Somerset Hills Duo Find Way To USGA Four-ball Championship

A pair of young New Jersey golfers and college buddies, both out of Somerset Hills, decided just before the deadline last summer that they would compete in a qualifier for the inaugural USGA Men’s Four-Ball Championship that will be conducted this May at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

For Conor Casey, a resident of Madison, it was nothing new for him to compete in a USGA event, although he had never advanced past the qualifying stage at any of them. For Griffin Kern, a native of Summit, it was completely different.

Kern had never participated in another beyond a club member-member event , yet the pair decided that they would go forward on their plan. The only U.S. Four-Ball qualifier that met their schedules was on Thursday, October 16 at Cherry Valley Country Club in Garden City, N.Y.

Because the championship takes place in the spring, most of the qualifying was conducted during late summer in the prior year. Thirteen more qualifiers are scheduled in warm climates this February and March.

On August 13, the NJSGA was honored to host the first qualifier for this newest USGA championship. Hackensack G.C. served as the first of 51 qualifying sites around the nation. Former Rider University and high school teammates Grant Skyllas and Josh Krumholz, both of Pennsylvania, fired 8-under-par 63 to earn medalist honors that day.

Two-time NJSGA Mid-Amateur champion Trevor Randolph of Arcola and partner Keith Unikel of Potomac, Md. also qualified that day. Casey and Kern is the only all-N.J. team to reach the Olympic Club.

“We teed off around 8 a.m. and we felt our number would be close to getting us into a playoff if we played well,” said Casey, 25, who played on the NJSGA’s winning Stoddard Trophy team in 2012. “So we shot 4-under and then we had to wait.

“Instead of waiting around all day at the club, we went to Griff’s uncle’s house in Garden City and we hung out for four hours. Then we went back to Cherry Valley and found out we were in a group of four teams vying for two playoff spots.”

Due to the late hour, around 6:30 p.m., it was decided the first playoff hole would be the par-3, 217-yard ninth hole which was illuminated by the clubhouse and car headlights.

Casey hit his shot long and left, but Kern was spot on, 20 feet below and left of the hole. Kern’s first putt got him to four feet.

“Conor and I both read the putt and saw it broke a few inches to the right, a bit outside the hole. I was a little nervous doing that, but Conor said to bang it home. It went in and Conor admitted he didn’t watch it,”

The par putt was all the former Villanova University pals needed to punch a ticket to San Francisco for the event, May 2-6, 2015.

“It’s surreal that we’re actually going. It was my first USGA event of any kind and it’s pretty cool that all we needed was one day of qualifying and we made it to the championship,” said Kern, who works in New York for J.P. Morgan as an associate in international equities.

Kern and Casey first met at Villanova and while Casey was on the varsity golf team, Kern was not. Since graduation five years ago, Kern has worked hard in dropping his handicap three strokes to around a 4.

Casey had success at Villanova, serving as captain his final two seasons and was named All-Region. This past summer, he and his dad, Kevin Casey, an NJSGA Board member, won the Met Father and son Championship.

“I’ve known Griff for a while and we have a lot of friends in common at home. Living close together and seeing each other at Somerset Hills, we’ve been able to continue our friendship,” Casey said.

“We just decided to give the U.S. Four-Ball a try and now we’ve made it to San Francisco,” said Casey, who is an account executive for Aon Insurance. “If you can play the Somerset Hills course and read the greens well, there’s nothing harder that will come your way.

“It’s great that we were able to play together in college, now at Somerset Hills, and we can’t wait to get to San Francisco. It will be a great test.”

Kern, who was recently engaged, said he has become a spokesman for the U.S. Four-Ball Championship.

“I run into a lot of people who really didn’t know about it and want to try and qualify next year,” Kern said. “Next year the championship is on the east coast, at Winged Foot. All my buddies now realize how cool of an event it is.”