1st Annual KEC Golf Outing On Monday October 27th, 2014 the Kelly Creegan Memorial Fund will host its inaugural golf outing at Apple Ridge Country Club in Mahwah, NJ. Founded in 2012, the Kelly Elisabeth Creegan Memorial Fund was founded to share the memory, life and spirit of Kelly Creegan. Created by her family and friends to scatter kindness throughout the community and honor her memory, the foundation helps many experience the joy that Kelly brought to our lives.
She lived her short life with a smile and positive attitude that will never be forgotten. Registration is at 10:30 with shotgun start at noon. Golfers will enjoy a lunch and dinner with auction along with their round of golf. Price is $250 per golfer or $900 per foursome. For further information and sponsorship opportunities please visit our Facebook page, Kelly Creegan Memorial Fund, or email kellycreeganfund@gmail.com.
PARAMUS, NJ – AUGUST 24: Hunter Mahan celebrates with his wife Kandi, daughter Zoe and the tournament trophy after winning of The Barclays at The Ridgewood Country Club on August 24, 2014 in Paramus, New Jersey. (Photo by Darren Carroll/Getty Images)
Hunter Mahan wins The Barclays, gets surprise visit from wife & daughter
PARAMUS, N.J. — Hunter Mahan pulled away with three straight birdies late in the final round Sunday to win The Barclays, ending more than two years without a title on the PGA Tour.
The victory was the sixth of his career, and one of the most important.
Mahan had gone 48 tournaments worldwide without winning and began the FedEx Cup Playoffs at No. 62, guaranteed to play only two events. By closing with a 6-under 65 for a two-shot victory, he is assured of making the Tour Championship every year since the FedEx Cup began in 2007.
And by beating one of the strongest fields of the year, Mahan was sure to make a lasting impression on Tom Watson for when he makes his three captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup on Sept. 2.
“To get a win in an event like this and the timing, it feels unbelievable,” Mahan said. “So I’m extremely proud of myself. I felt great the last few weeks. My game was starting to come around. I knew this was around the corner, but to do it — and to do it today with a 65 — feels great.”
On a day when six players had at least a share of the lead, Mahan found a way to make it look like a comfortable win.
He rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt to take the outright lead on the par-3 15th, hit wedge to 3 feet for a birdie on the 16th and then rolled in a 20-foot birdie on the par-5 17th. That stretched his lead to three shots going to the final hole when Cameron Tringale bogeyed the 18th, and Mahan tried to inject a little drama.
Mahan drove into the trees, pitched out and then missed the green. But he holed an 8-foot putt for bogey.
Jason Day, who shared the 54-hole lead with Jim Furyk, would have needed to hole out from the rough on the 18th to force a playoff and he missed the green. Day closed with a 68 and shared second place with Stuart Appleby (65) and Tringale, who celebrated his 27th birthday with a 66.
Furyk now has failed to win the last eight times he has held at least a share of the lead going into the final round. He was in the mix until missing the fairway on the 14th and taking bogey, and he wound up with a 70 to finish in eighth place, four shots behind.
Tringale began the week with questions about disqualifying himself from the PGA Championship several days after the final major ended. He said he had doubts about whether he whiffed a tap-in for bogey and thus signed for a wrong score. He said he wanted a clear conscience.
“Didn’t expect it to be this clear,” Tringale said with a smile.
Ridgewood-NJ-August 25, 2014: The Ridgewood Knights of Columbus will hold held their eighth annual golf tournament at the Blue Hill Golf Course in Pearl River on Thursday, September 25, 2014. Cost is $150 per person, or $125 if registered as a foursome. All golfers are welcome.
Contests such as longest drive, closest to the pin, and closest to the line will be on the course that day. Tee time is 1:00 p.m. There will be a dinner afterward with raffle prizes.
For more information, contact event organizer Sean Noble at: snoble@frarents.com or 917-596-6815. Money raised from the event will be used to support local charities.
George Jacobus: Ridgewood Visionary Paved the Way For Barclays Event
By M. James Ward | August 21, 2014
Last Updated: August 23, 2014 5:36 am
Paramus, NJ—Thursday marked the start of the FedEx playoffs for the top 125 players on the PGA Tour. For the third time the event is played at The Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, NJ.
Lost in the shuffle on who will finish high enough to advance to the second stage of the playoffs is a name few know or will even appreciate.
Before there was a FedEx Cup, or even for that matter a PGA Tour, there was a time when a fledgling group of vagabond players conducted events that comprised the heart and soul of professional golf here in America.
