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2000-2009: Departed Too Soon, NYSGA Amateur Series Takes Flight, Christy Schultz's Trophy Case Problem, A Singular Men's Achievement, Ready for Next Level

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Departed Too Soon

New York’s golf community was shaken in early 2014 with the news that Danielle Downey, a three-time NYSGA Womens Womens’ Amateur champion, passed away in a traffic accident in Alabama.

A remarkable athlete from Spencerport, Downey scored 1,000 points on her high school basketball team and competed on the boys’ golf team. She earned a golf scholarship to Auburn University, where she was a three time All-American and four-time all-SEC selection. Downey won the 2000 SEC Championship and led Auburn to SEC team championships in 2000 and 2003.

She won three straight Womens Ams in 1999, 2000 and ‘01. Following her sterling collegiate career, Downey turned professional, playing initially on the Futures Tour, then graduating to the LPGA Tour in 2006, where she competed for four years.

Danielle Downey of Rochester won three consecutive NYS Women's Amateur titles (1999-2001) before turning professional.

NYSGA Amateur Series Takes Flight

The NYSGA’s original 1923 charter was focused on conducting a men’s amateur state championship. In keeping with the times, little to no attention was given to identifying a women’s or junior champion or even New York’s best professional golfer. And the idea of encouraging competition among the great unwashed higher handicap golfers from which all those champions would emerge was never even considered!

Happily, times (and golf) have evolved, and the picture is completely different. A consistent premiere of new NYSGA events commenced almost right away, starting with the State Open (1928), the Women’s State Amateur (1930), the Boys Junior (1931), the Senior Men’s (1940) and Women’s (1953) Championships. The drum roll continues to this day. The NYSGA now conducts 19 state championships every year. 

Then, in 2006, the NYSGA held its first State Day event, which was open to all NYSGA golfers, regardless of gender and skill level.

Today, the most popular NYSGA event is the Amateur Series, open to all NYSGA members, regardless of their championship aspirations. Averaging about 20 single-day events throughout New York, the Amateur Series provides the higher-handicap golfer the opportunity to compete against peers at a similar skill level. The events are held at many of New York’s top courses (including premier private clubs) and are played in competitive, both net and gross, formats.

The result is about as far evolved as possible from 1923’s exclusive, limited mission. Today’s inclusive NYSGA events help golfers from all over the state enjoy the experience of competition and camaraderie that only golf can offer.

Christy Schultz’s Trophy Case Problem

The first NYSGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship was held in 2009 at Drumlins (East), roughly a decade after the first comparable men’s event. Rochester’s Christy Schultz quickly claimed the event as hers by taking home the trophy in 2009 and 2010. 

In fact, Schultz captured five state titles in six years, having already won the NYSGA Women’s Amateur in 2004, 2007 and 2008. For the cherry on top, Schultz waited more than a decade to win her third and fourth Mid-Ams in 2021 and 2022, first at Teugega. Then, in 2022, Schultz  successfully defended her title at McGregor Links. 

When combined with her wins in the Girls’ Junior in 1996 and 1997, Schultz holds a women’s record nine combined NYSGA championship titles (Jean Trainor claimed nine Women’s Senior titles).  One could say that double-digit state championships are in the cards for Schultz. In 2023, she should be considered a top contender when she defends her title season at Corning. There’s little doubt that the market in Rochester for a really big trophy case is heating up.

Christy (Rittenhouse) Schultz of Rochester captured two NYS Girls' Junior, three Women's Amateur and four Mid-Amateur titles.

A Singular Men’s Achievement

The early 2000s gave us few things to smile about. Two occurred in quick succession when John Baldwin, from New York City, in 2001 and then Alan Foster, from Manlius, in 2002, captured the NYSGA Men’s Senior Amateur Championship. In doing so, they joined Don Allen as the only golfers to successfully traverse the ages by winning the Men’s State Amateur, Mid-Amateur and Senior Amateur Championships.

In 2009, Foster, a medical doctor from Manlius, extended the accolades one step further by capturing the Men’s Super-Senior Championship, becoming the only New York golfer to win all four NYSGA individual men’s championships, a feat that spanned four decades.

Foster often took his game to a larger stage. He won the 2000 Senior Porter Cup and qualified for 13 national championships. In both the 2004 and 2005 U.S. Senior Amateur Championships, Foster made it all the way to the semi-finals. He competed in Britain several times, capping his sterling career with a win in the 2005 Senior British Open Amateur Championship.

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Alan Foster of Syracuse, won the NYS Men's Amateur, Mid-Amateur, Senior and Super Senior titles in a span of over 30 years.

Ready for Next Level

In 2009, Penfield’s 17-year-old Yaroslav “Yarik” Merkulov successfully defended his NYSGA Junior Championship title at Skaneateles, becoming the first junior golfer — by today’s rules of engagement — to win the NYSGA Junior and Amateur Championships in the same year.

In all fairness, in 1932, a 19-year-old Tommy Goodwin was victorious in both events, but the age requirements for the Junior Championship were changed mid-century in accordance with USGA practices to not admit players who had reached their 18th birthday. 

But perhaps more to the point, Merkulov’s last-round 61 at Skaneateles also smashed the tournament course record of 67. 

This title was the fourth NYSGA championship that Merkulov has captured in the last three years. Besides the 2009 Men’s and Junior Amateurs, he claimed the Boys Amateur in 2006 and the 2008 Junior Amateur. On the national level, Merkulov made it to the quarterfinals of the 2009 U.S. Junior Amateur before losing to No. 1 seed Jordan Spieth.

He was clearly ready to make the transition to the next level — college golf. "I wanted to win this (the Junior Amateur) so badly," he said. "It's my last time to play in it, and I wanted to defend my title.”

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Yaroslav Merkulov of Penfield is the only player under the age of 18 to capture the NYS Men's Amateur and NYS Boys' Junior title in the same year.

Familiar Faces:

• In 2001, Rochester’s Kevin Haefner set two impressive Men’s Amateur records. His 13-&-12 triumph in the final broke an almost six-decade-old mark set in 1944. This win would also mark the first time the championship medalist prevailed as titleist. 

• Gail Brophy, from Saratoga Springs, took home the first two NYSGA Women’s Super-Senior Championships in 2007 (Whiteface Club) and ’08 (Holiday Valley). Her bid for a three peat ended with Sandra Wood’s triumph in 2009 at Thendara. Wood, from Ithaca, went on to win again in 2010 and ‘11, becoming the event’s first three-time champ. 

• Jim Roy, a once-struggling former PGA Tour golfer who had regained his amateur status, dominated the NYSGA Mid-Amateur Championship with victories in 1999, 2001, ’02 and ’04. In 2009, at age 50, Roy qualified for PGA Champions Tour, one of few amateurs to make that transition back to touring pro. 

• Megan Grehan captured two consecutive Women’s Amateur titles in 2002-03. She became the youngest winner at age 13 after defeating Amber Weinerth of Highland Park 4 & 3 in a 36-hole final match at Pinehaven. The two finalists also shared co-medalist honors, both shooting 77 during the stroke play qualifying round. Grehan nearly matched Dottie Pepper as the only to win the Women’s Am and Girls’ Junior in the same year but lost in the Girls’ Junior finale at Glens Falls to Nannette Hill of Pelham, who captured her third consecutive title that year at age 14.

 
Megan Grehan of Mamoraneck was the youngest winner of the NYS Women's Amateur at the age of 13.