KINGSTON, N.Y. — Saugerties High senior Ty Monroe found himself in a deep hole in the blink of an eye in a first-round match with Mike Lawrence in the opening round of Wiltwyck Golf Club’s men’s club championship on Saturday, Aug. 15.
The defending Wiltwyck men’s club titlist, who was the top seed in the 16-man championship flight, was 3-down after three holes to the 16th-seeded Lawrence. It certainly wasn’t the kind of start Monroe envisioned in defense of his club championship.
“I kind of got off to a shaky start,” said Monroe, who was a runaway winner in this year’s Ulster County Men’s Amateur Golf Championship (The Herdegen) in late June. “I couldn’t really get anything going.”
Monroe managed to cut his deficit to 2-down after nine holes and then got things back on track on the back nine on the way to a 3 and 1 come-from-behind victory.
Monroe will face 2024 Wiltwyck club champion Matthew Conte in one of four quarterfinal-round matches on Sunday, Aug. 16. The ninth-seeded Conte defeated Monroe’s older brother and No. 8 seed, Jacob, 4 and 3 in the first round.
Other first-round matches had 2025 finalist and No. 4 seed Mike Hein ousting No. 13 Mike Beck, 2 and 1; No. 5 Joe Redmond defeating No. 12 Brandon Kraft, 4 and 3; No. 2 Chris DeForest ousting No. 15 Michael Horodyski, 6 and 4; No. 7 and former club champion Padraic Bradley besting No. 10 Shaun Prunotto, 7 and 6; No. 3 Brady Short eliminating No. 14 Adam Williams, 6 and 5; and No. 6 and junior club champion Hokai Liu topping No. 11 Steve Munisteri, 5 and 3.
Monroe said he began feeling better about his game when he bombed his drive on the par-4 10th hole and cut his deficit to 1-down with a par. Then he evened the match with a short birdie putt on the par-3 11th hole.
“I hit it to four feet,” Monroe said. “I really liked my tee shot on 11.”
Monroe said he got a big break on the 12th hole when his tee shot was only a foot from going into the water hazard. He went on to win the hole with a par for his first lead of the match (1 up) after Lawrence hit his tee shot into the hazard and made a double bogey.
Lawrence evened the match by winning the par-4 14th hole after Monroe hit his approach shot into a greenside bunker and made bogey.
Monroe then reeled off three straight wins with pars on Nos. 15, 16 and 17 to finish off the 3 and 1 victory in the scheduled 18-hole match.
“I was really surprised to go down three after three holes,” Monroe said. “But I really stayed in there, and Mr. (Jim) McGowan really helped me. He was on the bag today.”
After his comeback win over Lawrence, Monroe feels good about his chances to take a second straight men’s club championship. But he realizes it won’t be easy.
“My confidence level is pretty high,” he said. “It’s a pretty strong field. I was happy to see we had 16 golfers, so I didn’t have a bye in the first round because I really wanted to play.”
Wiltwyck’s club championship field will be pared to four men following Sunday’s four matches. The semifinal round will take place Saturday, Aug. 22. The 36-hole championship match will be contested on Sunday, Aug. 23.
At the Woodstock Golf Club, top-seeded and defending men’s club champion Scott Dean advanced to the quarterfinals with a 5 and 4 win over No. 16 Jordan Taylor on Saturday. Dean has two club titles at Woodstock.
Other winners at Woodstock were No. 9 Kyle Petramale over No. 8 Brian Brock, 2 and 1; No. 4 Chris Helsmoortel over No. 13 Tom Sewell, 4 and 3; No. 12 Brady Schoepflin over No. 5 Sam Iapoce, 5 and 3; No. 2 Bryan Smith over No. 15 Ken Frawley, 2 and 1; No. 10 Steve Swanson over No. 7 Matt Leifeld, 2 and 1; No. 3 Brian Williams over No. 14 Tim Geaney, 2 up; and No. 6 Enrico Palazio Jr. over No. 11 Bill Zeeh, 4 and 3.
Woodstock’s men’s championship will continue on Sunday, Aug. 16, with four matches.