Mody Upsets Shih At NJSGA Junior, La Morte Dominates Boys' Field

By Rick Jenkins

Fourteen year-old Curren Mody, who plays out of Royce Brook Golf Club, wanted to see how his game would stack up against older kids. So, instead of entering the Boys’ division of the NJSGA/William Y. Dear Junior & Boys’ Championships, for which his age qualified him, he decided to “play up” in the Junior division. His goal was to qualify in the stroke play opening round and then win one match in the match play round. Goal met – and then some.

On July 27th, Mody walked off the seventeenth green at Basking Ridge Country Club as the State Junior champion, having upset New Jersey high school champ Harrison Shih 2&1 in the final match. Mody had not met Shih before but certainly knew of his accomplishments. “I just tried to stick to my plan and play my own game,” Mody said when asked if he was intimidated by his older and more experienced opponent. Mody also put a lot of stock in knowing the course at Basking Ridge: just two weeks before, he won the PGA Section Junior Open there with rounds of 67-71 (-4).

Mody had Shih on the ropes for practically the entire match. The only time Shih was up in the match was after the first hole, but Mody quickly squared the match by making birdie on the par-5 second hole and then went 2-up with back-to-back birdies on holes six and seven. He gave a hole back on the ninth and finished the front side 1-up. Both players were under par on their own balls. On the back nine, Shih leveled the match twice with steady par play and one birdie before Mody drained a long putt for birdie on the fifteenth hole, regaining his 1-up lead. Sixteen turned out to be the pivotal hole. Shih knew he needed a heroic shot into the 155-yard uphill par 3 with the pin tucked in the back left corner, and his aggressive play paid off with a shot that ended up about twenty feet behind the hole. But behind the hole also was above the hole, and Shih inexplicably four-putted to lose the hole and go 2-down with two to play. When Mody drained an eight foot putt for par on 17, the match was over.

Mody credited his putter with getting him in the winner’s circle. "This is probably the best I’ve ever putted over three days," he said. "It feels great to putt this well under pressure and win a title like this." Mody needed only 26 putts through the seventeen holes of the final match. Indeed, his entire short game was on fire this week and rescued him from most greens that he missed. His touch around the greens proved to be the strength of his game.

Mody defeated Rumson´s John Edler in his semi-final match was Shih knocked out Jacob Stockl of Hyatt Hills, who had just finished as runner-up at the NJSGA´s Men´s Public Links Championship.

Mody will be a freshman in September at the Peddie School. After his banner summer in golf, Peddie will be gaining quite an addition to its golf team, where he should make a difference from the outset. Shih, 17, will finish out his high school career at Bergen Catholic in Oradell. The five-under par 67 he shot at Neshanic Valley in May to win the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions, which bestows the title of state high school champion, tied for the lowest round in the history of the state championship contest that dates back to 1941. We’ll hear more from Shih during his senior year.

In the Boys’ division, for players 15 years of age and under, Thomas La Morte of White Beeches Golf & Country Club dominated the field. With nothing less than a 3&2 victory for La Morte on his march to the championship match, which included wins over Jonny Slater, Robert Newhouse and Jacob Gurock, it looked like the finals might be an all-White Beeches affair with Erick Alonso on the other side of the bracket. However, Dan O’Rourke from Oak Hill had something to say about that and defeated Alonso for the berth in the finals. La Morte was playing so well he was not to be denied, and he cruised to a 7&6 victory over O’Rourke. La Morte, 15, will be a sophomore at Northern Valley Regional High School in Demarest and a force to be reckoned with in New Jersey junior golf.

Please click here for the full match play brackets in the Junior and Boys’ divisions.