ELMSFORD, N.Y. (August 18, 2009) – The 94th Met Open Championship sponsored by MetLife begins on Tuesday, August 25 and runs through Thursday, August 27 at the beautiful Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey. This is the fourth time the Met Open, a 54-hole stroke play championship featuring the best field of professionals and amateurs in the Met Area, has been held at Ridgewood, with the last coming in 1994. However, it is the first time the Met Open will be staged using Ridgewood’s composite course, which gained added acclaim in 2008 when the PGA Tour’s best players came to Ridgewood for The Barclays.

 

The Met Open was played for the first time in 1905 at the now-defunct Fox Hills Golf Club on Staten Island, and for 35 years was a regular stop on the pro circuit. The list of Met Open winners includes the likes of Alex Smith, Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, Johnny Farrell, Paul Runyan, Craig Wood, and Byron Nelson. Nelson, in fact, won the 1936 Met Open at Quaker Ridge while he was working as an assistant pro at Ridgewood. Following an eight-year hiatus after World War II, the Met Open became the nation’s premier regional championship, with winners such as Claude Harmon, George Zahringer III, David Glenz, Miller Barber, Bill Britton, Darrell Kestner and Johnson Wagner.

 

The championship is open to members of the Metropolitan and New Jersey sections of the PGA, professionals at MGA member clubs, and amateurs at MGA member clubs with a USGA Handicap Index of 4.0 or less. A total of 843 players entered this year’s Met Open, and the 54-hole stroke play event feature a starting field of 132 players, including 104 professionals and 28 amateurs. The field will be cut to the low 60 plus ties after the second round. The professionals will play for a purse of $150,000, with $27,500 going to the winner, the largest of any regional championship. The championship will be preceded on Monday, August 24 by the 41st MGA/MetLife Caddie Scholarship Pro-Am.

 

In last year’s Met Open at the Country Club of Fairfield in Fairfield, Conn., Mark Mielke of the Mill River Club held off Fenway head pro Heath Wassem to win the title by three strokes. Mielke’s win set a record for most years between Open victories, at 16. Mielke, who is back to defend his title this year, will be challenged by an outstanding array of talented players from across the Met Area. The final field includes four players who played in the 2009 PGA Championship: Brian Gaffney of Rumson, Craig Thomas and Keith Dicciani of Metropolis, and Greg Bisconti of Saint Andrew’s, who earned low club pro honors at the PGA. In addition, two Met Open competitors played in the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black—Sean Farren of The Creek and 2003 Met Open Champion Andrew Svoboda of Old Oaks.

 

In addition to these major championship names, there are 14 other players in field who are previous Met Open champions. These professionals include Bill Britton of Trump National-Colts Neck (1979),Bobby Heins of Old Oaks (1988, 1989), Mike Burke Jr. of Montammy (1997), Rick Hartmann of Atlantic (1998, 2994), Frank Bensel of Century (2007), and Darrell Kestner of Deepdale (1982, 1983, 1995), who is one of only five players to claim three or more titles. Other professionals to watch include the last two New Jersey PGA Players of the Year, Mark Schaare of Glenwood and Frank Esposito of Brooklake; 2008 New York State Open and Met PGA Head professional champion Rob Labritz of GlenArbor; 2009 New Jersey State Open champion Brett Jones of Trump National-Bedminster; and two-time defending Long Island Open winner Mike Meehan of Nassau. Six-time MGA Player of the Year Jerry Courville Jr. of Shorehaven is also in the field and in search of his first Met Open title. The 2008 MGA Senior Open champion, Bruce Zabriski will also be at Ridgewood in search of his third Met Open title.

 

Four young players will be making their professional debuts at Ridgewood after successful amateur careers. Michael Quagliano of GlenArbor, the 2003 Met Junior and 2002 MGA/MetLife Boys champion, turned pro after this year’s Met Amateur at Hackensack and is beginning his professional career at the Met Open. Joining him in the pro ranks are 2007 Met Amateur runner-up Marc Issler of Pine Barrens, Casey Calmi of Nassau Players and Brian Mackey of Spook Rock. Representing the host club will be head golf professional David Reasoner.

The amateur side of the Met Open field is headlined by two home-state favorites having successful seasons: 2009 New Jersey Amateur champion Michael Deo of High Bridge Hills, and 2009 NJSGA Public Links champion Eric LeFante of Royce Brook. Also looking to contend in the Met Open are 2008 MGA Player of the Year Joe Saladino of Huntington and Paul Park of Spook Rock. Club champion David Rahal will represent Ridgewood on the amateur side.

The 94th Met Open is the seventh MGA major championship to be played at Ridgewood. The club has hosted the Met Amateur four times (1938, ‘52, ‘85 and 2000) and the Met Open on three previous occasions (1960, ‘70 and ‘94). The 1994 Met Open at Ridgewood was won by Charlie Cowell. The historic layout also hosted the 1935 Ryder Cup Matches, the 1974 U.S. Amateur, the 1990 U.S. Senior Open, the 2001 Senior PGA Championship and, most recently, the 2008 Barclays.

Ridgewood’s demanding composite course, which will play to more than 7,100 yards for the championship, will test every aspect of the game for this year’s Met Open field. The composite course is comprised of seven holes of the East nine, five holes of the Center nine, and six holes of the West nine. All three nines at Ridgewood were designed by legendary course architect A.W. Tillinghast, and the club is one of the most highly regarded in all of golf.

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