MGA Carey Cup Team Arrives in Ireland

The six-man MGA Carey Cup team traveled to Ireland over the weekend for the 8th Governor Hugh L. Carey Challenge Cup, a Walker Cup-style event against a team from the Golfing Union of Ireland, on May 5 and 6 at the Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links (left). The MGA team is led by 2008 MGA Player of the Year Joe Saladino of Huntington and includes 2008 MGA Mid-Amateur champion Greg Rohlf of Winged Foot, 2007 MGA Mid-Amateur champ Mike Reardon of Tuxedo, and Ed Gibstein of Engineers, who is playing in his ninth MGA international competition. Sixteen-year-old Cameron Wilson, the low amateur at the 2008 Met Open, and 20-year-old Robert Cronheim of Twin Brooks, who finished tied for 9th at the 2008 New Jersey State Open, round out a strong MGA team. MGA Director of Special Events Kate Keller will send updates on all the action from the matches:

May 3
WE MADE IT! We arrived this morning at Dublin Airport at 10:15 a.m. Our flight was a little late, but Seamus Smith, the General Secretary of the Golfing Union of Ireland, was there to greet us with our bus. We picked up our rental cars, loaded the bus and checked into the Portmarnock Hotel. The team got a quick bite to eat, then it was off to golf at the K Club, site of the 2006 Ryder Cup. The group reconvened for a lovely dinner at one of the hotel's three restaurants. The weather has been great so far with just a few showers throughout the day, but that's typical here in Ireland!

Kate Keller

Big Monday

It’s a great sports day, with home openers at baseball stadiums across the country and the NCAA Men’s basketball championship game tonight in Detroit. It’s also the first full day of practice rounds at Augusta National Golf Club, as the Masters begins in less than 72 hours. Unfortunately, none of the players of local interest that we track as part of Tour Watch on mgagolf.org – J.J. Henry, Johnson Wagner and Marc Turnesa – made it into the Masters field. But that doesn’t mean we still don’t have some ideas about who’s going to wear the green jacket come Sunday evening. With that in mind the MGA Communications staff of Greg Midland, Bob Nielsen and Billy Condon decided to launch MGA Swing Thoughts with our 2009 Masters predictions below. Check back all season for golf news and stories from the Met Area and beyond.