It’s Michael Miller’s Time to Succeed on the Links this Summer – By Peter Gerken
Knollwood Country Club’s Michael Miller has a fantastic opportunity to add to his already impressive golf resume starting this week at The Westchester Open that is being held this year at Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle..
Wykagyl Country Club is over 100 years old and is one of the best golf courses in Westchester County. It’s classic design course, which is laid out over very hilly terrain, can hold it’s own in a debate against Quaker Ridge, Winged Foot and Westchester Country Club as having the best golf course within Westchester County.
They have been playing championship golf tournaments at Wykagyl for over 60 years and the list of golfers that have won tournaments at that course is like reading a list of members of the Golf Hall of Fame. Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Nancy Lopez, Betsy King, Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa are a just a quick sample of the golfers who have won events hosted at Wykagyl.
The Westchester Open has been played since 1920 when it was first won by Siwanoy Country Club head professional Tom Kerrigan. In 1940 a young club assistant professional working at Century Golf Club in Purchase by the name of Ben Hogan won the Westchester Open. Hogan would go on to win four United Sates Opens, two Masters, two PGA Championships and One British Open in later years.
Miller’s stock as a skilled golfer has been on the rise since he graduated Brewster High School several years ago. His resume already includes wins at the Westchester Junior, the Met Junior, the Metropolitan Amateur and the Westchester Amateur Championships. He has also placed in the top ten in several major international and domestic amateur tournaments in 2012. He could become the first amateur to win the prestigious Westchester Open title. Currently he is ranked as one the top 50 amateur golfers in the nation.
During the next couple of months Miller will be playing in some major tournaments before maybe making an attempt to make it to the PGA Tour through their qualifying school which has several stages he must get through.
Miller will have no cakewalk to victory come Monday and Tuesday at Wykagyl. There will be many talented club professionals ready to claim this crown. The tournament begins on Monday July 9, with the entire field playing 18 holes before the field is cut to 40 players and ties plus any golfer who is within six shots of the leading score after round one. The remaining golfers will play 36 holes on Tuesday.
Wykagyl isn’t a golf course that will kill you with length. It is a golf course one has to play as if they’re playing a game of chess. The players competing will have to deal with hilly terrain and challenging greens to putt on. Players might have to hit less than a driver off the tee on some holes so they have level approach shots to greens that have a lot of speed and slope to them. If the Westchester area doesn’t receive any significant rain before Monday and Tuesday scores can be very high at this tournament.
The competition that Miller will face will come from a talented group of teaching golf professionals starting with defending champion Greg Bisconti from St. Andrew’s. Bisconti has been a talented player in the Westchester area since his junior golf days and he was the low finisher for club professionals at the 2009 PGA Championship.
Other names to remember this week are Carl Alexander, Stepinac alumni Frank Bensel who just qualified for the 2012 PGA championship, amateur Max Buckley, Rob Labritz, John Stoltz and White Plains native Craig Thomas.
Also competing in The Westchester Open will be Andrew Giuliani son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Reed Howard son of talented movie director and “Happy Days,” television star Ron Howard. Both Andrew and Reed have struggled with their golf games since turning professional. Andrew Giuliani did win the 2009 Met Open. Both players did make the cut in the 2011 Westchester Open.
If Miller is successful in taking home The Westchester Open it will give him a tremendous amount of momentum going into August where he will compete in his most important tournaments of the season the Met Amateur, the U.S. Amateur Championship and the Met Open.
Any momentum he can gain in August will certainly come in handy if he decides to try to qualify for the PGA Tour through the infamous and challenging “Q School.” This will be the last year of what some professional golfers have dubbed the “Fall Classic.” Miller most likely would have to survive three to four 72-holes tournaments finishing inside the top 20 in each event to earn his PGA Tour Card for the 2013 season.
Miller’s upcoming tournament journey will be watched closely by a growing group of talented junior players who might have dreams of going professional many years from now. Cameron Young of Sleepy Hollow Country tops that list as winner three invitational tournaments this summer.
Also in the White Plains area there is a growing number of talented junior players from White Plains High School and Stepinac such as Sean Trainor, Brendan Trainor, Tyler Stagg, Justin Stagg, Taiken Nakoda, Eric Terminello and Paul Terminello.
