Former Open Champ Brett Jones Leads Frank Esposito By One Shot
Five years ago, Brett Jones, now an assistant pro at Mountain Ridge, won the New Jersey PGA Match-Play Championship at the Essex County Country Club in West Orange.
On Tuesday, Jones, 39, fired a 5-under-par 67 to grab the lead after the morning round of the 94th New Jersey State Golf Association Open at Essex County.
Jones, who won the State Open in 2009 – the same year he won the Match-Play, led by one stroke over defending and two-time champion Frank Esposito Jr. of Brooklake and 17-year-old Nick Rencis of Ballyowen who completed his opening round on Wednesday morning. Trailing by two shots over Craig Smith, a former pro at Trump National-Bedminster and amateur John Voetsch of Baltusrol.
Play was first suspended at 1:42 p.m., then restarted at 4:26 p.m. after a delay at 2:44. Another lightning warning came at 5:13 p.m. and play was again suspended. Play was finally halted for the day at 5:40 p.m. Play is scheduled to resume at 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning, weather permitting.
After 36 holes, the field will be cut to the low 50 players plus ties for the final round, scheduled for Thursday.
“I love this place. There’s a lot of elevation changes here. The greens were perfect. The greens are smooth and soft. I could the fly the ball straight at the pin,” said Jones, whose round included five birdies and no bogeys.
“I missed two greens all day. I had a lot of opportunities inside eight feet,” said Jones, an Australian native who has lived in the United States for 11 years. Jones is the older brother of Matt Jones, who plays on the PGA Tour and won the Shell Houston Open in April to earn a berth into the Masters. Brett Jones was present for both events.
“I had never been at Augusta till then. What you see on TV doesn’t do it justice.”
Jones was able to preserve his bogey-less streak by draining a 15-foot putt on the 18th hole.
“At this place, you can make a lot of big numbers, too. I haven’t looked at the scoreboard, but I have to imagine there are a lot of scores under par,” said Jones, a Basking Ridge resident who won the State Open in 2009 at nearby Rock Spring. “So I’m sure I have to keep going.”
Esposito, who last week played in the U.S. Senior Open but missed the cut, birdied the first three holes and got his score down to minus-five after birdies on the seventh and eighth holes. He found a bunker on the par-3 ninth and settled for a bogey.
He then added birdies on the 10th and 12th holes to go 6-under par. But bogeys on the par-5 13th hole and the par-4 18th, brought him back to 4-under-67.
“I started out nice with birdies on one, two and three and missed a birdie putt on the fourth hole,” said Esposito, who won the State Open in 1999 and 2013. He holds 15 area major titles.
“But I hit some squirrelly shots on the back nine. I got a feel for the golf course. Going around in playing in things like I did last week definitely helps you when you’re playing in events like this. You’re out there all week and being able to practice.
“The course played long today. The ball was not rolling. The benefit to that is that the greens are soft. I just want to keep doing what I’m doing and see what happens on Thursday,” Esposito, 51, said.
The 17-year-old Rencis couldn’t help but notice that his coach, Brett Jones of Mountain Ridge, was leading the 94th State Open with a 5-under-par 67 through Tuesday’s rain-interrupted first round.
The 67 put him in a tie for second place with defending champion Esposito and just a shot behind Jones for the lead at the 6,865-yard Essex County Club in West Orange.
Rencis, 17, managed to play eight holes on Tuesday before play was suspended for the day at 5:40 p.m., and found himself 3-under-par after sinking birdie putts on the first, third and seventh holes.
The rising senior at Blair Academy restarted his first round on Wednesday morning and opened with by sinking an 18-footer for another par on the par-3 ninth hole, putting him four-under at the turn.
He then had roller-coaster back nine, mixing and matching three birdies (11, 13, 17) and bogeys (10, 12, 15), until a draining a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-4 17thhole put him back at four-under par. A par save on the long, uphill 18thhole, with another 20-foot putt, preserved the memorable round.
“Once I saw my coach shot a 66, I saw it as a challenge to do better than him,” Rencis said. “I felt I had to beat him. Brett has been a good coach for me, helping me build up my practice routine and keeping me calm out there.”
Voetsch, 20, is a rising junior at Vanderbilt University who played at Delbarton High School.
Smith, 32, was a professional for nine years, the last seven years at Trump National-Bedminster where he worked with Jones. He recently joined private business in marketing and says he plays golf once or twice per week on the weekends.
“I miss it. It’s good to be back here and see a lot of familiar faces” said Smith, who played college golf at Seton Hall. “I’ve had some success here. I made local qualifying for the U.S. Open here in 2009 when the Open was a Bethpage. The course fits my eye. It’s a tough golf course and the back nine is a grind.
“One of my dreams is to win a State Open, but there’s a long couple days ahead. As long as I can hang around, I can make a run,” he said.
