Hackensack Golf Club Is Host To 93rd State Open
Venerable Hackensack Golf Club, which has hosted New Jersey State Golf Association championships since the 1920s, will play host to the State Open for the first time in history.
The 93rd New Jersey State Golf Association Open Championship is set for next Tuesday through Thursday (July 9-11) when the 54-hole, stroke-play tournament takes place at the Oradell-based facility.
Hackensack has hosted numerous NJSGA championships, including four State Amateurs, beginning in 1940 and others in 1968, ’84 and ’99. Among other NJSGA events hosted at Hackensack were the Billy Y Dear Junior and Boys, Four-Ball, Father and Son, Tournament of Champions, and most recently, the Women’s Amateur championship, in 2011.
Defending champion Benjamin Smith of Neshanic Valley leads the starting field of 128 golfers into the State Open. The field includes 73 qualifiers and 55 exempt players, 79 professionals and 49 amateurs.
Including Smith, 16 former champions from as far back as 1980 (Russell Helwig of Essex Fells, 1982 and ’80) will be competing.
Other former champions are Brian Gaffney of Rumson (2010), Brett Jones of Mountain Ridge (2009), Mark McCormick of Suburban (2008), Brian Komline of Black Oak (2007 and ’05), Jason Lamp of Deal (2006), Ed Whitman of Knickerbocker (2004, ’96, ’95 and ’90), Greg Farrow of Deerwood (2003), Baker Maddera of Rock Spring (2002), Chris Dachisen of North Jersey (2001 and ’97), John DiMarco of Laurel Creek (2000), Frank Esposito Jr. of Brooklake (1999), David Glenz of Black Oak (1990, ’88, ‘86 and ’84), Steve Sieg of Navesink (1989), Gary Ostrega of Hyatt Hills (1985) and Helwig.
The McGovern family of Bergen County will be will represented with multiple-time Hackensack club champion and former PGA Tour pro Jim McGovern, now the head professional at White Beeches, and his younger brother Mike McGovern of Hackensack, in the field.
Other Hackensack representatives include amateurs Matthew Michael and Tom Travalja, and Hackensack head pro Mike Dezic.
Recent State Amateur champion Mike Stamberger of Spring Lake and recent State Pre-Senior champion Scott Lipareli of Metuchen are also competing. Bill Britton of Trump National-Colts Neck, who won the recent NJPGA/NJSGA Senior championship, and is a former PGA Tour pro, is also in the field.
After the second day of action, and a total of 36 holes are played, the field will be cut to the top 50 players plus ties, setting up an 18-hole final on Thursday. A total of 444 golfers competed in four qualifiers throughout the state, with 73 of them qualifying into the starting field.
Jim McGovern is the last New Jersey pro to win a PGA Championship, when he won the Shell Houston Open in 1993. McGovern, a native of Oradell who attended Bergen Catholic H.S., played 20 years on the PGA Tour. In 1993, besides winning the Shell Houston Open, he had two other top-10 finishes, earned $587,495 and finished 27th on the money list. His best finish in a major was T5 at the 1994 Masters Tournament. He was also 13th at the U.S. Open. As an amateur, he won the 1987 Metropolitan Open and in 1988, the Met Am.
“Hackensack is in as pristine condition as it was the day it opened in 1928. Hackensack was the first solo design by Charles Banks, who learned his craft under two of the most heralded golf-course architects of his time, Seth Raynor and Charles Blair Macdonald,” said NJSGA president Tom McGovern, brother to both Jim and Mike.
“The State Open has a rich and exciting history, matching the best amateur and professional golfers throughout our state and has been played continuously since 1921,” Tom McGovern added. “I am proud to state that Hackensack is considered one of the finest venues in the state and we are honored this year as the State Open is contested at my home course for the first time in history.”
Since the mid-2000s, the Hackensack membership has undertaken an ambitious project of restoring the course to the original inspired design of Banks. That design featured deep bunkers and sloping greens. Those effects are both present again here today and present a challenging golf course that will test the shot-making ability of the current players.
Another local favorite is pro is Mike Burke of Montammy, who has never won the State Open, but is one of the state’s most decorated golfers as a six-time NJPGA Player of the Year.
