Ergood, Summers Set Tone at 124th Amateur Championship presented by Provident Bank
WEST ORANGE, N.J. –– Doug Ergood of Tavistock Country Club and Colin Summers of Plainfield Country Club lead the field after 18 holes during the first round of stroke play at the 124th New Jersey Amateur Championship presented by Provident Bank. Ergood and Summers each shot a 5-under par 66 at Essex County Country Club, which played 6,974 yards on Monday.
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Summers finished his round with seven birdies, including three straight on holes 12, 13 and 14, and a key birdie on the 445-yard par-4 18th to take the clubhouse lead early in the day.
“I feel good,” Summers said after his round. “I hit it pretty solid all day. I didn't really have any hiccup holes.”
Going bogey-free through his final seven holes of the day, the former Stag out of Fairfield University paced the field during the first day of play at ECCC.
“I drove it decent, and putt it better,” Summers continued about his round. “I just kept it in play and didn't really make any big numbers which was good. That’s the main thing.”
The Westfield native recently finished tied for third at the 70th Ike MGA Stroke Play Championship at Hamilton Farm Golf Club.
Tied atop the leaderboard with Summers, Ergood tallied seven birdies on his afternoon round riding a hot putter to a strong opening showing.
“I putted it really well. The greens were really good they rolled really true so when you got it on line it just looked like it was going end over end,” said Ergood.
Despite a slight delay due to weather in the area and having never played Essex County, Ergood stayed patient, playing his final 11 holes at 4-under par.
“I was pretty patient out there. This was actually the first time I’ve ever seen the course,” said Ergood. “I didn’t try to do too much and if I hit a bad shot I just went to the next one.”
Gathered near the top of the standings were Dean Greyserman, of Hamilton Farm Golf Club, Jason Bataille of Raritan Valley Country Club, Troy Vannucci of Little Mill Country Club, Elliot Parker of Suburban Golf Club and Liam Pasternak of Essex Fells Country Club who each shared a piece of the third-place spot with rounds of 3-under par 68.
Greyserman carded five birdies on Monday, including one on the 581-yard par-5, 13th hole. With a long week ahead, the standout from Stanford University feels comfortable with his place on the leaderboard.
“I played pretty good,” Greyserman said after his round. “Not too much to complain about, but it's a long tournament, so I just have to keep playing well the next couple of days.”
Bataille played a back-and-forth front nine to complement a strong back nine, including two birdies and six pars, on Monday afternoon.
“I stayed out of trouble all day,” Bataille said following his round. “I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens in regulation.”
Bataille carded six total birdies during the first round of stroke play and plans to keep the same mindset going into Tuesday’s round.
“Just relax and play golf,” Bataille said. “No strategy to it. I think I've played enough of these now that I know that it doesn't matter. It's four rounds of golf and you just have to be close going to the last day.”
"With 36 holes on the last day, and this heat and possible rain coming, a lot is going to happen. I just have to keep the composure and try and put a couple of good rounds together,” Bataille continued.
The second round of the 124th New Jersey Amateur Championship will start at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 8 at Essex County Country Club. Following round two, the field will be cut to to low 40 scorers (plus ties).
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