Marine Park Boasts Grand Tournament Schedule

Marine Park Golf Course will become tournament central this season. The highlight will come on July 7, when many of the area’s top professional and amateur players will compete in the 2nd Annual Brooklyn Open Championship. Entries in the tournament are sold out with a field of 120 players. The professional purse is expected to exceed $7,500.

Last October, Staten Island teaching professional and retired FDNY firefighter Pete Meurer won the $2,000 first prize in a sudden-death playoff that extended five holes. Meurer defeated Gabriel Lee of Bayside after the two players carded 1-under par 71s on the 7,091-yard layout. A field of 112 players participated in the inaugural Brooklyn Open Championship.

"With all our course renovations in place and continued outstanding playing conditions you naturally want to see how Marine Park stacks up under tournament conditions," said Mike Giordano, co-operator of Marine Park Golf Course. "We believe hosting tournaments can only help put a spotlight on Marine Park."

In partnering with the Marine Park Players Club, the Robert Trent Jones Sr. course in Brooklyn will host seven inaugural Volvik Cup Series tournaments for both professionals and amateurs. Marine Park will host a Volvik Cup event on June 30, July 14, July 21, July 28, August 11, August 18 and conclude August 28 with the Volvik Cup Championship.

The Volvik Cup will include one division for professionals and four divisions for amateur players. Professionals and amateurs will compete during each tournament for points and to qualify for the Volvik Cup Championship.

``Players of all talent levels can enjoy the excitement of tournament golf on a weekly basis at Marine Park and keep track of their points standings all the way through a `season-ending’ Volvik Cup Championship event,’’ said Rich McDonough, Director of Golf Course Operations at Marine Park.

On June 28 from 4-8 p.m., the RE/MAX Regional Long Driving Qualifier will take place on Marine Park’s opening. Prior to the RE/MAX main event there will be a skills competition. Both events are open to the public.

The inaugural Jamaica Open NY Golf Championship is scheduled for August 4 at Marine Park.

Earlier this month Marine Park hosted a sectional qualifier for the 67th Annual Metropolitan Golf Association Public Links Championship where 65 of the area’s top amateurs competed for 14 qualifying spots.  

Marine Park is an 18-hole, par-72 Championship Course open to the public year-round and is a member of New York City Parks. Located in southern Brooklyn, this links-style course was designed in 1964 by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. It boasts panoramic water views, country club quality greens and fairways, a beautifully manicured driving range and prevailing winds off Jamaica Bay. It measures 7,091 yards from the Championship tees.

Among many other books, Dave Donelson is the author of Weird Golf: 18 tales of fantastic, horrific, scientifically impossible, and morally reprehensible golf