Greyserman, Small & Finger Lead NJSGA Stoddard Trophy Team

State Open champion Max Greyserman of Crestmont, five-time State Senior Amateur champion Allan Small of Fairmount and veteran Matt Finger of Darlington each won two singles matches, but the NJSGA team failed to defend its championship in the 89thStoddard Trophy matches held on Thursday, August 14 at the Meadow Brook Club in Jericho, N.Y.

The home-standing Long Island Golf Association team totaled 24 points to outdistance Westchester Golf Association (15.5 points) and NJSGA (14.5). The NJSGA, which won in 2012 and 2013, leads the series with 39 victories compared with 23 victories for each the LIGA and WGA. The event was not held for four years during World War II.

The NJSGA will host the 90th Stoddard Trophy matches on August 13, 2015, at Essex County Country Club.

OFFICIAL RESULTS 89TH STODDARD MATCHES

This year, the NJSGA consisted of one of its youngest teams ever with five college players and one high school senior. College players were Greyserman (Duke), Kieran Purcell of Essex County (Delaware), Jeremy Wall of Manasquan River (Loyola, Md.), Jacob Stockl of Hyatt Hills (Rutgers), and Kwanwoo Kim of Valley Brook (UCLA). Erick Alonso, semifinalist in the NJSGA Junior Championship, is a senior at Bergen Catholic High School.

Also earning points for NJSGA were Purcell and Alonso, who teamed to win both Foursomes matches, Stockl and Senior Amateur champion Jay Blumenfeld of Mountain Ridge, who earned a 1/2 point, and Kim and Nick Desai of Baltusrol, who also earned a half-point in Foursomes.

Desai also earned 1.5 points in singles, while Blumenfeld, Purcell , Wall and Stockl each added one point in singles.

Greyerserman’s two singles victories came against WGA’s David Pastore, winner of the Met Amateur, and LIGA’s Matt, Lowe, Met Am runner-up.

PREVIEW:

With half the team consisting of college-age golfers, the New Jersey Sate Golf Association will attempt to win its third straight championship when the 89th Stoddard Trophy matches take place on Thursday, August 14, at the Meadow Brook Club in Jericho, N.Y.

All six college players are participating in their first Stoddard Trophy matches. They include 2014 State Open Champion Max Greyserman of Crestmont (Duke), Ryan Snouffer of Panther Valley (Seton Hall), Jeremy Wall of Manasquan River (Loyola of Maryland), State Public Links champion Jacob Stockl of Hyatt Hills (Rutgers), Kwanwoo Kim of Valley Brook (UCLA) and Kieran Purcell of Essex County (Delaware).

The collegians will join recent graduate Steve Zychowski of Mendham (Holy Cross), the State Amateur runner-up, and veterans Jay Blumenfeld of Mountain Ridge, the Senior Amateur champion, Nick Desai of Baltusrol, Niall Handley of Essex Fells, the 2012 Tournament of Champions winner, Matt Finger of Darlington and five-time Senior Amateur champion Allan Small of Fairmount, who has played on 15 NJSGA Stoddard Trophy winning teams.

Due to travel commitments from the U.S. Amateur, Snouffer and Zychowski were replaced by Dan Levinson of Bayonne and Erick Alonso of Darlington, a senior at Bergen Catholic High School.

Small, the only golfer to have played on the victorious 2013 NJSGA team, is playing in his record 28thStoddard Trophy match.

In 2013, the NJSGA defeated Westchester Golf Association, 20-1/2 to 19, to win the 88th Stoddard Trophy Matches at The Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Conn. Long Island Golf Association was third with 14-1/2 points.

The NJSGA leads the overall standings with 39 victories, Westchester is second with 23 and Long Island 22. Long Island is serving as host this year.

The Stoddard Trophy competition is a one-day triangular match, featuring six alternate-shot matches in the morning and 12 singles matches in the afternoon. The competition began in 1922. The matches were not held from 1942 through ’45 due to World War II.

A total of 36 points were available in the afternoon singles matches, but the most one team could garner is 24 points if all 12 players swept all their matches.

On Thursday morning, players will be paired in twosomes . The NJSGA’s six twosomes will square off against twosomes from each of the WGA and LIGA. Each twosome can win a maximum of two points.

In the afternoon, all 12 individuals play against similar opponents from the WGA and LIGA with a maximum of 24 points at stake.

In 2013, Ryan McCormick of Suburban, Jimmy Dengler of Rumson, Harrison Shih of Alpine and Trevor Randolph of Arcola all swept their afternoon singles matches to spark the victory.