Bernardsville, N.J.-2003 MGA/MetLife Junior and 2002 MGA/MetLife Boys Champion Michael Quagliano of Knollwood will face 2003 NYC Amateur Champion Michael Stamberger of Plainfield in the 101^st Met Amateur Championship 36-hole final match tomorrow at the Somerset Hills Country Club in Bernardsville, NJ.  Sixteen-year-old Quagliano will attempt to become the youngest Met Amateur Champion in history and the only player ever to win the Junior and Amateur Championships in the same year.

 

Quagliano earned a trip to the finals in his first Met Amateur appearance with a 4 & 3 victory over 51-year-old veteran Allan Small, of Fairmount CC, in Chatham, NJ.  Small dominated the early part of the match as he won the first hole and extended his lead to two- up with a birdie on the 3rd.  Despite his deficit through seven, Quagliano said, “I believed I was in good shape because I had played the first seven holes very well.”  He then made his move as he made par on the 8th to lessen Small’s lead to one-up, and then sank a 50-foot birdie putt on the 9th hole to pull the match to even.  He then won the 10th with a birdie, the 11th with a par from off the green, and the 12th with yet another par from off the green.  Quagliano set up his win and moved himself to dormie four when he got up and down for par on the 14th while Small three-putted for a bogey. The match ended on the ensuing hole when both players made bogey fives giving Quagliano a hard earned 4 & 3 victory and the chance to become the youngest Met Amateur Champion ever.

 

The other semifinal match pitted thirty-one-year-old, Michael Stamberger the reigning NYC Amateur Champion from Plainfield, against twenty-year-old Brad Tilley, the reigning MGA Ike Champion from Sleepy Hollow.   Stamberger won the first hole of the match with a par and never trailed all day.  He held his one-up lead through the first nine holes and then extended it to two-up with a birdie on the par five 10th.  He then faltered slightly when his approach on the 11th bounced off the cart path and into the woods.  The bounce left him with a double bogey and brought him back to one-up.  Tilley’s tee-shot on the par three 12th found the water over the green and allowed Stamberger to once again extend the lead to two-up.  Stamberger then won the next two holes with two routine pars and set up his victory as he went to the 15th tee dormie-four. The match ended on the 15th as Stamberger made another par for a 4 & 3 victory and a date with Quagliano in the finals. 

 

Tomorrow's 36-hole final will begin at 7:30 am.  Real time scoring, provided by Blue Golf, is featured on the MGA's website, www.mgagolf.org, for live up-to-date match information and a complete tournament analysis of each round.  For more information on this year’s Championship contact Scott Peper of the MGA at (845) 729-5524.

 

 

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

 

 

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