Brooklyn Open Champs Return to Defend

Both the professional and the amateur champions of the first Brooklyn Open will be back to defend their titles at the Second Annual Brooklyn Open Championship Monday, July 7 at Marine Park Golf Course. Professional champion Pete Meurer of Staten Island and defending amateur champion Neal Fredericksen of Staten Island will be in the full field of 120 golfers that includes 26 professionals and representatives from all five boroughs and surrounding counties. 

"I’m really looking forward to this tournament because it was my first professional tournament victory," said the 57-year-old Meurer, a retired FDNY firefighter and current teaching professional at Staten Island Golf Practice Center. "I have that trophy placed in a nice place to honor in my house. I thought Marine Park did a great job with the changes to the golf course. Before last year I hadn’t played it in 15 years. I went out there the Friday before the tournament and was blown away.”

Last year both Meurer, the 2004 Metropolitan Golf Association Player of the Year, and Gabriel Lee of Bayside carded 1-under 71s before Meurer won the tournament on the fifth playoff hole.  Fredericksen shot a 3-over 75 to capture the amateur title.

Players are scheduled to begin teeing off at 8:30 a.m. on the par-72 Robert Trent Jones designed course. The links-style design will be stretched to 7,091 yards for the professional and top amateur players, making it the longest challenge in New York City.

"The second Brooklyn Open Championship at Marine Park should prove to be a different test than last year’s inaugural tournament in October," said Rich McDonough, Brooklyn Open Tournament Director and Director of Golf Operations at Marine Park. "Summer conditions are more conducive to faster and firmer fairways and greens. The course definitely will provide a different challenge.”

Professionals will be vying for a purse expected to exceed $7,500. Gift certificates will be awarded to the top amateur finishers in each division based on individual flight size. The overall professional and amateur champion will receive a Brooklyn Borough President Trophy. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is scheduled to be on hand to present the Brooklyn Borough President trophies at 3 p.m.

Overall four amateur divisions have been prearranged by handicaps and each will crown a champion. The area’s top amateurs with a handicap index of 8.9 or less are in the first division vying for the amateur’s Brooklyn Borough President Trophy. Amateurs playing in divisions 2-4 will play Marine Park at 6,600-plus yards.

"I’d probably take a 71 again," Meurer said. "As good as that place is they can put those pins in some really tricky spots. With the speed of the greens they can make the course as tough as they want to."

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

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