan Rose of Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J. Jeremy will play former MGA Boys champion Mark Reilly of Babylon, N.Y. Reilly defeated Andrew Louis Sciarretta of Wilton, Conn. in 20 holes in the morning and then took down Mark Bugniazet of Harrison, N.Y. 2 and 1 in the afternoon.
Also with a strong showing Tuesday was defending Boys Champion Willis Huynh of Syosset, N.Y. who won his matches 5 and 3 over Addison Cilmi of Waccabuc, N.Y. and 4 and 2 Christopher Troy of Greenwich, Conn. He will take on Ethan DeForest of Cottekill, N.Y. tomorrow.
Fresh off of his MGA/MetLife Public Links victory, Jacob Henny of Norwalk, Conn. will be playing in round three after wins over Robert Beers of Ramsey, N.J. and Michael Savitt of Greenwich, Conn. Henny will face hometown caddie Paul Pastore of Greenwich, Conn. who used his Fairview course knowledge to his advantage.
Paolo Matti of Union, N.J. gets the challenge of beating Cam Young tomorrow. Matti had the biggest victory of the day with an 8 and 6 win over Sean Ginley of Warwick, N.Y.
The final two to move on to round three and will face off tomorrow are last year's MGA Boys runner-up Vincent Palazzolo of Colts Neck, N.J. and Bear Carlson of Katonah, N.Y.
Live scoring will be provided for all the day's matches on Wednesday. For full coverage, visit mgagolf.org
- By Chris Powers, MGA Communications Intern