Max Greyserman Is 92nd Junior Champion; Chae Wins Boys
Max Greyserman of Crestmont played sub-par golf for three straight days and it culminated with a 5 and 4 victory over Zach Egermayer of White Beeches in the final match of the 92ndBilly Y. Dear Junior Championship on Wednesday, July 24, at the 6,564-yard Raritan Valley Country Club in Bridgewater.
Greyserman, 18, graduated Peddie in the spring and will play for the Duke University golf team this fall. He is a second team Rolex Junior All-American and will play in the British Boys Championship in August at Royal Liverpool Golf Club and Wallasey Golf Club for the second straight year. He is ranked No. 18 in the nation by juniorgolfscoreboard.com.
VIEW PHOTO GALLERY MATCH-PLAY RESULTS
“I came here to win and gain match-play experience,” said Greyserman, a Short Hills resident who competed in the NJSGA Juniors for the first time. “My ball striking was good overall. I really hit the driver well. But I need to find a way to hit it lower. My putting was really streaky.”
Greyserman shot 3-under-par 69 in the qualifier on Monday. He reports to Duke on August 20, just days after the British Boys event and will play in four fall events there.
Against Egermayer, who will be a senior at Bergen Catholic, Greyserman took control of the match by winning the par-3 seventh hole with a par, the par-4 eighth with a par and the par-5 ninth with a birdie to go 3-up.
He added victories on the par-5 12th with a par and the par-4 13th, again with par to go 5-up. He made an up-and-down on the par-4 14th for a halve and the 5 and 4 triumph.
In the morning session, Greyserman edged 17-year-old Nick Cappetti of Burlington, a senior-to-be at Burlington Township High School, 2 and 1. Cappetti rallied from 3-down to get all square on the back nine. But Greyserman won the par-4 16th hole with a birdie putt from 12 feet, and won the par-4 17th with a par.
“It was great to play someone who is ranked in the Top 100 in the nation, and to come back from three down to all square against him,” Cappetti said. “It tells me I’m better than I think I am.”
Egermayer needed 19 holes to edge Nick Rencis of Ballyowen. Egermayer parred the extra hole, the par-5 opening hole, to salvage the semifinal victory.
“I didn’t play well this morning. It was a grind. My putter was hot on Tuesday, but I couldn’t make much today. They rolled the greens and the speed picked up,” Egermayer said.
“It was fun. I played pretty well overall in this tournament,” said Rencis, 16, who attends Blair Academy. “I can take a lot from this experience. It will help me a lot.”
In the 43rd NJSGA Boys Championship, Justin Chae of New Jersey National, 15, birdied four holes and claimed a 3 and 2 victory over Andrew Bowyer of Canoe Brook. In the morning semifinals, Chae defeated Tommy Hussong of Mercer Oaks, 5-4 while Bowyer ousted Steve Weingroff of White Beeches, 7 and 6.
Chae, who turns 16 on Sept. 2, is a sophomore-to-be at Pingry School, was the medalist with a 2-under-par 70 on Monday. In Thursday’s final, Chae needed only 25 putts for his triumph. Both players live in the same hometown of Summit.
“I lost to Andrew last year in the first round of the New Jersey PGA Junior Match-Play, and he beat me in the first round. I knew he was a good putter, so I knew I had to make my putts. That enabled me to get more wins on holes instead of halves.”
Bowyer, 15, a junior-to-be at Summit High School, went on to win the NJPGA Match-Play championship in 2012. Last summer, Chae won the Rutgers Junior Open.
“Because I won the medal on Monday, it forced me to play my best and I accomplished my goal of winning this tournament. This is my biggest win,” Chae stated.
Chae used birdies to win the par-4 fourth hole, the par-3 sixth hole, and the the par-4 14th. He also won the par-4 fifth hole with a par. Bowyer hit 15 of 16 greens in regulation, but his putter failed him. Chae made good on nine of 16 greens in regulation.
“I had fun in this tournament. I just wish I putted better,” Bowyer said.