Golf on the professional side was miles away from the glamorous image seen today through the PGA Tour with such heavyweight stars like Tiger Woods, Rory McIlory and Phil Mickelson. In the early days professional golf was part competition, part exhibition, and part vaudeville. In most cases the most successful of players were usually in the employ of well-to-do clubs—many in the northeast United States. These clubs would allow their professional to “tour” in hope of adding publicity to the sponsoring club but the “touring pro” would also be responsible for working at the club—giving lessons and assisting with the membership in all golf related ways.
The Depression that impacted not only America but throughout the globe had a seismic impact on the development of professional golf in the 1930s. The events that existed were low key tournaments and the purses were small—with only a few high finishers making whatever money was available.
From 1933 to 1939 George Jacobus, who headed the New Jersey PGA Section for many years, became the first American-born President of the Professional Golfer’s Association of America (PGA).
Jacobus served as the head professional at Ridgewood and in his time a number of top tier players would grace the grounds of the Paramus club—most notably the Hall-of-Famer Byron Nelson who Jacobus offered a job after seeing him finish tied for ninth at the 1935 Masters. Nelson was hired as the first assistant for the sum of $400 for an entire season—plus half of his lesson fees. The incomparable sweet-swinging 23-year-old Texan would remain for a short time after laying the seeds of his considerable talents—winning the N.J. Open and the more prestigious Met Open—before moving ahead with what became a stellar playing career.
In those lean years The Ryder Cup Matches were nowhere near the kind of galvanizing and world-renowned event one sees today. Raising the money to handle the expenses in order to conduct the fifth edition of the matches was no small feat—especially for the visiting Great Britain & Ireland team. What was not known at the time was that four years later, for what would be a planned return to the States, was cancelled because of the outbreak of World War II throughout the European continent.
Jacobus was a visionary in getting Ridgewood to host the matches and, at the same time, provide for the kind of respect often times lacking for the professional game. In those years amateur golf was looked upon by many as the “gentlemen’s” way to play the game. Professional golfers were viewed by many as raconteurs analogous to card players, horse bettors and other loose money profiteers.
Local business score from the PGA Tour’s Barclays golf tournament at the Ridgewood Country Club
AUGUST 23, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 2014, 1:21 AM BY MELANIE ANZIDEI STAFF WRITER THE RECORD Print
* North Jersey hotels, stores, restaurants benefit from event
The PGA Tour’s Barclays golf tournament at the Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus this week is proving to be a sales sweet spot for some North Jersey businesses.
From high-end venues such as the Hilton Woodcliff Lake to food trucks, the tournament, which runs until Sunday, has led to an expected bump in business during a usually slow time of year for the hospitality industry.
The Hilton Woodcliff Lake was the chosen stop for at least four professional golfers, according to hotel general manager John Moorhead, although it is not on the official PGA list of recommended hotels.
“We gave them anonymity,” Moorhead said. To respect the players’ privacy, the hotel accommodated them by placing them in rooms where they could exit the luxury hotel without being noticed. The event has caused the hotel to be more busy than usual, with fans also staying on the 21-acre property. Exact numbers could not be provided at press time.
Other hotels, such as the Crowne Plaza in Paramus, also have seen activity from the tour. According to general manager Maureen Moran, the hotel has been “fortunate enough to have members of the PGA Tour and staff” filling its rooms, as well as golf fans. The Marriott in Saddle Brook has seen a 5 percent increase in occupancy rates with about 50 more guests staying at the hotel, according to front office supervisor Casey Dunbar. La Quinta Inn in Paramus saw as many as 20 percent more customers than usual as a result of the tour, according to hotel manager Pushpa Patel.
Though fans might not have encountered the pros at their hotels, some fans did run into them elsewhere.
The PGA Tour Superstore, a golf retailer in Paramus that has a licensing tie-in with the tour, has enjoyed a Barclays sales boost, not just from fans who’ve come to the store to buy tickets to the tournament, or to meet PGA pros at store events this week, but from tournament players in need of equipment or a club repair. “It’s been a great week,” said Randy Ramsey, general manager of the store. Barclays golfers Graeme McDowell and Brendon Todd appeared at the store this week, signed autographs and participated in putting contests on the store’s putting green.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/boost-from-the-barclays-1.1072400#sthash.TrLaKaOi.dpuf
So thinking about going to the Barclays this weekend
Visitor information for the Barclays being held at the Ridgewood Country Club
from the Ridgewood Police Tournament Address: The Ridgewood Country Club 96 West Midland Ave Paramus, NJ 07652
General Parking:
General parking for The Barclays 2014 will be at Bergen Community College, which is walking distance to the courese. Parking is $10 per car. For GPS purposes, please use: 400 Paramus Rd., Paramus NJ 07652.
