Application Available - Lonnie Nielsen Scratch Invitational

The application is now available for the Lonnie Nielsen Scratch Invitational at Crag Burn Golf Club scheduled for Monday, July 25th.  The format is a 36 hole stableford format, which makes for a fun, exciting way to play the difficult Crag Burn Course.  See tournament application under "Upcoming Tournaments" for more details.

Covelli Qualifies for Porter Cup

Chris Covelli (of Crag Burn) was the only local player to qualify for the Porter Cup at Niagara Falls Country Club on Monday, June 27.  Chris shot a 68 (-2) to finish 3rd overall (with the top 8 of 96 qualifying).  Chris started the day with 4 straight bogeys and played the last 14 holes in 6-under.  See related news articles at the following links: Buffalo News; Niagara Gazette

No other locals were able to qualify, with Mike Carrig shooting the next best local score with a 72.  See all scores at the following link: Porter Cup Qualifying Scores

DiGiulio and Luthra win Clete Fox in 3 Team Playoff

Tim DiGiulio (Transit Valley) and Raman Luthra (Crag Burn) teamed up to win the 54 hole, scratch better ball Clete Fox tournament at Transit Valley Country Club Friday and Saturday.  The DiGiulio / Luthra team eliminated the teams of Joe Rosen (Transit Valley) / Billy Hanes (Crag Burn) and Nick Amigone III (Transit Valley) / Nick Morreale (Niagara Falls Country Club) on the 4th playoff hole with a par on the 18th hole after a great up and down from Luthra (almost holing out a difficult chip from up against the left collar of the green).  Both Digiulio and Luthra have won the Clete Fox before, but never together as teammates.  Ironically, both players were in the final group of last year's event, but playing against each other (Luthra's team prevailing).  As both players prior year partners were not available for this year's event, they teamed up together, and the combination was a success.

All three teams finished with three round totals of 207 (-6).  The final 18 holes were very exciting as the Digiulio / Luthra team entered the final round at -6, Rosen / Hanes at -4, and Amigone and Morreale at -2.  Right away, the Rosen / Hanes team birdied four of the first five holes to take a 2 shot lead at -8, and ended the front nine up one over Digiulio / Luthra (-7 vs -6).  Amigone and Morreale shot +1 on the front nine making the turn at -1 overall.  While the two leading teams (playing together in the final group) battled it out on the back nine, Amigone / Morreale, playing in the second to last group, began to mount their comback.  Amigone / Morreale birdied 10, 13, 14, 15, & 16 to shoot 30 (-5) on the back nine, and finish the tourney at -6, tying the other two teams and resulting in the aforementioned three-team playoff.

Each of the three playoff teams had a low round of the day, respectively, with Digiulio / Luthra shooting 65 (-6) on the Friday morning round, Rosen / Hanes shooting 68 (-3) on the Friday afternoon round, and Amigone / Morreale shooting 67 (-4) on the Saturday round.

2011 BDGA Points Listing

The 2011 BDGA points listing has been updated, and a link has been included on the left hand of the page (under "BDGA Points Listings").  Additionally, I have included the BDGA Points Guidelines as discussed, and finalized by the BDGA Points Committee.  Myself, working hand in hand with the BDGA, will do our best to keep this current, and up to date this year.

Gigliotti Wins BDGA Senior Championship

Fred Gigliotti of River Oaks defeated Bob Goss (Associate Member) with a par on the first playoff hole to win his 3rd BDGA Senior Men's Gross Championship.  Both gentlemen shot scores of 71 (+1) at Glen Oak Golf Course on Tuesday.  Bob Rosen finished in 3rd place with a score of 72 (+2).

Don Schwass won the Senior flight with a score of 73 (+3), Mike Yurko of Diamond Hawk won the Super Senior flight also with a score of 73 (+3), Bill Weber won the Master's flight with a score of 78 (+8) and Bernard Tasselmyer won the Legend's flight with a score of 79 (+9).

See all scores from the tournament at the following link: BDGA Senior Scores

Jonathan Clark wins Elkdale Open

Jonathan Clark of Crag Burn Golf Club won the 2011 Elkdale open with a winning score of 67 (-5).  Clark edged out Billy Hanes, also of Crag Burn, who finished 2nd with a score of 69 (-3), and Justin Pfalzer (Defending Champ) of Byrncliff and Dan Smith of Elkdale who tied for 3rd with scores of 70 (-2).  A complete list of finishers can be found at the following link.

16 Qualify to play in NYS Amateur at Oak Hill (West)

(Recap written by Andrew Hickey of the NYSGA)

Results from the first sectional qualifier (Buffalo region) for the 2011 NYS Amateur Championship are now available (please click here). Niagara Frontier Country Club hosted 101 players who were competing for 15 qualifying spots (all ties for the 15th spot qualify as well). The cut for this qualifying round fell at 76, allowing 16 players to advance to the Amateur Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in July.

The heavy rains and lightning forced us to delay the round and ultimately shuffle the starting format from tee times to an afternoon shotgun, a daunting task given the short time frame. With the help of the Niagara Frontier staff and numerous NYSGA committee members we were able complete the round just before dark.

Eighteen-year-old Daniel Yustin, playing out of Transit Valley CC, was the medalist of Saturday's qualifying round posting a one-under round of 70. Niagara Falls CC's Nicholas Morreale, the recent BDGA Mid-Amateur Champion, finished as the second qualifier with a solid round of 71.

Double Eagle - Kyle Jeziorski had a rare double-eagle on the par-5 eighth hole (476 yards from the blue tees). He qualified with a 75.

NYSGA Men's Am Qualifier

The tee times and pairings are set for Saturday's (6/4) New York State Men's Championship qualifier at Niagara Frontier C.C., as linked in the upper left corner of the page.  As per the NYSGA website, the top 15 and ties will qualify for this event.  Good luck to everyone.