Eight advance to quarterfinals at 99th Met Junior sponsored by MetLife
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (July 13, 2016) – The Round of 16 is complete at the 99th Met Junior Championship sponsored by MetLife, as eight juniors have advanced to the semifinals, which are already underway this afternoon. Players were seeded based on their 36-hole stroke play finishes on Tuesday.
Stroke-play medalist Christian Cavaliere of Katonah, N.Y., endured a challenging match against his high school teammate Nathan Han of Somers, N.Y., claiming a 1-up victory with a par on the 18th hole. The duo combined for eight birdies in the lead match, with two halves coming with birdie. Cavaliere faced a one-hole deficit on the 17th, but claimed wins on the final two holes for the 1-up victory.
Ben Pirro of Bayport, N.Y., also claimed a come-from-behind 1-up victory, winning each of the last three holes with par for the win over Justin Lane of Woodstock, N.Y. Pirro faced a three-hole deficit through 12 holes, but a par on the par-4 13th began his comeback run to help him advance to the quarterfinals.
John Felitto of Mountainside, N.J., was yet another competitor to make a comeback to keep his title chances alive, winning the last two holes for a 1-up victory over Stephen Sul of Old Bridge, N.J. While Felitto won the first hole with a birdie, Sul owned a one-hole lead for the majority of the match, but a Felitto birdie on the 17th moved the match to the final hole, where a bogey for Felitto was good enough to advance.
Ethan Ng of New York City and Connor Daly of Bronxville, N.Y., had strong performances, winning by 5&4 margins over Johnny Anthony Bush of Cranford, N.J., and reigning champion James McHugh of Rye, N.Y., respectively. Christian Oakley of Southampton, N.Y., also notched an impressive win, defeating Justin Clark of New Canaan, Conn., by a 5&3 margin.
Max Theodorakis of Danbury, Conn., who matched the low round in stroke play qualifying on Tuesday with a 3-under 68, trailed for just one hole en route to his 2&1 victory over William Rand of New York City. Rand won both the 10th and 11th, but Theodorakis came back with wins on 12 and 13, never trailing again.
Live hole-by-hole scoring is available for all four of the afternoon matches. Play is scheduled to conclude on Thursday with both the semifinal and final matches.