Public Transportation:
The Barclays tournament will provide free shuttle service to and from NJ Transit’s Glen Rock Main Line Train Station.
Plese visit njtransit.com for further information regarding schedules, routes, etc.
Car and Taxi Service:
The drop off/pick up location for The Barclays 2014 will be located in the entrance to our VIP Lot 6 at The Garden State Plaza Mall. Please use the following address for GPS purposes: 1 Garden State Plaza, Paramus, NJ 07652.
The Barclays: Ridgewood presents challenge as FedEx Cup opening tourney Ray Slover August 20, 2014 5:08pm EDT
Last year, Tiger Woods collapsed on the course after a shot at The Barclays. It was a moment that told us the world’s best-known golfer was in serious trouble.
This year, The Barclays begins without Woods. We won’t see Tiger until December at the earliest.
What we will see is the world’s best players at Ridgewood Country Club course in Paramus, N.J. Play begins Thursday in the first event of the four-week FedEx Cup playoffs. There are 122 players in this week’s field.
A bit about The Barclays:
— Ridgewood will be site of a FedEx Cup event for the third time. The others were 2008 and 2010. The course is a combination of the 18 toughest holes from among the three nine-hole courses that make up the venue. For this tournament, it plays as a par-71 over 7,340 yards.
“We kind of looked at the facility as a whole, and we wanted to lengthen the golf course a little bit to get a bigger event,” club head pro Reasoner told the New York Post.
“This golf course is so good it deserves to be on that stage,” Reasoner said. “The course itself deserves to be on that stage.”
Reasoner, we’re told, is the brother of former NHL player Marty Reasoner.
Vijay Singh won the 2008 Barclays. In 2010, Matt Kuchar won on the first playoff hole.
— Rory McIlroy, Jimmy Walker and Bubba Watson make up the elite threesome of the first two rounds. They are the world’s top-ranked golfers. McIlroy won three consecutive tournaments, starting with the Scottish Open. Then, he won the British Open and the PGA Championship.
McIlroy is the favorite to win the Cup, pegged at 5-to-2, according to The Linemakers. He also is a 4-to-1 favorite to win The Barclays.
McIlroy also gets the favorite designation from the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. The publication says to watch out for the following players, listed by their world rankings: Kuchar, No. 4; Rickie Fowler, No. 16, Jason Day, No. 34; and Kevin Streelman, No. 39.
Fowler, 25, is an interesting player to watch. He finished in the top 10 in all four majors this year, tying for second in the U.S. Open and British Open and tying for fifth at the Masters. He was tied for third at the PGA. If he is going to take the next big step, this could be the event. Trouble is, Fowler hasn’t won in more than two years, and that was his only Tour victory.
The Star-Ledger’s four players who won’t win: Bubba Watson, No. 3; Jordan Spieth, No. 8; Adam Scott, No. 5; and Phil Mickelson, No. 42.
Mickelson, a five-time major winner, was runner-up to McIlroy at the PGA Championship. But he readily acknowledges his problems.
“I know that I’ve made great strides this year in driving the golf ball … but it’s been a terrible year for my wedge and short irons. I also had a very poor year putting,” he told reporters this week.
Mickelson, 44, hasn’t won this season. He has four tournaments to snap his victory drought. He hasn’t come up empty the past 10 years.
“Now I have to play well this week and in the FedExCup to really make the year salvageable,” said Mickelson, a 42-time winner on the PGA Tour.
Henrik Stenson is the defending FedEx Cup champion. Scott comes in at 12-to-1 in Vegas odds. Stenson is 15-to-1.
The Barclays 2014: Phil Mickelson arrives at Ridgewood hoping to salvage poor 2014 season By Brendan Prunty/The Star-Ledger on August 19, 2014 at 5:13 PM, updated August 19, 2014 at 11:56 PM
Phil Mickelson has already written off 2014.
That is not speculation or conjecture, it is fact. Mickelson himself admitted as much yesterday afternoon, standing in the thicket of towering oak trees off the right side of the 18th fairway at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus. He acknowledges that this season has been one to forget. That even though he almost won a PGA Championship in the process, he arrives at The Barclays this week to begin the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs already looking ahead to next year.
