NJSGA Conducts 1st U.S. 4-ball Qualifier; Ex-rider Golfers Medal
Former Rider University and high school teammates Grant Skyllas and Josh Krumholz fired 8-under-par 63 to earn medalist honors at the first-ever U.S. Men's Four-Ball qualifier conducted by the NJSGA at the 6,835-yard, par-71 Hackensack Golf Club in Oradell.
The NJSGA was honored to host the first qualifier for the newest USGA championship. Hackensack G.C. served as the first of 51 qualifying sites around the nation including several next spring.
The Pennsylvania duo grabbed the first of three qualifying spots for next year’s inaugural U.S. Men’s Four-Ball Championship at San Francisco’s Olympic Club.
The 2015 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball is scheduled for May 2-6, with both the Lake and Ocean courses at The Olympic Club set to host 36-hole stroke-play qualifying. The club’s famed Lake Course, which has hosted five U.S. Opens and three U.S. Amateurs, will be the site for the championship’s match-play bracket.
Also earning spots to The Olympic Club were Trevor Randolph of Franklin Lakes and Arcola Country Club and his partner, former mini-tour pro Keith Unikel of Potomac, Md., a friend from Maryland’s Congressional Country Club. They shot for a 7-under-par 64 as did New Yorkers Sam Bernstein and Greg Shuman.
Krumholz carded an eagle off a 45-foot putt on the eighth hole that he said “jump-started us. We were only one-under at the time. That boosted our morale,” said Krumholz, 28, a graduate of Rider who does clerical work at Consumer Financial Group and lives in Reading, Pa. He and Skyllas met at Gov. Mifflin High School in Shillington, Pa.
He finished with four birdies and the eagle while Skyllas, 27, had four birdies on the back nine. Skyllas, who graduated from Penn State after starting at Rider, played in last year’s U.S. Amateur and lost in the first round of match play. He is a McDonald’s franchisee.
“We know each other’s game,” said Skyllas, who as a youngster played in the U.S. Junior World Cup at DisneyWorld and was second in this year’s Patterson Cup. “I never feel pressure with Josh. If I hit a bad shot, he’ll come through. We can both make birdies.”
Randolph said it was just a coincidence that he was wearing a cap from the Olympic Club, site of Randolph is the 2013 NJSGA Mid-Amateur champion.
Niall Handley of West Caldwell and Essex Fells C.C. and Merv Smith of Mahwah and Neshanic Valley G.C. were one shot back at 6-under-65 and won the first alternate spot over Steve Delmar of Maryland and Matt Sughrue of Virginia in a four-hole playoff. Smith’s par on the fourth playoff hole was the difference.
“I just picked up a black cap this morning and put it on and didn’t notice it was from Olympic Club, where I played once in my life,” said Randolph, 41, a who has won the last four club championships at Congressional. Randolph grew up in the D.C. area before taking a job in New York and moving to New Jersey. Randolph has qualified for this year’s U.S. Mid-Amateur.
The duo recorded nine birdies against two bogeys. The bogeyed the par-4 ninth hole and the par-4 18th.
“I’m excited about an opportunity to return to Olympic next year. I’ve been nagging Keith to join me in this qualifier for a year. We left three of four more birdies out there,” said Randolph, who was co-runner-up to Mike Stamberger in the State Open this year.
“I’ve only played this course once and got in a few holes last night,” Randolph said. “"At Olympic, we’ve got a good chance to play well out there.”
Hackensack is the first sectional qualifying site in the country. Qualifying will be held at 50 more sites across the United States from Aug. 13, 2014, to March 31, 2015. The qualifying from more than half the sites takes place throughout the country in 2014, from August 13 through December 8, with more qualifiers taking place from February 13 through March 31 on the West Coast and in the South..
“It’s an honor for the NJSGA that the USGA has the confidence in our organization to handle this important qualifier,” said NJSGA president Frank O’Brien. “It shows the regard the USGA has for the professionalism the NJSGA staff exhibits on a regular basis.
There are sectional qualifying sites in 35 states. California has the most sectionals with six, while Florida, New York and Massachusetts have three each. Two sectional qualifiers are scheduled in Texas, Ohio, Illinois and Pennsylvania.
Bernstein, the 2014 Co-Ivy League Player of the Year at Yale who plays out of Century, was runner-up at the recent Ike and won Monday’s Trump Invitational. The team was propelled when Shuman dropped a 60-foot putt for eagle on the par-5 10thhole. The pair met when Shuman, 28, was attempting to recruit Bernstein to play on Harvard’s golf team.
Handley and Smith did all of their scoring on the back nine with six birdies for a 30. Handley, the 2012 NJSGA Tournament of Champions winner, had the hot putter, draining birdie putts of four feet, 12 feet, five feet , 30 feet and 12 feet.
“We got the flat stick going on the back nine. We said let’s work our way across the country. After the birdie on the 13thhole, we went from Illinois to Nebraska. We got to Nevada after 17 when I got a perfect read on a 30-foot uphill putt. Let’s hope after the birdie on 18 that we’re going to California,” Handley said.
“Once we got going, we were playing like a really good team,” Smith said. “We got some mojo going. Playing with those guys (Randolph and Unikel) and seeing the putts they made doesn’t hurt, either.”
