Open And Amateur Champions Headline NJSGA Stoddard Trophy Team
State Open champion Luke Graboyes of Watchung Valley and State Amateur champion Dawson Jones of Jumping Brook headline a group of 12 individuals who will comprise the team representing the New Jersey State Golf Association at the 92nd Stoddard Trophy matches on Wednesday, August 16, at Rockaway Hunting Club in Lawrence, N.Y.
Graboyes, a recent graduate of Cornell University,and Jones, ho attend the University of Rhode Island, are two of many young players on the team that is looking to defend its title against golf association teams from Long Island and Westchester .
In 2016, the team representing the New Jersey State Golf Association claimed 16-1/2 of a possible 24 points in afternoon singles matches and won for an unprecedented 40th time in the 91st Stoddard Trophy matches.
The 2016 event, hosted by the Westchester Golf Association, took place at Century County Club in Purchase, N.Y.
NJSGA, which leads the series with the 40 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.
The NJSGA team is captained by Bill Charpek of Navesink, the 2017 Senior Amateur champion.
Other team members are Jim Craffey of Arcola, Thomas Lee of Rockleigh, State Amateur runner-up Dan O’Rourke of Oak Hill, collegians Ryan Davis of New Jersey National (Penn State), John 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 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 will be 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.
