Dean Greyserman wins 98th NJSGA/William Y. Dear Junior Title
Dean Greyserman of Crestmont had all the motivation he would ever need coming into the 94th NJSGA William Y. Dear Junior Championship at the par-70, 6,473-yard Morris County Golf Club in Morristown.
As runner-up in 2018, Greyserman had enough reason to win, but he also desired to match his brother Max, now playing on the Korn Ferry Tour, who won this event in 2013 and also won the NJSGA Amateur at Morris County when he shot a final round 64 in 2015.
In the final match, Greyserman played nearly flawless golf and defeated 2017 champion Jack Wall of Manasquan River, 4 and 2, and made good on both motivating factors – firing six birdies against no bogeys over 16 holes to bring back memories of Max’s 64. It marked the first time that brothers had each won the Junior Championship.
The final round was delayed by rain for nearly two hours. In the morning semifinals, Greyserman, a Short Hills resident, edged Will Celiberti of Arcola, 3 and 2, while Wall beat Sean Vowells of Canoe Brook, 6 and 5.
“Being runner-up last year bothered me because I let it slip away. Johnny Bush beat me pretty badly (3 and 2),” said Greyserman, who on Wednesday night was to board a plane for a family vacation in Spain.
“I came in here knowing I had a pretty good chance of winning. I didn’t think there were that many players here better than me,” he said.
Greyserman this summer reached the quarterfinals of the Met Amateur. Before that, he shot 10-under-par over 54 holes at Streamsong Resort to win the Florida State Golf Association Boys’ Junior (13-15 Division) on July 8.
“In stroke play on Monday, I didn’t know how to play the course and where to place the ball on the greens. You have to watch the spin on your irons. As the week went on, I was mostly hitting shorter clubs off the tees. I had no three putts this afternoon, which was a key for me,” said Greyserman, who turned 16 on July 17.
In the final match, the champion got off to a fast start as he collected birdies on the par-3, No. 3, and the par-4 No. 5, to take a 2-up lead. But Wall rallied to even the match with a birdie from seven feet on the par-4, No. 6, and another, from 30 feet, on the par-4, No. 8. Each player shot three-under-par for the front nine.
Greyserman regained his lead with birdie victories on the par-5, No. 11, and the par-4, No. 12. At No. 11, Greyserman reached the green in two and two-putted from 30 feet while Wall parred. At the 320-yard No. 12, Greyserman drove the green and two-putted from 25 feet.
Once play resumed after the delay on the tee at the par-4, No. 14 hole, Wall got himself in trouble with a wayward drive to the left. His following punch shot hit a tree and he settled for bogey against a par for Greyserman, who went 3-up. The match ended on the par-4, No. 16 when Wall could not negotiate a greenside bunker and Greyserman, whose tee shot found the green, garnered a conceded birdie.
In the semifinal against Celiberti, who earlier this summer won the MGA Junior Championship, Greyserman recorded three birdies. He had a combined 10 in his Round of 16 and quarterfinal victories on Tuesday.
Wall, an incoming freshman at the University of South Carolina who was runner-up for the second straight year in the NJSGA Amateur last month, notched five birdies in his semifinal victory over Vowells.
‘Overall, I’m happy how I played this week. All my matches I shot under par. I have to look past this match, take the positives out of the week and move on,” Wall noted. “I think Dean can become a very, very good player. He will definitely be a threat in any tournament he enters.”
