ELMSFORD, N.Y. (August 18, 2011) - The Met Open Championship sponsored by MetLife is the largest and most prestigious championship on the MGA calendar, and is the third-oldest open championship in the country. While it always draws an outstanding field of professionals and amateurs, the 96th playing, set for Tuesday, August 23 through Thursday, August 25 at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Scarborough, N.Y., boasts the finest collection of talent in recent memory, with several players who have made an impact on a national scale.

   The professionals will be playing for a $150,000 purse—the largest in the Met Area—of which $27,500 goes to the winner. The 54-hole stroke play championship, which includes a cut after 36 holes to the low 60 and ties, begins with a 144-man field that includes 15 past Met Open champions and more than a dozen other players who account for 30 career MGA championship titles. The top contenders in the past Met Open champion category include:

   • Bob Rittberger, the defending champion, of Garden City Golf Club in Garden City, N.Y. Rittberger captured the Met Open last year in a three-hole aggregate playoff over Danny Balin at Bethpage Black.

   • Frank Bensel (2007) of Century Country Club in Purchase, N.Y. Bensel is coming off a win in the 2011 Connecticut Open in July and also has the 2005 New York State Open along with multiple Met PGA and WGA titles to his credit.

   • Jim McGovern (1987) of White Beeches Golf & Country Club in Haworth, N.J. McGovern enjoyed a successful 22-year Tour career that included a PGA Tour win at the 1993 Shell Houston Open and three victories on the Ben Hogan (now Nationwide) Tour.

   • Andrew Giuliani (2009) of Trump National-Westchester in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. Giuliani also won the 2005 Ike Championship and the 2007 Hochster Memorial as an amateur, and this year Monday-qualified for a Nationwide Tour event in Athens, Georgia.

   • Darrell Kestner (1982, ’83, & ’95) of Deepdale Golf Club in Manhasset, N.Y. Three-time champion Kestner’s recent wins include the 2010 Met PGA Senior Match Play Championship. He has eight U.S. Open and nine PGA Championship appearances in his career.

   • Mark Mielke (1992 & 2008) of the Mill River Club in Oyster Bay, N.Y. Mielke set the record for longest amount of time between first and second Met Open wins, and won the 2011 MasterCard Long Island PGA Championship.

   Other past Met Open champions in the field are Mark Brown (1999) of the Tam O’ Shanter Club in Glen Head, N.Y.; John Guyton (2006) of Trump National-Washington, D.C., in Potomac Falls, Va.; Mike Burke Jr. (1997) of Montammy Country Club in Alpine, N.J.; Mike Diffley (1991) of Pelham Country Club in Pelham Manor, N.Y.; Mike Gilmore (2000) of Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y.; Bobby Heins (1988 & ’89) of Old Oaks Country Club in Purchase, N.Y.; John Stoltz (2005) of Concord Resort & Golf Club in Kiamesha Lake, N.Y.; and amateur George Zahringer III (1985) of Deepdale Golf Club in Manhasset, N.Y.

   Many leading contenders vying for the 96th Met Open title are young professionals who won MGA championships in their amateur careers. Notable players from this group include:

   • Morgan Hoffmann, 2005 Carter Cup champion, of Arcola Country Club in Wyckoff, N.J. Hoffmann turned pro in June after a three-year career at Oklahoma State University and has made the cut in two of three PGA Tour events this year. He’ll be coming to the Met Open fresh from an appearance at the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C.

   • Kevin Foley, 2008 Ike champion, of Neshanic Valley Golf Course in Neshanic Station, N.J. Foley, a 2009 graduate of Penn State University, won the 2011 New Jersey State Open in July.

   • Evan Beirne, 2010 Met Amateur champion, of Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, N.Y. Beirne graduated from St. John’s University in 2011 and was the low amateur in the 2010 Met Open at Bethpage Black.

   • Mike Ballo Jr., 2009 & ’10 Ike champion, of Woodway Country Club in Greenwich, Conn. Ballo is a two-time winner on the West Florida Golf Tour and is a 2009 graduate of St. John’s University.

   • Chris DeForest, 2006 Carter Cup champion, of Rondout Country Club in Accord, N.Y. DeForest’s pro debut was the 2011 U.S. Open Championship at Congressional, where he narrowly missed the cut. He played in the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship in Hartford and made the cut in a Nationwide Tour event last month.

