Costanza Collects Second New Jersey Title; Wins 105th Open Championship presented by Donnelly Industries
GLADSTONE, N.J. –– Mark Costanza of Baltusrol Golf Club secured the 105th Open Championship presented by Donnelly Industries at Hamilton Farm Golf Club, which played 7,007 yards during Thursday’s final round. Costanza finished the 54-hole tournament at 9-under par (71-67-69, 207) to win by two strokes.
“I think the theme right now for myself is just ultimate gratitude,” Costanza said after the final round. “I thank everybody, and I’m feeling very blessed.”
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With the win, Costanza joins an elite list of 20 champions who have won the New Jersey Open and raised the C.W. Badenhausen Trophy two or more times. Costanza shot 10-under par (73-65-68, 206) during the 2020 New Jersey Open at Knickerbocker Country Club which he eventually won in a three-hole aggregate playoff against Tony Perla.
“It’s kind of overwhelming, to be honest,” Costanza said. “I won this five years ago in 2020. Not too long before that, if you said I would have won just one of these, or any golf tournament, I probably would have laughed at you.”
“To be able to sit here now and be a two-time State Open champion, knowing the pedigree of the amazing players that have won this multiple times, I'm just very thankful,” Costanza continued.
Costanza entered the day at 6-under par and one shot back from the lead following 5-under par, second round surge on Wednesday afternoon. The former St. John’s University standout golfer got out to a strong start in his final round with two birdies and an eagle on the 559-yard par 5, 9th hole to cap off his front nine.
“Hole 9 is one of my favorite par fives on the course,” Costanza said. "The way the wind was blowing, I knew if I hit a good drive I could get all the way down and have a pretty short club in there for my second. My goal was to kind of get to 2-under before I got to hole 9, which I did.”
“Then I hit a good drive on hole 9, a good second shot, and had a tough kind of slider putt,” Costanza continued. “I'd missed a few of those early in the week, but I looked at my caddie Dave and I was like, ‘Dude, I’m making this putt. We're making this putt.’ So, that was that was big.”
With a consistent run through the back nine, which featured six consecutive pars to start, Costanza held onto a lead that the rest of the field could not catch up to. Playing at the familiar Hamilton Farm, where he is a longtime member, Costanza felt right at home closing it down the stretch.
“When the course firms up a little bit, the local knowledge becomes a little bit more important,” Costanza said. “A couple of the pin locations, knowing the spots to be and where not to be was important. Having hit a lot of these shots so many times in the last few years really guided me, and made it a little bit more comfortable.”
“I'm just incredibly grateful to be here and to be able to get it done here,” Costanza remarked. “It was awesome.”
The Upper Saddle River native sealed his round with a par putt on No. 18 as his friends and family looked on.
"They’re the best,” Costanza said. “I know it's not easy. I really appreciate my wife Meredith and the sacrifice for being a ‘golf wife,’ if you will. You travel and play in golf tournaments, and she puts up with me. She’s become a fan of the game, and I love it when she's out here watching.”
“Shout out to Lily, my daughter,” Costanza continued. “To have them both here and to do it at Hamilton Farm, a place I know so well where I’m like family with a lot of the staff and everybody here, it's really special to me.”
In second place was Brent Paladino, Senior Director, Championship Administration for the United States Golf Association, who shot 7-under par (70-67-72, 209). Paladino, the 2023 champion, finishes as the low professional for the third consecutive year. The low professional's share of the $100,000 purse was $20,000.
Rounding out third place was the Greyserman-duo of brothers Reed and Dean, who each shot a 6-under par, 210.
Reed Greyserman, of Hamilton Farm Golf Club, fired in a final round score of 5-under par to get to 6-under overall (72-71-67, 210). With a final day blitz, which featured five birdies on the front nine, the rising sophomore at Princeton University applied serious pressure to the leaderboard early on.
With a first-round score of 8-under par, 64, Dean Greyserman, also of Hamilton Farm Golf Club, set the pace for competition early. Battling through a 4-over par second round, Dean Greyserman pushed through his final round and carded in four birdies and an eagle on No. 9 to finish 1-under for the day.
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