The 428-yard 18th hole at Monroe Golf Club finishes with a classic Donald Ross characteristic – an elevated green with a false front, protected by bunkers front and left. Through the years, Monroe’s finishing hole has witnessed several exciting moments, from the Monroe Invitational Championship to the 2014 Wegmans LPGA Championship.|
FOLLOW RESULTS FROM THE 2018 RDGA DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIPS at MONROE:
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It is a true blessing which we golf enthusiasts here in Rochester often overlook — the fact that the local area is home to so many classic golf course designs by one of the most revered golf course architects in the history of the game; Donald Ross.
This year, one of those courses — Monroe Golf Club in Pittsford — hosts the Rochester District Golf Association’s flagship event – the RDGA District Championship John H. Ryan Jr. Memorial – for just the 10th time in the 88-year history of the Championship, second only to the Country Club of Rochester and Brook-Lea Country Club. As the area’s premier amateur championship, many top local golfers will compete for the opportunity to add their name to Monroe’s long list of champions.
Hosting the biggest amateur golf tournament in Rochester is certainly a feather in the cap for Monroe, but it is certainly not the first event of its kind to be held there.
Along with the other nine RDGA Championships which have been hosted by Monroe since 1934, the club has also hosted the New York State Men’s Amateur Championship, as well as some of the top amateurs in the country each June as the site of the Monroe Invitational Championship — or MIC — since its inception in 1937. Four years ago, Monroe played host to one of the LPGA Tour’s major tournaments – the Wegmans LPGA Championship.
Whoever becomes the latest amateur champion to be crowned at Monroe in the 2018 RDGA District Championship will surely earn the title, having tamed one of the quality Ross-designed courses in the area, which include Oak Hill Country Club’s East and West Courses, Brook-Lea Country Club, the Country Club of Rochester and Irondequoit Country Club.
And, just as the MIC helped to launch the future pro careers of such notable golfers as Jeff Sluman and Tiger Woods, this year’s RDGA Championship at Monroe may help to further career of an up-and-coming amateur from the Rochester area.
Famous Names, Noted Champions,
Highlight History of Monroe Golf Club
The history of Monroe Golf Club actually began in 1920, when a committee of members from the long-since vanished Genundewah Golf Club of East Rochester were charged with finding a new site for the club after its lease could not be renewed. After a time, the committee selected the club’s current location between Washington Street and Marsh Road in Pittsford.
The next piece of the puzzle would fall into place in December, 1923, when the committee contacted Scotland’s Donald Ross — of Pinehurst fame — about the design and construction of the Monroe Golf Club course. The contract that would eventually be offered to Ross stipulated that he would have 150 acres to work with, and, in return, he would be offered a compensation package that included a $5,500 architect’s fee and a construction fee of $50,000 (based on an estimated cost of $3,000 per hole).
The new Monroe Golf Club course officially opened with a ceremonial first round on July 4, 1924.
In the 94 years since that opening, Monroe has produced many memorable golfers among its membership, as well as many memorable moments in its tournament history.One of Monroe’s more memorable early champions was Dr. George Trainor, who, in 1940, won the club championship as well as the Rochester District Championship and the MIC.
In the 1940s and 50s, Mort Reed won the club championship five times — a feat soon matched by Carl Christ between 1955 and 1962. In the early 1970s, Dana Consler won the championship four consecutive years (a record that still stands), on his way to seven club titles between 1972 and 1984.
In 1979, a talented member named John Kircher would win the Monroe Golf Club championship and soon begin to rewrite the club’s record books. Kircher would go on to win the title 16 times in a career that is still very active. In 1985, Kircher also won the Monroe Invitational and he has added the RDGA District Championship John H. Ryan Jr. Memorial four times since 1990, most recently in 2011.
Tim Spitz, another gifted Monroe member is making his mark in local tournaments having won seven club titles to date and has been a runner up four times in the RDGA District Championship. In the Fall of 2009, Tim finished as the runner-up at the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship held in Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
As for the Monroe Invitational, the event has grown by leaps and bounds in its 63 years of existence. Originally conceived as a gathering of the area’s top amateurs, it has evolved into an annual showcase of the top amateur and collegiate talent thorughout the country.
