Wallach-zychowski, Lee-kramer Co-medalists At 4-ball Qualifying

The duos of Steve Zychowski and Sam Wallach of Mendham and Jerry Lee and Brian Kramer of Trump National-Bedminster each fired rounds of 8-under-par 64 to share medalist honors for the 82nd NJSGA Four-Ball Championship on Monday, August 5, at Crestmont Country Club in West Orange.

Some 16 of 39 groups advance to match-play which begins on Wednesday morning with the Round of 16 and continues into the afternoon with the quarterfinals. The semifinals and finals take place on Thursday.

MATCH-PLAY BRACKET PHOTO GALLERY

Zychowski and Wallach recorded seven birdies and an eagle, which came on the 296-yard par-4 seventh hole when Zychowski drove the green and sank a six-foot putt. Wallach’s round included a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-4 first hole.

Zychowski and Wallach, the top seeded team, takes on the No. 16 seeded duo of nephew-uncle Kieran Purcell (Essex County) and Kevin Purcell (Darlington).

Zychowski and Wallach reached the quarterfinals in 2012 when they lost to the winning team of Mike LoCastro and Harris Podvey of Rolling Greens.

“We’re good friends. We’ve known each other since junior golf,” said Zychowski, 23, who was runner-up in this year’s State Amateur and placed 15thin the State Open. “WE both play well and know each other’s games. “

“We’re both good putters,” added Wallach, 22, who caddied for Zyhowski in both the State Amateur and State Open and recently earned a master’s degree in finance at his alma mater, the University of Texas.

Zychowski, who will be playing next week in his fourth U.S. Amateur in the past five years, is considering joining the mini-tour circuit in the fall.

Lee was club champion at Trump-Bedminster last year when he was a semifinalist in the state Mid-Amateur. Kramer is a five-time club champion at Trump-Bedminster and played in the U.S. Mid-Amateur in 2009.

The pair, who face No 15 seed Peter Halas and Jason Menges of Jumping Brook, combined for eight birdies on Tuesday.

“We’ve always wanted to play together. Jerry is very solid, very consistent,” said Kramer, 54, who played at Florida Southern and was a teammate of Mark Calcavecchia. Lee, 39, is a graduate of Princeton who lives in Chatham. Kramer is a resident of Far Hills.