NJSGA Wins Stoddard Trophy Matches For Record 41st Time
Captain Bill Charpek of Navesink, John Felitto of Echo Lake, Ryan Davis of New Jersey National and Jake Mayer of Plainfield each swept their foursome and individual matches to lead the New Jersey State Golf Association team to victory against teams representing the Long Island and Westchester golf associations in the 92nd Stoddard Trophy matches.
New Jersey totaled 25 points to 16.5 for Long Island and 12.5 for Westchester. The matches, played at the Rockaway Hunting Club in Lawrence, N.Y., on Aug. 16, were hosted by the Long Island Golf Association.
The NJSGA team was the youngest in its history, featuring two senior players, one mid-amateur, and seven college-age players and two high school golfers.
The NJSGA team was captained by Charpek, the 2017 Senior Amateur champion.
Other team members were senior Jim Craffey of Arcola, mid-amateur Thomas Lee of Rockleigh, State Amateur runner-up, 21-year-old Dan O’Rourke of Oak Hill, collegians Davis of New Jersey National (Penn State), Felitto of Echo Lake (Notre Dame), Jared Mactas of Edgewood (Lafayette) and Jake Mayer of Princeton. The team includes two high school players, State Junior champion Jack Wall of Manasquan River and State Open third-place finisher Brendan Hansen of Spring Lake. Both were members of this spring's state high school champions from Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft.
The team representing the New Jersey State Golf Association claimed 14 of a possible 24 points in afternoon singles matches and won for an unprecedented 41st time in the 91st Stoddard Trophy matches.
Graboyes, Hansen, O’Rourke , Wall and Craffey each earned three of a possible four points for NJSGA. Jones and Mactas added two points and Lee one.
NJSGA will host the 2018 Stoddard Trophy matches at Arcola Country Club in Paramus.
NJSGA, which leads the series with the 41 victories to 24 for Westchester and 23 for Long Island with four ties, totaled 22-1/2 points last year. Westchester was runner-up with 16-1/2 points and Long Island Golf Association had 15 points.
“I played in the matches when I was in my 20s and 30s and it’s a great opportunity for camaraderie,” said NJSGA executive director Kevin Purcell. “It provides an opportunity to play great golf courses in the metropolitan area and to face great competition.
“It’s unusual for New Jersey to be this young. We have the youngest team New Jersey has ever had and thy played well. We only had two seniors, one mid-amateur and the rest were 22 years old and younger. We have guys just starting their amateur careers and a number of these guys want to go on and become professionals. The quality of the golfers we have is the best it could be,” Purcell said.
The Stoddard Trophy competition is a one-day triangular match, featuring six alternate-shot matches in the morning and 12 singles matches in the afternoon. The competition began in 1922. The matches were not held from 1942 through ’45 due to World War II.
A total of 36 points were available in the afternoon singles matches, but the most one team could garner is 24 points if all 12 players swept all their matches.
On Wednesday morning, players were paired in twosomes . The NJSGA’s six twosomes will square off against twosomes from each of the WGA and LIGA. Each twosome can win a maximum of two points.
In the afternoon, all 12 individuals play against similar opponents from the WGA and LIGA with a maximum of 24 points at stake.
