St. John's University Athletics
Beirne Wins Met Amateur Championship
8/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
Aug. 1, 2010
SCARSDALE, N.Y. - The St. John's men's golf senior Evan Beirne captured his third tournament title of the summer on Sunday, beating Cameron Wilson in a 36-hole final match to win the 108th Met Amateur Championship at Quaker Ridge Golf Club.
The victory marks Beirne's first MGA title and his second win at Quaker Ridge. On June 26, he won the 73rd William Rice Hochster Memorial Tournament at the same club. Beirne, whose summer hot streak started with when he took 7th Russell C. Palmer Cup on May 25, topped Wilson by a 7 & 6 margin in the match play final. The match was all square after the first 15 holes of the morning 18. Beirne went 1-up on the 16th hole when Wilson three-putted. After a birdie on 17, Beirne sank five more (holes 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10) in the afternoon's round to put himself 7-up after 29 holes. The match was decided on the 30th when both players shot par on the par-4 12th hole.
Beirne's 7&6 win was the Met Amateur's largest margin of victory since 1995. The Milford, Conn., native has earned an exemption into 95th Met Open Championship sponsored by MetLife, which will take place Aug. 24-26 at Bethpage Black, and also into the next year's Ike Championship and Met Amateur.
Beirne qualified for match play after carding a 70-70--140 (E) in stroke play to take the sixth seed. St. John's alum Mike Ballo Jr. tied for third in the stroke play rounds, shooting 68-70--138 (-2). STJ rising senior Mark Costanza tied for 36th in stroke play with a 74-76--150 (+10). In the round of 16, Ballo bested Gerard Connolly, 7 & 6, and Beirne topped Jonathan Hartman, 6 & 4. Ballo fell to Tommy McDonagh (2-up) in the quarterfinals while Beirne advanced to the next round with a 5 & 3 win over Byran Pendrick. In the semis, Beirne beat Alex Edfort, 3 & 2.
Beirne now shifts his attention to qualifying for the U.S. Amateur, which will be held Aug. 23-29 at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash.
