Trevor Randolph Wins Bergen County Amateur By 1 Shot
Trevor Randolph of Franklin Lakes, a two-time NJSGA Mid-Amateur champion, became the first county resident to win the Bergen Bergen County Amateur Championship in 15 years when he did so on Sunday, Sept. 13, at Rockleigh Golf Course in Rockleigh.
Randolph, 42, who plays out of Arcola Country Club in Paramus, won by one shot over Brian Komline of Black Oak, the only golfer to win all five NJSGA “majors.”
Randolph fired a two-round total of 4-under-par 138 to finish one stroke ahead of Bridgewater’s Komline, the 2007 winner who was bidding to become the first to win it twice this century.
As the Bergen Amateur has grown in notoriety, it has drawn a more talented field from the metropolitan area. Randolph is the first Bergen titlist since Glen Rock’s Ken Macdonald in 2000.
"I’ve been playing really, really well, and it’s just good to see some results," said Randolph, who won his fifth club championship at Maryland's Congressional on Labor Day.
Randolph has been Bergen’s best amateur with benefits for three years. His title comes the week after his bid for a record-setting third consecutive crown at the New Jersey Mid-Amateur ended with a quarterfinal loss on his home course, Arcola.
Randolph grabbed a one-stroke lead after Sunday’s morning shotgun with a 3-under 68, and he held on following an afternoon 70 in which he closed bogey-bogey-par.
He parred the par-4 18th, the ninth hole of the Red Course, with a two putt from 40 feet.
"I feel like I’ve come close in some stuff, and then I make stupid mistakes, and I even limped home here with bogeys on 16 and 17," said Randolph, a managing director in equities for Credit Suisse Bank in Manhattan. "But the 68 in the morning, I missed four birdie putts inside 6 feet, and I had a three-putt for par, so it could have been a really low score."
Komline, 41, a two-time New Jersey Open titlist, closed with 68 and just missed a 25-foot birdie putt from the fringe on his final hole that would have forced the first playoff in more than a decade. One hole earlier, he missed a 6-footer for birdie.
“You’re out in the battle, and I saw the leaderboard and knew I was behind, and I was trying to catch Trevor," said Komline. "Unfortunately, I had a lot of opportunities that I didn’t cash in on and lose by one."
--Greg Mattura of The Bergen Record contributed to this article
