ELMSFORD, N.Y. (July 10, 2015) – The nation’s oldest junior championship, the Met Junior Sponsored by MetLife, heads to Paramount  Country Club in New City, N.Y., on July 14-16. A field of 67 of the Met Area’s best juniors will compete for one of the most important junior titles in the area.

Related: Pairings and Starting Times | Met Junior History | Met Junior Records

One of the top names headlining the field of players age 18 and under is James Nicholas, the junior standout from Scarsdale, N.Y. In May, Nicholas, 18,  earned a state title when he won the New York State High School Boys Championship by one stroke. He finished in the top-10 at the Hochster Memorial, and looks to claim his first MGA title before heading to Yale this fall where he will play football in addition to golf.

Two past MGA/MetLife Boys champions are competing for another trophy: the reigning champion Brent Ito of Ardsley, N.Y., and Ryan Rodriguez of Highland Mills, N.Y., the 2013 winner, will challenge the field. Rodriguez, 17, won the New York Section 9 championship this May and Ito, 16, recorded a top-20 finish after making the cut at the Ike Championship at Friar’s Head.

Jack Wall of Brielle, N.J., is competing in his first Met Junior after watching older brothers Jeremy and Ethan compete in the event for years. The 14-year-old is one of the youngest in the field, along with Nathan Han of Somers, N.Y. Han made it to the quarterfinals at the 2014 MGA/MetLife Boys Championship and earlier this month captured the boys division of the Metropolitan Junior PGA Championship. That win earned Han a trip to the Junior PGA Championship in Texas next month.

Other players to watch in the Met Junior Sponsored by MetLife include the 2014 runner-up, Christopher Gotterup of Little Silver, N.J., and Ethan Ng of New York, N.Y., a quarterfinalist last year who just qualified for the 2015 U.S. Junior Amateur.  Bear Carlson of Katonah, N.Y., who had a second place finish with his father in the MGA/MetLife Men’s Four-Ball on July 7 and James McHugh of Rye, N.Y., another top-20 finisher in the Ike, are expected to be top contenders as well.

The Met Junior Championship Sponsored by MetLife is conducted by the MGA Foundation with the support of MetLife and was first played in 1912. Over the years the event has produced a number of winners who have gone on to outstanding achievements on both the regional and national levels. Past winners of the Mandeville Trophy include Butch and Bill Harmon, Marc Turnesa, Andrew Svoboda, Mike Miller, David Pastore and Cameron Young.

The MGA conducted four sectional qualifying rounds throughout the Met Area to determine the final field of 67 players who will compete at Paramount. The juniors will play in 36-hole of on-site stroke play qualifying on Tuesday, July 14 to determine the low 16 scorers who will advance to match play for the remainder of the event. The Round of 16 and Quarterfinal matches will be played on Wednesday the 15^th, followed by the Semifinal and Final on Thursday, July 16.

Paramount Country Club’s Tillinghast designed course will be the perfect challenge for the area’s best juniors. This is the first MGA championship played on the course – it has previously hosted qualifying rounds for the Met Open, Met Amateur, and the Ike, as well as local qualifying rounds for the U.S. Open and a sectional for the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball.

The championship is open to juniors who have not started attending college, are not yet 19 by July 29 and who reside in the MGA territory. Players who advance to match play receive an invitation to the Carter Cup, the MGA’s Junior Stroke Play event, at Baltusrol Golf Club on July 19.

The MGA will provide 9 and 18 hole scoring for the stroke-play qualifying, followed by live hole-by-hole scoring of each match.