“I’m actually more looking forward to 2015 and after these next few events — after the Ryder Cup — I’ll probably take the rest of the year off,” Mickelson said. “Work on my fitness, work on my golf game and really focus on 2015. Because 2015 is when the points start accumulating really for the (2016) Olympics.”
You will not see Mickelson attaching a white flag to the end of his Callaway driver. He reiterated that he is here to win and win each week and win the FedEx Cup for the first time in his career. But this is a lost season for the lovable lefty, one that — at age 44 — has put things into focus even more clearly.
Yes, winning a second PGA Championship and a sixth career major would’ve been a great accomplishment.
Jersey native Morgan Hoffmann squeaks into The Barclays in his home state
By Brett Cyrgalis
August 18, 2014 | 9:32pm
Morgan Hoffmann couldn’t even bear to watch.
The Wyckoff, NJ, native knew what was on the line last week at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C., coming into the final event before the FedEx Cup holding the No. 118 spot in the points standings.
With only the Top 125 moving on to The Barclays, starting on Thursday at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J., Hoffmann needed a solid finish to ensure his appearance at the course he grew up just one town over from. And yet after celebrating his 25th birthday last Monday, he went out and missed the cut.
So he spent the weekend in North Carolina, pounding balls on the range, hitting putts into dusk — and never, ever, tuning in to see how the tournament was going.
“It was incredibly frustrating,” Hoffmann said on Monday, walking between the clubhouse and the range at Ridgewood with an air of confidence, knowing he snuck into his hometown event, and knowing he’ll have a gaggle of hometown support.
“I grew up a town over and I really wanted to make it,” Hoffmann said. “I’m just excited I’m here now and I get a chance.”
AUGUST 18, 2014, 10:12 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 2014, 12:12 AM BY ANDY VASQUEZ STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
On an October day back in 1935, a few caddies at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus presented a seemingly ridiculous challenge to the young assistant pro.
They knew Byron Nelson was good. But they didn’t think he could hit the narrow flagpole from the patio behind the clubhouse. Today there’s a plaque on the stone patio that marks the spot from which Nelson, one of the legends of the game, hit that flagpole on his second try.
It’s just part of Ridgewood’s rich history, one that the venerable club will build on this week when it hosts The Barclays for the third time.
The top-ranked golfers in the world — including Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler — will be at Ridgewood this week to compete in the first event of the PGA Tour’s playoffs. The purse is $8 million, with $1.44 million going to the winner.
Ridgewood has hosted the Ryder Cup (1935), the U.S. Amateur (1974), the U.S. Senior Open (1990) and the Senior PGA Championship (2001). But when the FedEx Cup playoffs and The Barclays first arrived at Ridgewood in 2008, it was the storied club’s first foray into big-time, modern tournament golf. And for a long time, it looked as if Ridgewood might not get that opportunity.
Rory McIlroy hits out of the bunker on the 12th hole during the second round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Valhalla Golf Club on Friday.
Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus next for streaking McIlroy
AUGUST 17, 2014, 11:38 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 17, 2014, 11:52 PM BY TARA SULLIVAN RECORD COLUMNIST THE RECORD
The scenes from the final round of golf’s final major won’t soon be forgotten. Against a perilously setting sun, some of the world’s best players dueled atop a rapidly changing leader board, waging a battle rife with drama and thick with tension, fueled by fantastic shots and heart-stopping mistakes.
It was a PGA Championship that brought us so much, culminating in a second straight major win for Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland.
And yet, the tournament was as remarkable for what it didn’t have as what it did.
No Tiger Woods in the final round? No problem.
Woods has not been a factor this golf season, his advancing age and balky back keeping him out of action for months and putting him on the wrong side of the cut line when he rushed into action at the PGA. The doubts grow ever stronger that Woods will conquer his stated career goal of surpassing Jack Nicklaus’ 18 major titles (Woods has 14), and the most famous player of his generation won’t even participate this week in The Barclays, the first step in the season-ending FedEx Cup.
But Rory will. The world’s No. 1 player is bringing his surging game and meteoric profile to Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus. For a sport in need of new faces, McIlroy is making his case as the first Woods replacement in years. He won’t ever match Woods’ mass appeal and crossover popularity, but for the golf purist and traditional fan, he’s a very welcome sight.
The way McIlroy won at Valhalla in Louisville, Ky., the way he carried his lead into Sunday morning, lost it across a middling front nine and roared back to win, was, well, Tiger-esque.
Why golfers can’t wait to play at Ridgewood Country Club
By Brett Cyrgalis
August 16, 2014 | 10:06pm
Even if it weren’t the playoffs, and there wasn’t $10 million on the line, a PGA Tour event at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J., still would be one most pros circle on the calendar.
