NJSGA Officials Play Important Roles At U.S. Junior Amateur At Baltusrol G.C.

The New Jersey State Golf Association was represented by a group of volunteer rules officials who played important roles at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, which was played this week at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield.

The tournament concluded on Saturday with Michael Thorbjornsen of Wellesley, MA., defeating Akshay Bhatia of Wake Forest, N.C., by a score of 1-up in the 36 -hole match play final.

Six members of the NJSGA took part in the event in a variety of roles on the course: Brad Bardon, NJSGA Manager of Tournaments and Operations, Eric Houseknecht, NJSGA vice president, and Lisa Lifer, a member of the Board of Trustees and Women’s Committee, all served as walking officials; Tournament Committee volunteers Walter Voytus, Mark McCabe and Walter Sartorius acted as forward observers during match play; andVoytus and Sartorius also worked as pace of play checkpoint officials during the stroke play portion of the event.

Houseknecht, who also serves as the Chairman of the NJSGA Tournament Committee, said: “I could not have been more pleased when (USGA Regional Affairs Director) Joe Sprague contacted me this spring and asked if I could help identify rules officials from the NJSGA to assist in conducting the U.S. Junior. For the past few years, we have been working very hard at the state level to upgrade our training programs for Tournament Committee members.

“Being able to provide five Tournament Committee volunteers, along with one staff member, who had all scored highly enough on the USGA Rules Exam to meet their criteria for officiating a national championship event, speaks volumes about the level at which we are now operating,” he concluded.

The U.S. Junior was open to any boy who was 18 or younger as of July 21, the final day of the championship, and had a handicap index of 4.4 or less. A total of 3,693 players attempted to qualify for the championship. 58 qualifying rounds were conducted in 40 states to narrow the field to the 156 golfers who competed at Baltusrol.