   Additional past MGA champions in the field include Michael Quagliano, of GlenArbor Golf Club in Bedford Hills, N.Y.; Brad Tilley of Sleepy Hollow; Martin Catalioto of Darlington Golf Club in Mahwah, N.J.; and Jerry Courville Jr., three-time (1998, ’97, & ’95) Met Amateur and three-time (1997, ’91, & ’90) Ike champion, of Shorehaven Golf Club in Norwalk Conn. Courville won the 1995 U.S. Mid-Amateur and made the cut at the 2009 U.S. Senior Open.

   Other outstanding Met Area professionals craving their first MGA victory include Greg Bisconti of Saint Andrew’s Country Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., who won the 2011 Met PGA Championship and Westchester Open, and was the low club professional at the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National; Rob Labritz of Glen Arbor, the 2011 New York State Open champion and the low club professional at the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits; Danny Balin of Burning Tree in Greenwich, Conn., who finished fourth at the 2011 PGA Professional National Championship and played in the 2011 PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club; Keith Dicciani of Metropolis Country Club in White Plains, N.Y., the 2010 New York State Open champion; Frank Esposito Jr. of Brooklake Country Club in Florham Park, N.J., a four-time winner of the New Jersey PGA Section Championship; and Brett Jones of Trump National-Bedminster in Bedminster, N.J., the 2009 NJPGA Player of the Year with two recent top-tens in Met Opens.

   The host club, Sleepy Hollow, has a strong group of players that, in addition to Tilley, includes head professional David Young and his son, 14-year-old Cameron Young, who won the 2011 Carter Cup at Baltusrol as well as the 2011 Westchester Amateur, and is the youngest player in the field. Another Sleepy Hollow representative who has tasted MGA victory is John Ervasti, who in 2010 became the first amateur to win the MGA Senior Open and then completed the MGA “Senior Slam” with a win at the MGA Senior Amateur in May 2011. Rounding out the Sleepy Hollow amateur contingent is current club champion Mark Duffy. 

   The Met Open wouldn’t be complete without a standout list of top area amateurs. An amateur has won this championship seven times, including three times in the last 10 years. In addition to Zahringer, leading amateurs in the field include 2010 and 2008 MGA Player of the Year Joe Saladino of Huntington Country Club in Huntington, N.Y.;  2011 Met Amateur runner-up Sam Bernstein of Century Country Club in Purchase, N.Y., who was the low amateur at the 2009 Met Open; and 2010-’11 Yale University golf team captain Tom McCarthy of Saxon Woods Golf Course in Scarsdale, N.Y.

   Another prominent star of the 96th Met Open will be the course itself. Sleepy Hollow is celebrating its centennial in 2011 and is hosting the Met Open for the first time, though it is no stranger to either MGA or national championships. Sleepy Hollow hosted the 1983 Ike Championship, won by Mark Diamond, as well as the 2002 U.S. Women’s Amateur and an official Senior PGA Tour event for several years in the 1980s and ‘90s.

   The 6,845-yard, par-70 layout was originally designed by C.B. Macdonald and later worked on by A.W. Tillinghast. From the summer of 2006 through the end of 2007, the club chose renowned golf course architect Gil Hanse to restore the course and enhance the Macdonald design elements that had been changed or lost over the years. Hanse was assisted by local Macdonald expert George Bahto, and the result of their work is a masterpiece that is now equal to both the hillside setting overlooking the Hudson River and the landmark clubhouse, commissioned by Cornelius Vanderbilt and built by famed architect Stanford White.  

   The 96th Met Open, along with seven other MGA championships, is benefitted by the generous support of MetLife. The MGA and MetLife have been partners for nearly 30 years, one of the longest-running sponsorship collaborations in sports. The Met Open is preceded by the MGA/MetLife Caddie Scholarship Pro-Am, which will take place on Monday, August 22 and feature many of the pros who will begin play in the championship the following day.

   The combination of a field of historic proportions and a course that is among the finest and most scenic in the entire Met Area will make for a championship like no other. For complete coverage of the 96th Met Open, including live scoring, visit www.mgagolf.org on your computer or Internet-enabled phone or follow the championship on the new My MGA mobile app, available as a free download in the Android Market and coming soon to the iTunes Store.