First Time Winners At Junior & Boys' Championships

HILLSBOROUGH, N.J. The William Y. Dear/NJSGA Junior and Boys´ Championships concluded today at Royce Brook Golf Club with Warren Taylor of Peddie G.C. winning the Junior division and Anthony Alex of North Jersey C.C. capturing the Boys’ division.

After a stroke play qualifying round on Monday, 16 players were seeded in each division for the match play championship. In the Junior division, Taylor made a clean sweep, winning medalist honors in the qualifying round with a two-under par 70 and defeating Bryan Leddy of Hawk Pointe G.C. in the final match, 2&1. On his way to victory, Taylor also defeated Joey Byrne of Canoe Brook C.C., Louis Carter of Rumson C.C., and Pat DiLeo of Glenwood C.C. For Taylor, 17, this is his first NJSGA Championship, although he made a strong showing earlier this month in the State Open Championship at Alpine, finishing as fifth low amateur and T-16 overall. Taylor’s stellar play this summer should benefit the Peddie School golf team, where he will likely play in the first spot as a senior this coming school year.

The strength in Taylor’s play this week was not making mistakes. He drove it long and straight, and didn’t miss many putts. His only bogies in the match play rounds came in today’s final match, when he made three successive bogies on #11, 12 and 13 – and saw his 3-up lead shrink away. “I tried to stay positive because I knew I was playing well,” said Taylor, and an up-and-down par save on #14 and a birdie on the next righted the ship. A lay-up mistake by his opponent Leddy on the par-5 16th hole signaled the end of the match.

Both Junior division finalists tackled the difficulty of the 6,700 yard West Course at Royce Brook without any problems, as both routinely drove the ball close to 300 yards. In the final match, Taylor was even par on his own ball and Leddy was four over when the match ended on the 17th hole.

In the Boys’ division, Anthony Alex capped a big week for the Alex family with his victory today. His sister Marina, 17, won the NJSGA Mixed Pinehurst Championship yesterday with fellow North Jersey member Paul Samanchik. For Anthony Alex, the Boys’ Championship also marks his first NJSGA victory, as he prepares to enter the 8th grade in Wayne.

For most of the final match, Alex was able to stay ahead of opponent Jason Zhou of Cherry Valley C.C., holding onto a 2-up lead until faulty play by Zhou on holes 15 and 16 turned Alex’s 2-up lead into a 4&2 victory. Zhou had cruised to victory in his previous matches, but his strong play didn’t hold up for the final match. Alex credited his ball striking and sand play for the victory. Sand saves at holes 9, 10, 12, and 15 came at key times in the match. “These greens are well-guarded, demanding good approach shots,” Alex said, referring to the extremely penal bunkering at Royce Brook.