Mayer Is 94th Junior Champion; Apostolico Wins 45th Boys Title

Whenever Jake Mayer of Plainfield needed inspiration, he thought of his late instructor at Plainfield, Wesley Mensing, 27, who was killed on Jan. 3 while crossing a street in New York City.

“This season is for him, especially this tournament. The shots weren‘t for me; they were for him,” said Mayer, 16, of Scotch Plains, a rising junior at Pingry School, who edged Dylan Stein of Copper Hill, 1 up, in the 94th NJSGA Billy Y. Dear Junior Championship on Wednesday, July 29, at the Rumson Country Club.

The final was a battle of left-handed golfers. The event is for young men ages 18 and below and not yet in college.

In the 45th Boys Championship, Jimmy Apostolico of Newton topped Alessandro Lamarca of Valley Brook, 2 and 1. The event is for boys 15 and under.

94th JUNIOR BRACKET 45th BOYS BRACKET PHOTO GALLERY

In the morning semifinals, Mayer ousted top-seeded Chris Gotterup of Rumson, 2 up, while Stein got past Sam Goldenring of Brooklake who conceded due to an shoulder injury after 15 holes with Stein leading, 2 up, at the time.

In the Boys semifinals, Apostolico slipped by Robert McHugh of Darlington, 1 up, and Lamarca defeated Tyler Senior of Ridgewood, 7 and 6.

Against Stein, a rising freshman at Towson University, Mayer found himself down two holes after 12, but rallied with a par victory on the par-4 13th hole. He followed that with a brilliant tee shot on the 163-yard par-3 14th hole to two feet for a winning birdie that brought the match to all square.

But Stein, who lives in Flemington and was third in the state scholastic Tournament of Champions at Hopewell Valley, while playing for Hunterdon Central got himself 1 up with a par victory on the par-4 15th hole. Mayer won the next hole, the par-4 16th, when his 60-degree wedge from 59 yards ended three feet from the cup for a birdie to get back to all square.

Mayer finally went ahead for the first time in the match on the 206-yard par-3 17th hole when his tee shot found the green. He two-putted for par from 20 feet while Stein’s drive had come up short and he failed to get up and down.

Both players parred the 18th hole to give Mayer, who turns 17 on Saturday, the triumph.

“I really wanted this. I played in the Boys championship three years prior,” said Mayer, who is the Metuchen C.C. club champion and finished fourth in May in the Liberty National Invitational, an event that included college-aged golfers.

“The last two matches in this event I was up as many as four holes and saw my opponents come back, so I knew the same was possible for me. I used their strategy, which was to attack pins and let them make mistakes and come back to me.

“This is definitely a confidence builder. I made some swing changes last week and I was getting off the tee well and I hit every iron shot this week. This is for Wes Mensing. He was an easy-going guy who loved golf and I love golf,” Mayer said.

Apostolico, a rising sophomore at Sparta High School, saw all of his 3-up lead on Lamarca, a Westwood resident, evaporate when he double-bogeyed the No. 15 hole. But Apostolico won No. 16 with a par and closed out the match by winning No. 17 with a par as well.

“All I want to do is improve. When it came down the stretch, I made a lot of putts,” Apostolico said. “After the medal round, I felt I had a chance to win because I was among the oldest and most experienced in the Boys’ field. The turning point was coming back to win No. 16. After No. 15, I told myself to just make pars and not worry about making birdies.”

Mayer built a 2-up lead over Gotterup with a par victory on his fifth hole (No. 14) and a birdie win on his seventh hole (No. 16). It was a lead he would never relinquish.

Both Mayer and the top-seeded Gotterup played great golf, each claiming birdies on their 10th, 11th, and 13th holes.

“That was the key to me, not losing my lead,” said Mayer, who bogeyed his 14th hole (No. 5), to see his lead reduced to 1-up.

On the par-4 17th hole (No. 8), Mayer, a left-hander, drove the ball into the right fescue, then hit an approach 35 yards to the right of the green. His chip from 35 feet became a tap-in as he hung onto the 1-up lead. On the final hole (No. 9), Mayer’s drive found trees on the right of the fairway, but miraculously bounced out to the fairway, 195 yards from the green on the dogleg left.

He faded a 4-wood onto the right side of the green and two-putted for par. Gotterup’s drive ended in the rough, 200 yards from the hole, and he missed the green to the left. When he missed his birdie putt, the hole was halved and Mayer had the victory.

“I really didn’t play badly; Jake played well. It was back-and-forth, and I couldn’t do any better than make that run of three birdies on four holes. He matched me hole for hole. And I didn’t know what else I could do,” said Gotterup, 16, the state high school runner-up to Will Voetsch of Delbarton. Gotterup is a rising junior at Christian Brothers Academy.

“I want to keep playing well and making my putts,” said Mayer. “I’ll take it one shot at a time in the final.”

In the other Junior semifinal, Stein built a 3-up lead through 13 holes and still had a 2-up lead when Goldenring conceded the match due to an ailing right collarbone.

Goldenring won the Essex County and Prep B championships this spring to earn first-team All-State honors out of Newark Academy.

Apostolico is a rising sophomore at Sparta High School. He rallied from 3-down against Robert McHugh after nine holes, with two par victories and a birdie triumph on the par-5 No. 2 hole, the 11thhole of the match. The match was all square until the final hole (No. 9) when Apostolico won with a par. McHugh got in trouble when his approach found rough to the right of the green and he failed to get up and down.

“I’ve never been in a match-play final before. I’m looking forward to it,” said Apostolico, who helped lead Sparta to division and conference titles.