The top two seeds made their way to the finals by defeating a strong field of contenders over four days of competition. The starting field of 68 players opened play last Thursday with a 36-hole, stroke-play competition that sent the top 16 on to match play on Friday.

Sunday's final saw 28-year-old Saladino take an early lead, but on the 10th hole McDonagh hit a perfect tee shot on the par-3, 204-yard hole, leaving him a birdie putt that was conceded by Saladino. This seemed to bolster McDonagh's confidence. He played superbly on the back nine, taking a three-stroke lead after the first 18 holes.

News-Review photo by Tim Dougherty Tommy McDonagh, shown hitting out of the sand, defeated Joe Saladino, 6 and 5, on the 31st hole of the 36-hole final match Sunday.

The 90-minute lunch break didn't hurt the leader as he took up where he left off and extended his lead to five strokes after the 27th hole of the match. Saladino's putter was not cooperating, and the match was closed out on the 31st hole. "My putter let me down a few times. That's just golf," said Saladino.

The level of play from tournament competitors was dazzling. However, the real star of the week just may have been Friar's Head.

After receiving the championship trophy, McDonagh commented on Friar's Head. "It's unbelievable," he said. "Putting it in my terms, it's sweet."

The 6,915-yard, par-71 layout was founded in 1997 and opened for play in 2003. Course architects Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore have designed what many have called one of the top golf courses in America. In fact, Golf Magazine has ranked Friar's Head the 22nd best in the United States. Crenshaw and Coore have incorporated what nature gave them to work with -- beautiful vegetation, trees, sand dunes and a spectacular topography -- and transformed the 350-acre parcel into an incredible golfing experience.

Mother Nature cooperated all four days of the tournament, providing perfect conditions for the players and spectators. Match-play rounds on Friday and Saturday were close, including the match between Andrew Giuliani of Van Cortlandt Golf Course and David Mann of Fresh Meadow Golf Course. Giuliani won that contest on the final hole.

Although he did not advance to the next round, Mann cheerfully summed up his two days at Friar's Head. "The course is amazing and the greens are very tough," he said.

A lightning alert during Friday's afternoon round halted play for 25 minutes, but the action quickly resumed. In an exciting rematch of last year's quarterfinals, 15-year-old Cameron Wilson of Shorehaven Golf Club was matched against Kevin Foley of Neshanic Valley (Conn.) Golf Course, winner of this year's Ike Championship. With superb putting, the less experienced and unflappable Wilson went on to beat Foley, 3 and 2, moving him into Saturday's semifinals.

McDonagh and Giuliani played the first semifinal on Saturday. Leading by four strokes with six holes to play, it appeared McDonagh was ready to close out his match. But the gutsy Giuliani came back with three birdies to tie the score after 16 holes. Pars by both players on the 17th and 18th holes sent the match into sudden death, which was won by McDonagh on the third extra hole.

The other semifinal pitted age and experience against youth, with Saladino facing Wilson. Saladino took an early lead, but Wilson kept things close, taking the match to the 18th hole with Saladino leading by one. An excellent approach shot, one foot from the pin, gave the victory to Saladino and set up the final against McDonagh.

The Met Amateur was first played in 1899 at Garden City Golf Club and is the Metropolitan Golf Association's oldest championship. This year's tournament drew over 700 hopefuls from the New York metropolitan area, with the qualifying rounds held at different sites last month.

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