Brooklawn, Friar's Head, Arcola Highlight '23 MGA Schedule
The par-3 10th at Friar's Head.
UPDATE: (March 1, 2023) -- Championship registration is now open for the 2023 season, once again taking place through GolfGenius.
ELMSFORD, N.Y. (February 3, 2023) – The Metropolitan Golf Association has released its 2023 schedule, announcing the lineup with its MGA Championship Preview Show Presented by Dewar’s. Jack Milewski and Director of Championships Chris Gaffney revealed the lineup and broke down some of the biggest championships, including the 68th Ike at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn., the 121st Met Amateur at Friar’s Head in Riverhead, N.Y., and the 108th Met Open Championship Presented by Callaway at Arcola Country Club in Paramus, N.J.
Brooklawn, which has hosted five USGA championships including the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open, will help crown an MGA champion for the sixth time as it welcomes the 68th Ike MGA Stroke Play Championship, June 26-27. The famed A.W. Tillinghast layout last hosted the 2016 Lexus MGA Senior Open won by Jim McGovern and will be welcoming its first MGA major since the 1919 Met Amateur.
The 121st Met Amateur Championship will take place August 3-6 at Friar’s Head for the second time after the incredible Coore & Crenshaw layout along the Long Island Sound made its debut on the MGA slate with the same event in 2008. The course sprawls over former farmland and among awe-striking sand dunes—all factors that placed Friar’s Head ranked No. 15 in GOLF’s 2022-23 Top 100 Courses in the U.S. There’s no doubt many Met Area players will make it a season goal to compete in the MGA’s oldest championships on one of the country’s greatest courses.
The season’s final major, the 108th Met Open Championship Presented by Callaway, will take place for the first time at Arcola Country Club, August 22-24. The club deservingly jumped on the national stage in 2022 as stroke-play co-host of the U.S. Amateur Championship yet is looking forward to its opportunity to host the Met Area’s top professionals and amateurs in 2023.
“As a club, you know you’ve arrived when you host an event like this,” said Arcola Director of Grounds Paul Dotti on the Championship Preview Show. “This is going to be the biggest event we’ll host as a club in our history.”
Arcola had previously welcomed five MGA Senior Amateur championships before hosting the Met Amateur and Carey Cup in 2018 and 2019.
Related: 2023 MGA Schedule
The season begins on May 9 with the 30th MGA Senior Net Four-Ball Tournament at Hollow Brook Golf Club in Cortlandt Manor, N.Y., before the first individual title of the season is contested May 15-16 with the 96th MGA Senior Amateur Championship at Baiting Hollow Club in Baiting Hollow, N.Y. There, reigning champion Dennis Lynch will aim to defend both his title and his home club.
The early portion of the season also includes a pair of exciting opportunities for women competitors with the 25th MGA/WMGA Women’s Public Links Championship on May 24 at Sterling Farms Golf Course and the WMGA/MGA Women’s Met Amateur Championship on June 13 at Essex County Country Club in West Orange, N.J. Essex County stands among the best layouts in the Garden State, with its challenging inward nine especially gaining high praise.
Another early season highlight will come at Bethpage State Park for the 75th MGA Public Links Championship, as the Red Course hosts the 36-hole event on June 22.
Juniors will once again be treated to an outstanding trio of events. The 106th Met Junior Championship Sponsored by MetLife heads to Echo Lake Country Club in Westfield, N.J., for the first time, while the 55th MGA/MetLife Boys’ Championship returns to Gardiner’s Bay Country Club on Shelter Island. Juniors will also aim to earn a coveted invitation to the 22nd MGA Carter Cup, held August 1 over both the Upper and Lower courses at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J.
The 27th Lexus MGA Senior Open will head to Plainfield Country Club in Edison, N.J., August 28-29, while the 12th MGA Senior Masters Tournament goes to North Jersey Country Club in Wayne, N.J., to experience an outstanding restoration of the classic Walter Travis layout.
Another exciting reveal on the Championship Preview Show was that of Country Club of Fairfield hosting the 17th MGA Mid-Amateur Championship, October 3-4. The idyllic Fairfield, Conn., layout nestled along the Long Island Sound will host its fifth MGA championship overall, its first since the thrilling 2016 Met Amateur when it took Stewart Hagestad 38 holes to defeat Ethan Ng in the championship match.
Fun team events on the calendar include the 59th MGA/WMGA Mixed Pinehurst on July 18 at Watchung Valley Golf Club in Watchung, N.J., plus the 73rd MGA Father & Son Championship, 3rd MGA Parent-Child Championship and Men’s and Women’s Four-Ball championships, for which details are to be announced for each.
Late-season highlights include the second year of The Farrell at The Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Conn., September 29 – October 1; the Lexus MGA Long Drive Championship on October 7 at the Polo Grounds of Bethpage State Park; and the Governor Hugh L. Carey Challenge Cup, in which Team MGA will square off against Golf Ireland at Winged Foot Golf Club, October 19-20.
Championship registration will open on Wednesday, March 1 at 10 a.m., once again taking place through the GolfGenius platform.