ELMSFORD, N.Y. (August 18, 2015) – The historic 100^th Met Open Championship is set to be reunited with Winged Foot Golf Club, August 25-27, as the MGA’s premier event will be hosted for a record seventh time by the club. However, the always stellar field of professionals and amateurs from the Met Area will face the East Course for the first time in the battle for the Walker M. Trammell trophy. The momentous occasion serves as the perfect opportunity for the course—which fully reopened in May following a two-year restoration by famed architect Gil Hanse—to show its teeth and provide a stern test of golf for one of the most highly regarded regional tournaments and the nation’s third-oldest open championship.

RELATED: Pairings and Starting Times | Met Open Video Series | Met Open History

Twenty past champions, including the winner from each of the last 10 years, will tee it up in aims of adding their name to MGA annals once again, perhaps none more eager than defending champion and Winged Foot’s very own Grant Sturgeon. The 2014 victor claimed a three-shot win at Trump – Bedminster thanks to a 7-under par 209 total and will look to be the first back-to-back winner since Johnson Wagner in 2001 and 2002, in which his second victory came on Winged Foot’s West Course. Sturgeon is coming off an appearance in the PGA Championship, which he qualified for after tying third at the PGA Professional National Championship.  Another past champion looking to utilize the home course advantage is Mike Gilmore—the 2000 winner and Winged Foot’s Head Professional—who had a top-20 showing in last year’s event. The esteemed host club has three additional representatives in the championship—Mike Durkin and amateurs Max Adler and Brian Williams, the current club champion—shooting to make a good showing on their home turf.

Several previous winners have enjoyed recent success and are hoping to maintain that momentum as they seek a share of the $150,000 purse. Most recently, 2009 champion Andrew Giuliani of Trump National – Westchester shot 66 to claim the Boston Open, while Tyler Hall of Upper Montclair, the 2011 winner, registered an impressive win at mid-July’s NJSGA Open Championship where he bested the field by seven strokes. Additionally, 2012 winner Danny Balin of Burning Tree claimed the 93^rd Westchester Open Championship with a 10-under 206 total in early July, just two months after his win at the Guatemala Stella Artois Open—a PGA Tour Latinoamérica event. George Zahringer of Deepdale, a victor in 1985, added to his golf resume, as deep as it already is, early this summer by running away with an eight-shot win in the MGA Senior Amateur—his record 16^th career MGA title.

RELATED: Met Golfer "A Legacy of Greatness" | "The Other Foot" | "Gil Hanse's Moment"

Remaining past champions in the field for the landmark event include Mark Brown of Tam O’Shanter (’13, ’99), Bob Rittberger of Garden City Golf Club (’10), Frank Bensel of Century (’07), Mark Mielke (’92, ’08), John Guyton of Wheatley Hills (’06), John Stoltz of Concord Monster (’05), Mike Burke of Montammy (’97), Darrell Kestner of Deepdale (’82, ’83, ’95), Mike Diffley of Pelham (’91), Bobby Heins of Old Oaks (’88, ’89), Jim McGovern of White Beeches (’87), David Glenz of Black Oak (’78, ’86), Kelly Moser of Westchester (’81) and Bill Britton of Trump National – Colts Neck (’79).

In addition to Sturgeon, Brian Gaffney of Quaker Ridge, Matt Dobyns of Fresh Meadow, Brett Jones of Due Process, and Ben Polland of Deepdale all transition to the Met Open a little more than a week after competing in the PGA Championship. Gaffney shot even-par over his first two rounds to be the only club pro to make the cut at Whistling Straits, and was the first club pro to play the weekend at the PGA Championship since 2011. Dobyns has had a standout summer and hopes to continue the trend at Winged Foot. The 37-year old claimed his second career PGA PNC title and followed that up with a five-shot win at the Metropolitan Professional Championship.

The Met Open champion will be crowned following 54 holes of stroke play, in which a cut will be made to the low 60 scores (and ties) after 36 holes.  The event was first played in 1905 at the now defunct Fox Hills Golf Club on Staten Island, and developed into a major championship prior to World War II, featuring top competitors from around the country. Following WWII, the Met Open thrived as a regional championship, with professionals such as Claude Harmon, Jim Albus, Bobby Heins, Darrell Kestner, and amateurs George Zahringer, Jerry Courville Sr., Jim McGovern, Andrew Svoboda, and Johnson Wagner all claiming the title.

The list of top players and contenders also includes Rob Labritz of GlenArbor, Steve Scott of Paramount, and top-five finisher from 2014 Mike Ballo, Jr. of Woodway. Others gunning to join the iconic list of champions include Max Buckley of Westchester, who made his professional debut at the 2014 Met Open and is currently competing on the Mackenzie Tour; Champions Tour player Frank Esposito, Jr. of Brooklake, who recently posted two of his top finishes of the season; and Pat Wilson of Panther Valley, who qualified for this year’s U.S. Open at Chambers Bay through sectional qualifying at Century and Old Oaks.

Amateurs from the Met Area have proven their strong game time and time again, and Winged Foot provides the perfect setting for another to rise to the top at the Met Open. Seven amateurs have claimed the championship in the past, with three of those coming at Winged Foot: Chet Sanok in 1952, Jerry Courville Sr. in 1967 and Jim McGovern in 1987. Sleepy Hollow’s Cameron Young—joined in the field by his father and Sleepy Hollow Head Professional David Young—is among the top amateurs vying for the title. Young, already a three-time MGA champion and current leader in the 2015 MGA Player of the Year standings, claimed the Ike in June and became the youngest winner in the event’s history. If he were to win at Winged Foot, the 18-year old would claim the same distinction for the Met Open.

Sam Bernstein of Century, Joe Saladino of Huntington, and Ryan Snouffer of Essex County have all had quality summers and a Met Open title would serve as the perfect ending. Bernstein tied second in this year’s NYSGA Amateur, was a quarterfinalist in the Met Amateur and competed in the U.S. Amatuer. Saladino, a two-time MGA Player of the Year advanced to the semifinals of the recent Met Amateur. Snouffer notched a win at the 2015 Brae Burn Invitational, while also finishing tied third at the Ike, fifth at the NJSGA Open and as the runner-up at the Met Amateur. The consistent, high level play has landed the Seton Hall senior second in the current MGA Player of the Year standings.

Winged Foot’s storied tradition of championship golf continues with the 100^th Met Open, but this time the spotlight will shine upon the East Course. Hanse’s restoration of the A.W. Tillinghast gem under the watchful eye of superintendent Steve Rabideau has already gathered high praise. The two-year project recovered standout characteristics—especially those focused on the green complexes—from the original design of the Hall of Fame architect. Though typically overshadowed by the West and its five U.S. Opens (that number will be upped to six in 2020), the East has also hosted national events: the U.S. Women’s Open in 1957 and 1972 and the U.S. Senior Open in 1980. The East will once again find the national spotlight in 2016 when it hosts the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship.

The MGA will provide live scoring throughout the three-day event, including live updates throughout the first and second rounds, and hole-by-hole scoring for the all groups in the final round on Thursday.