Putting Propels Bernstein to Medalist Honors
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (July 30, 2020) – Impressive morning rounds including a 6-under 65 by medalist Sam Bernstein of Century and a 9-hole playoff in the evening highlighted Thursday’s on-site qualifying as play in the 118th Met Amateur Championship began at Bethpage Black. With the 16-person bracket set, play begins at 8:00 a.m., Friday with two rounds of match play scheduled.
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Notes & Quotes from Stroke Play Qualifying
Bernstein, 28, estimated that he made more than 150 feet of putts en route to top honors, saying, “Out here, the reads were pretty consistent, if you kind of kept the ball in the hole and putt a good stroke on it, it had a shot. So, I tried to play within myself, play to my strength, which is putting, and it worked.”
Bernstein, who made a run to the semifinals of the Met Amateur back in 2011, made tries from outside 30-feet on Nos. 2 and 3, and holed more lengthy bids on Nos. 5, 7 and 9 en route to capturing the top spot Thursday.
Sam Goldenring of Brooklake fired a bogey-free round of 4-under 67, saying that the driver proved key the day: “…having a couple days to work with my coach and iron some things out, it was probably the best I’ve driven it this summer, so that was a big part of it.”
Dawson Jones of Eagle Oaks continued the longest-active streak of advancing to match play at the Met Amateur, shooting 3-under 69 to make the bracket for the fifth-straight year. “Definitely my irons,” said Jones as his key to the round. “I had a lot of really close birdie putts. I was hitting the irons really well—a little errant off the tee, but I was able to make a few putts out there today too.”
Eric LeFante of Somerset Hills, who won the MGA Public Links in 2012, shot 2-under 69. “No practice round for me,” said LeFante. “I actually played Mountain Ridge in the Boff [Invitational] on Monday. I’ve played here over 20 times, so I definitely knew what you had to do.”
Five players, including recent New Jersey State Open champion Mark Costanza of Hamilton Farm and 2018 Met Amateur champion Ryan Davis of New Jersey National, shot 1-under 70 to tie for fifth. “I love this course,” said Davis. “It’s obviously extremely hard but if you hit good shots you’re going to get rewarded.”
Davis is aiming to become the first person since Jerry Courville Jr. (1995-’98) to advance to the final in three consecutive years, having finished runner-up to Chris Gotterup of Rumson last year at Hudson National. “You really can’t think ahead. I just want to think one match at a time. Obviously it would mean the world to get back to the final, but for now I’m just focusing on the round of 16.
Four players tied for 10th with even-par 70s, including 2017 champion Matt Mattare of Darlington. “You just have to hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens and make a lot of putts. It’s the same thing at every course, and this is just one of the toughest that exist, so it should be fun,” said Mattare before the round. Davis and Mattare match up in the Round of 16, Friday at 8:30 a.m.
Two-time MGA Junior Player of the Year Jack Wall of Manasquan River and 2019 Carter Cup champion Ben Carpenter of Darien posted scores of 1-over 73 to advance.
MGA eClub – NYC member Luke Sample won a 6-for-1 playoff between those shooting 2-over 74, outbattling John Felitto of Echo Lake in 9 holes. Nos 1-17-18 were used as the playoff holes. It was a head-to-head battle for six holes, with Sample finally winning with par on 18 after Felitto missed the green long and right and could not get up-and-down for par.
Bethpage's Black Course played to just over 7,100 yards and the MGA Championship team plans to play it from 7,100 - 7,250 yards for each round of competition.
"The rough was very unpredictable. A few of them weren’t too bad, they came out nice and they were sitting up a little. And then a couple you just kind of had to take your lumps and just chunk it out into the fairway or something." Dawson Jones on Bethpage's rough.
Bethpage is the first public course to host the MGA's oldest championship and this week becomes the 18th venue to have hosted all three of the MGA's Majors, the Ike, Met Amateur and Met Open.