Colin Summers of Plainfield carded a 5-under 65, Monday at Brooklawn Country Club, earning the overnight lead in the 68th Ike MGA Stroke Play Championship. Summers, a past Met Junior champion, leads a packed leaderboard, as 17 players sit within four shots of the lead heading into Tuesday’s final 36 holes.

The group is accomplished, too, with six past MGA champions -- including recent U.S. Open participant Christian Cavaliere -- posting sub-par scores on Monday.

“Coming into today I was hitting it well, but wasn’t putting great,” said Summers, a rising junior at nearby Fairfield University. However, Summers gave a shoutout to his coach Ryan Hager, saying he grabbed one of his old putters. “I putted well and hit iron shots well.”

Summers started on 12 and after a birdie-bogey sequence on Nos. 13-14 went bogey-free the rest of the way, adding circles to his card on Nos. 16, 17, 3, 5 and 8 en route to the 5-under round. He held on coming in, making clutch up and downs on Nos. 10 and 11 for pars.

“I was scraping it in coming home, but the 60-degree wedge and putter kind of saved me at the end,” he said. “It’s good to finish a round off strong.”

Heading into Tuesday, Summers knows there’s a long way to go.

“Thirty-six holes is a long day, so I’ll keep it in play, chip out when you need to, take on the shots when you need to,” said Summers. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow and I’m excited.”

MGA eClub – New Jersey member Melan Dhaubhadel sits one shot back following a 4-under 66, which was highlighted by one of three eagle twos on the par-4 13th on the day.

Fresh off his U.S. Open start, Christian Cavaliere of Hudson National – another past Met Junior champion – leads a group of four players at 3-under.

“We’ve had a lot of rain lately, but the conditions were great,” says Cavaliere, who won his second of three consecutive Westchester Amateur titles at Brooklawn. “The rough wasn’t too long, the fairways were pure, good scoring conditions I would say. Overall, it’s a great golf club and it’s always a pleasure being here.”

Cavaliere’s round included back-to-back birdies on Nos. 10 and 11, and a chip in from behind the challenging par-4 16th green.

A trio of past MGA champions in Brad Tilley of Brooklawn (2022 Met Am, ’19 Mid-Am, ’03 Ike) Matt Fields of Quaker Ridge (‘20 Ike), and MGA eClub – New Jersey member James McHugh (’15 Met Junior) all turned in 2-under 68s, while 2022 Mid-Am and ’13 Met Am winner Pat Wilson of Hamilton Farm was one of five players at 1-under.

Wilson also holed out for eagle on 13.

“I had 118 [yards], kind of could only see the top of the flagstick, but I actually pulled it a hair from where I was looking, but obviously I knew it was kind of in that bowl,” said Wilson. He approached the green and at first thought his ball flew the green, but was notified it went in the hole.”

Following Monday’s opening round a cut was made to the top 40 players and ties. Overall, 50 players made the cut with scores of 2-over 72 or better. Round two will begin at 7:30 a.m., Tuesday.

Brooklawn and its historic A.W. Tillinghast layout is welcoming the Ike for the first time. It already owns a rich history of hosting championships, having held five USGA championships plus four MGA championships, including the 1919 Met Amateur. The Club has continually produced outstanding champions, from Gary Player and Annika Sorenstam in USGA championships to Oswald Kirkby (1919 Met Amateur), Andy Svoboda and Mark Costanza, who both won Met Junior titles at the Club.

Story courtesy Metropolitan Golf Association

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