That is because the 1929 A.W. Tillinghast design is a treat, a throwback to the Golden Age of golf-course architecture.
When The Barclays tournament kicks off the first of the four-tournament FedEx Cup playoffs on Thursday, the pros will get to revisit the big and sprawling bunkers and the greens that carry a subtle amount of undulation.
Large oaks and maples frame the fairways, and it all leads back to the beautiful Tudor-style clubhouse, designed by Clifford Wendehack.
Yet the course they are playing is not the same one laid out for the members, as there are 27 holes on the property, and for the tournament, the toughest 18 are chosen from all three nines.
“Such courses are often overlooked in ranking of the great ones,” wrote famed architect Tom Doak in his infamous course-criticism book, “The Confidential Guide.” “Fortunately, the rankings have finally caught up with this, one of Tillinghast’s finest efforts.”
Ridgewood was ranked the seventh-best course in New Jersey by Golf Digest last year, and got its first taste of the FedEx Cup playoffs in 2010.
Mark Stankewicz of Ridgewood makes the cut for the Bergen Amateur
AUGUST 8, 2014 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2014, 1:21 AM BY GREG MATTURA STAFF WRITER THE RECORD
RIVER VALE – Rus Whitney started strong and, somewhat to his surprise, finished even stronger.
Whitney earned medalist at Thursday’s Bergen County Amateur qualifier after shooting a 1-under 69 at Valley Brook Golf Course that featured a 2-under 33 on the back nine.
“I’ve never put together two good nines here,” said Whitney, 32, an Oradell resident and commodities trader, “and I feel like I did it here today.”
Whitney, whose father, Cyrus, is among New Jersey’s top senior amateurs, earned the first of 15 qualifying spots to the Bergen Amateur on Sept. 14 at Rockleigh GC.
A 77 or better made Thursday’s cut on this short, tight course, and the top four finishers are Bergen residents: Paramus’ Jin Jeon was runner-up with 71, and Harrington Park’s John Trainor and Ridgewood’s Mark Stankewicz each shot 72.
During a strong back nine under almost perfect conditions, Whitney birdied both par-3s and almost aced the 136-yard 17th. He hit a “knockdown” pitching wedge that rolled to within 6 inches.
Jeon labeled his 71 an “up-and-down day,” and it featured an eagle on the par-5 fifth hole — at 580 yards the longest on the course. Jeon, 24, a Northeastern graduate with a degree in industrial engineering, holed out from 95 yards with a pitching wedge.
Trainor was in the first threesome that teed off at 7:30 a.m. and drove to his 72 in just 3 hours, 30 minutes. Trainor, who last year made the cut at the Bergen Amateur, secured a return trip with two birdies and only four bogeys.
“It was a great day, a good day to play golf; not much wind,” said Trainor, 54, a police captain in Tenafly and the club champ at Knickerbocker CC. “The wind was not a real factor and I thought the golf course was the best I’ve seen it.”
This marked the first time Stankewicz, 47, attempted to qualify for the Bergen Amateur. Stankewicz, who made the cut at this year’s New Jersey Amateur, had three birdies, three bogeys and a double-bogey
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/sports/golf/whitney-leads-pack-at-qualifier-1.1064529#sthash.Q0SvOsD2.dpuf
The degree to which Barack Obama is now phoning it in – sleepwalking perfunctorily through his second term, amid golf rounds and dinner parties – is astonishing
By Matt K Lewis
12:04PM BST 26 Jul 2014
President Obama has emotionally checked out of his job a couple of years early, it seems. How can one tell?
Candidates for president who brazenly assume they are the inevitable victor are sometimes accused of “measuring the drapes” for the White House.
Obama, conversely, seems to be prematurely packing his bags in hopes for an early departure.
Just last week, for example, the Los Angeles Times reported that “The First Family is believed to be in escrow on a contemporary home in a gated community where entertainers Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby once maintained estates”.
Chamber RHS Scholarship Golf Classic 2014 Thu, July 17, 2014 Time: 11:30 AM – 9:30 PM
Ridgewood Country Club, 96 W. Midland Avenue, Paramus, NJ
While you’re playing your best game ever, know you are also helping children by supporting the Chambers RHS Scholarship Fund- “their future is in your hands”.
The Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce is devoted to empowering children through education.
For more details, please call us at 201-445-2600 or email info@ridgewoodchamber.com www.experienceridgewood.com
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