Champion Matthew Lowe (left)
and runner-up David Lee-Tolley
BEDFORD, NY. (Aug. 13, 2010) -- Matthew Lowe of Farmingdale, N.Y., defeated 13-year-old David Lee-Tolley of New York City, 7 & 6, to win the 42nd MGA/MetLife Boys Championship today at the Bedford Golf & Tennis Club in Bedford, N.Y. This is the first MGA title for Lowe, who was able to go the distance as the number-one seeded player in the championship.
Lowe, who carded three birdies and seven pars in the final match, set the tone early and claimed the first five holes. He kept that lead as the players made the turn and extended it to 6-up with a par at the par-three 10th hole. A pair of pars at the par-four 11th and par-three 12th secured the match for Lowe as he claimed his first MGA championship.
“I was really busting my drives today, and that helped me because I had wedges and short irons into most of the par fours,” said Lowe. “That was the biggest difference in the [final] match.” Lowe, who is nearly five inches taller than he was last year, remarked on how getting taller has helped his game. “I weighed about 110 last year, and was 5’2”. This year I’m 5’6” and am up to about 128. It’s made golf a lot easier. I used to have par fours that I couldn’t reach, and now that’s not really the case.”
Lee-Tolley, who reached the Round of 16 at the Met Junior in July, was unable to continue the momentum he built in his semifinal victory over Kieran Purcell. A birdie at the par-four sixth hole cut the deficit to 4-up, but that was as close as Lee-Tolley would get to the hard-charging Lowe, who seems to relish on the format of the MGA/MetLife Boys.
“I love match play,” said Lowe. “It’s just so much fun. I love knowing what you have to do over every shot and just playing against one other guy.”
Lowe, 14, will be a freshman at Farmingdale High School in Farmingdale, N.Y., in the fall, and circled this event on the calendar early. “I was looking forward to this event for a while. And now to win it, it’s great because it gets me some nice exemptions into other events.” Lowe will be exempt into the next year’s Met Junior Championship sponsored by MetLife and the Carter Cup-MGA Junior Stroke Play Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club. Those exemptions continue until he turns 19, and he is exempt into this event until he turns 16.
In the morning semifinal matches, Lowe defeated Erick Alonso of Haworth, N.J., 4 & 2, while Lee-Tolley defeated Kieran Purcell of Nutley, N.J., 1 up. Lowe jumped out to a 7-up lead through nine holes before Alonso mounted a charge on the back nine to cut the lead to 3-up with wins at holes 11 through 14. The players carded a pair of fours at the 15th, but Lowe parred the par-five 16th to win the match 4 & 2.
The MGA/Met Life Boys Championship is open to any boy, not yet 16 years of age, who is a student in good standing at an accredited school in the MGA district or who has playing privileges at an MGA member club.
View results for MET Boys Championship
ABOUT THE MET Boys Championship
This championship is open to boys not yet 16 years of
age. There are four different
qualifiers for the Boys Championship played across the
Met Area, and the top 16
contestants are then seeded into a match play bracket.
The format calls for 18-hole
matches throughout the championship.
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