Cavaliere wins the Westchester County Junior Boys Championship

It was one of the busiest weeks in local golf at the amateur and junior level. Below is a synopsis of the week’s activities on the links.

Westchester Golf Association Junior Boy’s Championship

Christian Cavaliere shocked the Westchester County junior golf landscape by shooting a one-under par 70 to win the 2012 Westchester Golf Association Junior Boys Championship at Knollwood Country Club in Elmsford this past Tuesday.

Coming into the championship, Cameron Young of Sleepy Hollow Country Club was the favorite to win the event. Young, who is entering his sophomore year at Fordham Prep, has been enjoying a very successful 2012 golf season. He won his high school championship in the spring, made it to sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open and has captured several amateur invitational events this summer.

Another favorite golfer coming in was Sean Trainor of Westchester Hills Golf Club, who won the junior title in 2011. Trainor was an All-Section golfer this spring for White Plains High School and qualified for the state championship.

On this Tuesday the day and the championship belonged to the 14-year-old Cavaliere, who plays out of Mahopac Golf Club and is going to be a freshman at Somers High School this fall. Cavaliere began playing golf at age seven and his best round of golf ever is 69 at his home course. He birdied the fifth, seven and 14^th holes versus only two bogeys to card his one-under par 70.

One of the tricky things about local events such as the Junior Boys Championship is that golfers don’t know anyone’s score until play is finished. Cavaliere didn’t know that Gordon Moore of Siwanoy Country Club had been waiting near the scoring table/putting green for over two hours after shooting an even-par 70 to see if he was going to be the tournament champion, need to go to a sudden death playoff or  whether someone would shoot a lower score than him. Unfortunately for Moore, he was one stroke too high on this day.

“I’m really happy. I’m happy with the way I played. I didn’t make too many birdies but I didn’t make too many mistakes so I’m very happy with the way I played,” said Cavaliere after finding out he was the junior champion.

Cavaliere’s favorite thing about the game of golf is how it’s all up to an individual to perform in the clutch instead of other people determining your outcome. He had no real expectations at the start of the championship.

“I just thought, put a good number in around even (par) and I would have a chance,” said Cavalier. “I really didn’t have any expectations. I just wanted to come out here and play a good round and have some fun and see if I could shoot a low number.”

There were several members of the White Plains and Stepinac golf teams competing at Knollwood. Tyler Stagg was the low Tiger, finishing in a tie for sixth after firing a 77, while Brendan Trainor shot an 81 and Sean Trainor and Paul Terminello each finished with an 84.

Eric Terminello was the lone Crusader in the field and he shot a 79. Come next golf season Terminello will have some have a new teammate on the golf team. His younger brother Paul, who played on the White Plains squad as an 8^th grader, will play for Stepinac in 2013. Both Terminello brothers have been competing in the Met PGA Junior Golf Tour Events. Eric Terminello won a Met PGA Junior Tour Event at Blue Hill Golf Course on July 23.

Carter Cup

With the victory in the Westchester Junior, Cavaliere’s earned a spot in the 10^th annual Carter Cup played at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J. Baltusrol has hosted four U.S. Opens and one PGA Championship. The Carter Cup is usually 36-holes of golf in one day but due to the severe thunderstorms on Wednesday the tournament was reduced to 18-holes. Cavaliere shot an 11-over par 82 to finish in a tie for 43^rd place.

Cameron Young was the defending champion of this event. In 2011 his two-day total of 144  shots was good enough for a two-stroke victory. Sean Trainor also competed in 2011 and finished in 34^th place.

Both Young and Trainor returned last week to Baltusrol. Young ended up shooting a two-over par 73. He compiled three bogeys on the front nine and had one birdie on the back nine.

Trainor had three birdies in his round but he also had three dreaded double-bogeys and finished in a tie for 31^st place. Trainor said this week that St. Peter’s University is still showing interest in recruiting him to come play golf at their school. According to Trainor, the St. Peter’s golf coach was going to be attending the Carter Cup to watch him play.

This summer’s Carter Cup was won by Jared Mactag of Woodcliff, N.J.

One final note about Baltusrol Golf Club and it’s storied history: Its most famous club professional was born in White Plains. Johnny Farrell was the long time teaching professional at Baltustrol. He worked at Quaker Ridge in Westchester before he went to New Jersey to work.

According to some golf historians Farrell won eight consecutive tournaments in 1927, a record which stood until golf-hall-of-famer Byron Nelson won 11 in a row in 1945. Farrell also won 1928 U.S. Open in a 36-hole playoff over the immortal Bobby Jones.

Met Amateur

Knollwood’s Mike Miller this week defended his 2011 Met Amateur Championship. This year the tournament was contested at Hollywood Golf Club in Deal, N.J. An interesting note about the history of this club that one of their club professionals  over the years was Craig Wood.

Wood, a native of Lake Placid worked at the club from 1932 to 1935. He was the runner-up in the first two Masters Tournaments ever played in 1934 and 1935. Wood would go on to win The Masters and U.S. Open in 1941.

The Met Amateur is one of the most challenging amateur tournaments to play in. To qualify for the tournament unless a player must survive an 18-hole qualifying tournament, unless he or she is exempt. On the first day of the Met Amateur all of the participants must play 36-holes in one day. Then the top 16 players after the 36 holes of stroke play advance to match play.

Last week two local players made it into match play. Miller and Cameron Young both survived the stroke play qualifier on Thursday. They both won their first-round matches on Friday morning. Young lost in the second round of match play while Miller put together one of his best scoring rounds of the season during his second match. Miller won his second round match 4 and 2 (four up and two holes to go). During this match Miller was shooting lights out, being five-under on his own ball.

In the semifinals Miller came up against one of the top players in the tri-state area, Ryan McCormick. This wasn’t the first time these two players have locked horns and gone to battle on the golf course. Earlier the season Miller and McCormick were tied after three rounds of golf in the New York City Amateur Championship.  They went to a sudden death playoff and McCormick who attends and plays golf for St. John’s was victorious.

During their semifinal match on Saturday McCormick was up two holes after nine holes and the best Miller could do was win one hole on the back nine. He lost to McCormick one-up. A day later won his finals match to become the Met Amateur Champion.

Miller was trying to become first repeat champion since Johnson Wagner completed the feat in 2001-2002. Wagner now plays on the PGA Tour and has several victories under his belt.

PGA Championship

This week, professional golf will play the final major of the year, the PGA Championship. The first ever PGA Championship was contested in 1916 at Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville.

Stepinac alumni Frank Bensel will be in the field at the PGA Championship that this year is being played on The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. Before this week the course was best known for hosting the 1991 Ryder Cup between the United States and Europe.

Bensel qualified for the PGA Championship in 2004. He missed the cut that year. He has a Thursday afternoon tee time.

Pete Dye designed the Ocean Course and its signature hole is the par-three 17^th. It can play as far as 223 yards and you must carry the ball all the way to the green and deal with the wind coming off the Atlantic Ocean.