Zach Berger Wins 56th MGA/MetLife Boys' Championship

In what has already been a very young — yet successful — golf career for Zach Berger, the rising junior at Westhampton Beach High School last week won what he called his biggest tournament so far.

Competing in the 56th Metropolitan Golf Association/MetLife Boys’ Championship at White Beeches Golf and Country Club in Haworth, New Jersey, Berger defeated Colin McAskin of New York City 1-up in the match-play tournament on July 31.

With the win, Berger is exempt from having to qualify for next year’s Met Junior Championship.

“I think this is probably the biggest win of my career,” Berger said this weekend. “It qualifies and gets me exempt for a lot of other tournaments. It grabs a lot of people’s attention, some colleges and other people who know what this type of event is to win. It feels great to have my name on this trophy. Being an MGA champion now, it’s really a great moment and feels incredible.”

Match play tournaments are more common outside of high school tournaments. In match play, a player, or players, play directly against an opponent or opponents in a head-to-head match. A hole is won by completing it in the fewest number of strokes, and a match is won when a player is winning by more holes than remain to be played. Scoring reflects that. If a match goes 18 holes, the final score is simply all square for a tie, 1-up or 2-up. But most matches often end before 18 holes are complete. For instance, if a player is 3-up with two holes to play, then the opponent simply cannot catch up. Therefore the match is complete, and the final score would be 3-and-2. The first number represents the lead, while the second number signifies how many holes remained.

Berger, a Remsenburg resident, won a total of four matches in the 15-and-under tournament with qualifying rounds that began back in June. He defeated his first round opponent, Chase Simms, 5-and-4, which was the only match of the four he found himself behind, and that was through the first three holes. Berger defeated his second round opponent, Rory Asselta, 3-and-2, and then defeated Samuel Gao of Scarsdale, 3-and-2, in the semis. In that match, Berger took the lead by winning the first hole and won back-to-back holes on five and six, extending his lead with additional wins on 11 and 14, before closing out the match on 16.

Berger moved on to the finals against McAskin, which started off differently than his first three matches. In his first three matches, Berger had taken a lead after the first hole. But against McAskin, the two tied each other and stayed tied through three holes. On the fourth hole, Berger went 1-up until McAskin won the seventh hole to tie things up once again. Berger won the eighth hole, McAskin won the ninth hole and the two were square on the turn and it was the first time throughout the tournament that Berger did not have the lead going into the back nine.

“It was a very tight match,” Berger said. “But I knew if I continued to play well, I’d win more holes and eventually the match.”

Berger made a putt on 10 to take a 1-up lead and he gained a 2-up lead through 15 before McAskin won the 16th hole to make it back to a 1-up lead for Berger. Having finished his previous matches early, Berger had never played holes 17 and 18 in competition, but with a 1-up lead, he wanted to end the match as early as possible. But McAskin birdied 17 and Berger made an 8-foot putt to maintain his 1-up lead going into the 18th and final hole.

McAskin teed off on 18 and ended up in the water. With an opening, Berger could have played the hole aggressively, but all he had to do was par it to remain one stroke ahead, and so he opted to play it more conservatively. He used the shots he had, tied McAskin on the hole, but maintained the 1-up lead. It wound up being a winning strategy.

What has already been a busy summer continues for Berger. He began competition in the MGA Carter Cup on Tuesday at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck. Next week, he’ll compete in the Williamson Cup, which is a team event. He was invited to represent the MGA along with three other golfers where 10 different associations from around the country, mostly from up and down the East Coast and Canada, play one another. That will take place at Rehoboth Beach Country Club in Delaware.

Berger finishes up his summer by competing in the American Junior Golf Association K.J. Choi Foundation Junior Championship at Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club - River Course in Bedminster Township, New Jersey, August 19-22.

He’ll start up preseason play with the Westhampton Beach varsity golf team on August 26 before the Hurricanes’ first match of the season on September 5 against East Hampton at Westhampton Country Club.