David Cha Claims MGA Public Links Championship
7/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
East Meadow, N.Y. – Seton Hall golfer David Cha (Carrollton, Texas) won the 68th Metropolitan Golf Association (MGA) Public Links Championship on Tuesday. Cha defeated Kyle Brey on the second playoff hole at Eisenhower Park's Red Course.
Cha finished the two-round event with a 3-under-par, 71-68-139.
"This actually means a lot right now, because I haven't won for years," Cha told the MGA. "It feels really really nice."
Cha sat three strokes off the pace following an even-par round of 71 in the morning, but recorded six birdies in the final round to make his move.
"In the first round I was hitting the ball really solid, but I couldn't make birdie putts—I left a lot of strokes on the greens," Cha said. "Second round, I started to make some putts.
The birdies then came in bunches for Cha, as he had three-straight circles on his scorecard to close the front nine, before adding three more birdies in the span of holes 12 through 16.
Cha's biggest putt came on his final hole of regulation. The Seton Hall senior made a 20-footer to force the playoff.
Both competitors made par on the par-4, first hole, then Cha was able to claim the title with a bogey on the par-4, 18th.
Seton Hall also had another competitor in the event. Kevin Sanislo (Whippany, N.J.) fired a 10-over-par, 78-74-152, to tie for 31st place among the field of 64 golfers.
With the win, Cha gains automatic entry into the 2015 Met Amateur, played July 30-August 2 at Baltusrol Golf Club.
The 68th MGA Public Links Championship was contested at Eisenhower Park, which features Red, White, and Blue courses. The Red Course, which played to a par of 71 at 6,871 yards for the field of 64, is its most historic having hosted the 1926 PGA Championship. It later hosted the Champion's Tour's Commerce Bank Championship for a number of years.
The MGA Public Links Championship, first played in 1936, is contested over 36 holes and is open to male amateur golfers who reside in the MGA territory and do not have playing privileges at a course at which the general public is excluded. Competitors must have a Handicap Index of 8.0 or below. Five sectional qualifying rounds were held throughout the Met Area to determine the final field. It is the oldest public links championship in the nation.
Seton Hall will begin its 2015 fall season when it takes to the links for the first and second rounds of the Turning Stone Tiger Intercollegiate, September 6 in Verona, N.Y.
