Jericho, N.Y.- A mix of veterans and rookies highlight the leader board after the first round of the 48th Ike MGA/Canon Stroke Play Championship.  This year the MGA welcomed its new sponsor, Canon, the beginning of what the MGA hopes will be a long and successful relationship.

Jay Blumenfeld, from Mountain Ridge, and Michael Mazella, of Orange County, fired opening round 3 under par 69’s to set the pace today at the spectacular Meadow Brook Club in Jericho, NY.  Mazzella said of his emotional round today that “his father was his fifteenth club.”  Mazzella’s father died in the September 11th attacks in 2001.  Blumenfeld, runner-up in the 1975 Ike, set himself up for day two with his 69 (35 – 34). Three-time Ike Champion and two-time Walker Cup team member Jerry Courville Jr., of Shorehaven, put himself in position to claim his fourth Ike title with his opening round 2-under- par 70(33-37).   Courville won his last Ike title at Meadow Brook in 1997 with a total 207, the third lowest total in history.

Mazzella, Blumenfeld and Courville are three of 50 golfers who carded rounds of 77 or better (the low 40+ ties) to continue on to tomorrow’s 36-hole final day.  Also at stake tomorrow will be the Ike Team Championship which will be awarded to the two individuals representing the same club who have the lowest 54-hole combined total.  Defending team champions Courville and Bauman of Shorehaven both survived the cut and seem poised to defend their title and increase the Shorehaven record to seven team titles.  Defending champion Johnson Wagner of Hudson National was unable to defend his title after turning professional before the 2002 Met Open.

For more information contact Dan Miesieski or Gene Westmoreland of the MGA @ (914) 347-GOLF or visit the MGA website at mgagolf.org.

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