DENVILLE, N.J. (July 16, 2014) -  The matches are set for the semifinal round of the 97^th Met Junior Championship sponsored by MetLife at Rockaway River Country Club in Denville, N.J. Advancing to the semifinals are four of the Met Area’s top junior golfers, Matt Lowe of Farmingdale, N.Y., Dawson Jones of Howell, N.J., John VanDerLaan of Southbury, Conn., and Thomas LaMorte of Haworth, N.J.

Lowe, a co-medalist in the stroke-play portion, defeated Zach Egermayer of Glen Rock N.J., 4 & 2 in the Round of 16 and won 3 & 2 over James Nicholas of Scarsldale, N.Y., in the quarterfinals. Lowe won the 2010 MGA/MetLife Boys Championship, and recently finished tied for third at the Ike at Montclair last month. “I played smart shots and I’ve been focusing on eliminating three putts, which has been the biggest improvement in my game,” the 2014 LIGA Amateur winner said. 

Lowe will meet Dawson Jones in Thursday morning’s semifinal match. Jones, the 2014 Asbury Park Press Player of the Year, defeated Will Bernstein of New York, N.Y., 2 & 1 in the quarterfinals. Earlier this morning, he won his Round of 16 match 4 & 3 over Ethan Ng of New York, N.Y.

Jones, who prefers match play, credited his success today to his putting skills. “I made a lot of birdies with some good putts,” he said. He’s looking forward to the semifinals, stating that “once you get into match play, it’s all fun from there.”

John VanDerLaan, a regular player at Salem Golf Club, the 2012 CSGA Junior winner, beat the stroke-play co-medalist, Christopher Gabriele of Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., 3 & 2 in the quarterfinals to advance. VanDerLaan was never down in either of his matches today, getting off to early leads in both. “I made a good birdie on 2 [in the quarterfinal] and made a 15 footer there, after that they just kept falling in,” he said about his success on the course today.

VanDerLaan will play against Thomas LaMorte in the other semifinal match.  Last week LaMorte qualified for the U.S. Amateur and has brought that success with him to Rockaway River. He defeated Michael Graboyes of Watchung, N.J., 1 up  in the quarterfinal after beating good friend Erick Alonso of Haworth, N.J., in the Round of 16. 

LaMorte said that “it was an awesome experience today. Erick is one of my good friends and he’s had my number in match play the last couple of years.” LaMorte took the lead on the back nine, but Alonso pushed the match to the 17^th hole. LaMorte then made a birdie to win the match.

VanDerLaan and LaMorte have played against each other before, meeting during an AJGA event. “He’s a really good putter,” LaMorte said about his opponent. “I’m looking forward to playing with him tomorrow.”

The semifinal matches begin at 7:30 a.m. Thursday morning. The two players to advance will duel it out in the final match tomorrow afternoon.  The MGA will be providing live scoring throughout all of the matches tomorrow.