Locals look to bring their form at U.S. Junior Amateur
ELMSFORD, N.Y. (July 17, 2015) – Seven players from the Met Area will be competing in the 68th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship next week, which will be held at Colleton River Plantation Club in Bluffton, S.C. from July 20-25.
The two co-medalists from the Scotch Plains sectional site, Chris Gotterup of Little Silver, N.J., and Ethan Ng of New York, N.Y., both come into the tournament playing their best golf yet. Last week, Ng was a semifinalist at the Met Junior Sponsored by MetLife. For Gotterup, last years MGA/MetLife Boys Championship runner-up, he couldn’t have asked for a better spring season after following his spectacular summer last year. The 16-year-old earned First Team All-State in N.J. and was named Asbury Park Press Player of the Year as just a sophomore in high school.
Andrew Sciarretta of Wilton, Conn., made his way into the field the hard way, having to go through a playoff for the last qualifying position. He will be riding into next week with full confidence after winning the Connecticut Junior Amateur earlier this month.
Connor Daly of Bronxville, N.Y., and Connor O'Brien of Rowayton, Conn., shared me medalist honors in Bloomfield, Conn., with a 2-under 138. Daly's season is highlighted by a runner-up finish in the N.Y. Section 1 high school championship. O'Brien took runner-up honors to Sciarretta in the Connecticut Junior Amateur.
Related: Qualifying Results | Past Winners
John Pak of Scotch Plains, N.J., and John Felitto of Mountainside, N.J., will both be playing in the U.S. Junior Amateur for the second consecutive year. Pak took medalist honors at the Westchester, Pa. site this year, shooting a 2-under 140 that helped him top the field of 72 competitors. Meanwhile, Felitto, who verbally committed to play at Notre Dame earlier this year, went through the Scotch Plains site to take the third qualifying spot with a 2-under 138. Last year
The final field for the event is composed of 156 junior amateur golfers from around the world. After the first to stroke-play rounds, the field will be cut to 64 for match play competition.
The last time a Met Area player made it deep into the match play tournament was Cameron Wilson in 2009, when he made the quarterfinals at Trump National Bedminster. Coverage for the event will be played on Fox Sports 1 for the semifinal and championship matches on July 24 and 25.
