Golf: ‘Old’ men dominate Staten Island Senior Amateur; Andersen, Rzeszutko lead way in Junior Amateur (2024)

Over the past few days – while South Shore Little League was qualifying for the Little League World Series – Senior (over 50 years old) and Junior (18 years old and under) golfers competed in separate events, trying to reach the semifinals of the Staten Island Golf Association’s Senior and Junior Amateurs, respectively, at Silver Lake Golf Course.

The Senior competition had 19 players, vying for 16 spots for match play. Those matches were played Saturday and Sunday.

When the weekend was over, the “older” seniors dominated the event, leaving four semifinalists: Mike Marotta of the South Shore Men’s Club (71 years old); Pete Meurer of Silver Lake Men’s Club (67), Jack Kinlock of LaTourette Men’s Club (67); and “youngster” Jimmy Maio of the Fairway Club (64).

Marotta, who has won this event eight times over the past 21 years, fell behind his younger quarterfinal opponent, Eddie Gardner, one-down after the front nine, but rallied to win four of the next seven holes (the 10th, 12th, 14th and 15th), shooting even par for those holes, while Gardner struggled. Facing “dormie” (when you are down by as much as the number of remaining holes), Gardner birdied the 16th to get one back, but Marotta’s par of the 17th was enough to finish the match, 3 & 1. Marotta had qualified as the #1 seed, shooting a 71 in the opening, qualifying round. He then defeated Gary Benedict in the first round of match play. Gardner had defeated Vic Stora, 2 & 1, in his opening round.

Meurer, the five-time Staten Island Amateur champion who gained back his amateur golf status back in 2021 after playing professionally for 15 years, has been in the semifinals in this event all three times he has played (2021, 2022 and this year). However, he has not won this event, and started off the championship by shooting a 76, to make it as the seventh seed. He first defeated Skip Tellefsen, himself a two-time winner of this event and the Staten Island Amateur (and at 79 years old the oldest competitor in the event), and then took on Vinny Pontieri in the quarters. Pontieri, the 15 seed, had the “upset” of the first round, beating Mark Dudziec, 2 & 1. Meurer got out to an early lead, that he extended it with a birdie on the seventh hole. A par on the 11th and birdie on the 12th extended his lead to four-up. Like Gardner, Pontieri birdied a hole (the 13th) to get a hole back, but Meurer’s lead was too much to overcome, and ended in a 4 & 2 victory.

Kinlock, the winner of the Steven F. Zuntag Classic this past June (and winner of the 2022 Staten Island Amateur), has also won this event, back in 2012. He qualified as the third seed (shooting a 72), and took down South Shore’s “tennis pro” Ed Perpetua, one-up on the 18th hole. He then took on Jimmy Fareri, Jr., 1988 Staten Island Junior Amateur champion, who had beaten Al Sala (75) in their first-round match, one-up. Fareri took the early lead, with a birdie on the second hole, but Kinlock got it back to even on the fifth hole. Kinlock took the lead for good with a par on the seventh hole, and then extended that lead with pars on the tenth and twelfth holes. A par on the 15th hole was enough to finish the match, 4 & 3.

The final Senior semifinalist is James Maio, who qualified as the fifth seed (75), and took down Matt Zuntag in his first match, 4 & 2. He then took on John Sanginari, last year’s runner-up, who had won his first match, over Danny Reddy, 6 & 5. Maio took the lead by birdying the fifth hole and then parred the sixth and seventh holes to take a three-up lead. Sanginari was able to get the match back to two down on both the 13th (birdie) and 15th (bogie) holes, but Maio countered by winning both the fourteenth and sixteenth holes, with pars, and finish the match, 3 & 2.

Junior golfers competed concurrently with the Seniors, with nine players fighting for eight match-play spots. Last year’s champion, Soren Andersen, qualified as the No. 2 seed, and got out to an early lead against good friend Andrew Biscocho, who will be attending NYU in the fall. But Biscocho rallied to get the match back to even, after nine holes. Andersen turned up his performance and shot one-under par on the next six holes, winning 4 &3, and a chance to defend his title.

Anthony Rzeszutko, a rising Junior at Tottenville High School, and winner of this summer’s Jody Memorial Junior Championship, qualified as the top seed, and took on Alex Jankowski. The match was a back-and-forth affair, with Rzeszutko winning the first, third, fifth, ninth and 14th holes, while Jankowski won the second, fourth, seventh, 12th and 13th holes, leaving the match even through 15 holes. Rzeszutko then steadied his nerves with pars on the 16th and 17th holes to take down Jankowski, 2 & 1.

Luke Salome, a junior at St. Peter’s, had the only “upset,” as the fifth seed, over Michael Avallone, who attends St. Joseph by-the-Sea. Salome fired a one-over par 36 on the front nine to take a five-up lead over the struggling Avallone. A par by Avallone on the 13th hole, got the match back to four-down, but when Salome parred the 15th hole it was enough for a 4 & 3 win.

The final semifinalist is Logan Hynes, a senior at Monsignor Farrell, who qualified as the No. 3 seed, and beat Sean Bailey, a recent Sea graduate, 5 & 4. Bailey had an early two-up lead, through the fourth hole, but Hynes parred the next ten holes, chipping away at that lead, and then ultimately overtaking Bailey, who struggled, only parring the sixth, eighth and12th holes.

***

NOTES: Silver Lake was in fantastic shape for the four days of these events, even with the deluge of rain during last week ... The semifinals and finals of both events will move to Richmond County Country Club this coming weekend, starting at noon on Saturday ... The public is invited to attend, free of charge. The semifinals in the Seniors are Marotta versus Maio, and Meurer versus Kinlock. In the Juniors, Rzeszutko will play Salome and Andersen plays Hynes.