Senior Interclub Championship Continues To Grow
By Greg Mattura, Bergen Record
Upper Montclair won the inaugural Senior Interclub in 2015 and was runner-up last year, and the Clifton club will host this year’s fall Championship.
“Our expectations, especially that we are hosting the finals, are to win it, 100 percent,” Janovic said.
“I think that we’ve got a pretty good shot of winning it again,” Skowronski said.
The Senior Interclub, also called the “Foley Cup,” is for amateurs age 55 and over. It’s the latest of several championships introduced over the last five years by the New Jersey State Golf Association.
“The Senior Interclub is another opportunity for us to reach into the clubs and provide a competition for members of our association who don’t typically play in our championships,” said NJSGA Executive Director Kevin Purcell.
The Senior Interclub debuted with a dozen clubs in 2012, including Canoe Brook (Summit), Hackensack (Oradell), Montclair (West Orange), Manasquan River (Brielle) and Rockaway River (Denville). It grew to 20 last year, with the list of new entries including Essex County (West Orange), Essex Fells, and champion Oak Hill (Milford).
Purcell projects more than 20 teams this year, with Baltusrol (Springfield) and Preakness Hills (Wayne) among the newcomers. Entries are due Aug. 4 and public clubs are also welcome, Purcell said, for an event that starts Sept. 1 with Section Play and concludes with the Championship on Oct. 26 at Upper Montclair.
Upper Montclair’s eight-player lineup won the four-ball stroke play title in 2015 at Hackensack, after winning its four-team, four-ball match play section. Upper Montclair again won its four-team section last year and was runner-up at Forest Hill. Eight-player teams consist of a maximum of four golfers with a handicap of 7.9 or lower, known as the “A” division, and another four at 8.0 or higher, for the “B” division.
Upper Montclair’s top four players all are former club champions: Janovic, also the defending New Jersey Seniors Golf Association titlist, Skowronski, William Shinners and Frank Mastrosimone.
“I’ll put these four up against anybody in New Jersey as far as zero to eight handicaps,” said Janvovic, the team captain.
“When you see the guys we’ve got, we’re all competitive players,” said Skowronski, the co-captain. “We all like to win – have fun too – but we like to win.”
During Section Play, golfers play at home and at the courses of the other three opponents. Upper Montclair has shown to be a good road team.
“Our handicaps seem to travel very well, because of the difficulty of our course,” said Janovic, whose club is located off Route 3 East. “When we travel, we do very well in other places.”
Yet Upper Montclair is the place where Janovic, Skowronski and their teammates hope to be on Oct. 26. That would put them into the Championship for the third consecutive year, with a chance for a second title.
“We have a big home-course advantage,” Janovic said. “But again, we have to win our flight in order to make it to the finals, so that’s going to be hard, as usual.”