Among the MIC’s past champions are several players who subsequently went on to lucreative professional careers, including Rochester’s own Terry Diehl, Brian Kamm and Jeff Sluman, as well as past and present PGA Tour pros, including George Burns, Bob Friend, Nolan Henke, Chris DiMarco, Thomas Pieters and Dustin Johnson.
A Classic Golf Course,
A Fair Challenge For Golfers
Not much about Monroe’s golf course has changed through the years since Donald Ross put his final touches on it some 94 years ago. In fact, recent years have seen much of the course painstakingly restored to the way it originally appeared in Ross’ day – primarily as the result of a renovation project led by award-winning golf architect Gil Hanse, in 2007-08.
Monroe’s current championship length — 6,915 yards — is perhaps not exceptionally long, by modern standards, for a par-70 layout, yet it still features eight par-4s that measure more than 400 yards each and one par-5 that tops out at more than 600-yards.
Built on a large patch of sandy loam, Monroe Golf Club has outstanding drainage, remaining playable even after the heaviest of rainstorms. It also bears many of the unmistakable qualities of a Ross design, including small greens that reward good iron play, along with hazards that make recovery shots very difficult.
One of the toughest holes at Monroe is the par-5 ninth — at 601 yards, the longest hole on the course. It features a double dogleg, with a right-to-left drive off the tee the ideal, followed by a second shot which offers a risk/reward situation with a narrow, elevated green tucked away behind a row of bunkers.
Another par-4 — the 493-yard 14th — is long enough that it plays to a par-5 for members. Like No. 9, it also features a double dogleg, with a green reachable in two, although guarded by bunkers in the front, and a large tree on the left.
Both par-3s on the back nine are long, including the 192-yard 13th and the 194-yard 16th, and both feature elevated greens surrounded by bunkers.
The home hole is a straightforward 434-yard par-4, framed by fairway mounds and bunkers and a picturesque green which backs up to the beautifully-appointed modern clubhouse.
Ultimately, Monroe Golf Club remains both playable and a fair test of golf for even the best of players.
In 1934, Jack Tucker won his fourth consecutive District title in the first Championship played at Monroe — a feat which has yet to be repeated in the long history of the RDGA.
The RDGA Championship and
Monroe Golf Club Share a Long History
Beginning on July 25, the RDGA District Championship John H. Ryan Jr. Memorial returns to Monroe for the first time since 2002 – but the history between the club and the District Championship date back to the earliest years of the RDGA itself.
Beginning with the fifth District championship, hosted in 1934, Monroe Golf Club has hosted nine District Championships, with some of the most revered names in local amateur golf having claimed victory on Monroe’s hallowed fairways.
In 1934, Jack Tucker won his fourth consecutive District title in the first Championship played at Monroe — a feat which has yet to be repeated in the long history of the RDGA.The next District Championship hosted by Monroe came in 1940, the memorable year dominated by one of its own members, Dr. George Trainor. That same year, Trainor won the Monroe club championship as well as the RDGA Championship and the prestigious Monroe Invitational Championship, which was then in only its fourth year.
In 1948, Oak Hill’s Bill Chapin won the RDGA Championship at Monroe, followed six years later by Bert Wing, who won his first of two titles there in 1954. Greg Smith also won there in 1968.
In two RDGA Championships hosted by Monroe in 1961 and 1976, two different winners were crowned — each who share large portions of local Amateur lore. In 1961, CCR’s Don Allen won his second of six District titles at Monroe, and in 1976, Oak Hill’s Chip Lillich won the sixth of a record eight RDGA titles there.
In more recent Ryan Memorial RDGA Championships hosted by Monroe, Ridgemont Country Club’s Brian Bombard won his first and only District Championship title in 1995. And the last time the District Championship was held there – in 2002 – another noted Ridgemont alumnus, Tony DiBitetto, finished three shots ahead of home club favorite John Kircher.
– Ten (10) Monroe Golf Club members will be attempting to win the 2018 RDGA Championship on their home course this year – Luke Bucci, Raymond Demonte, Mason Grower, Greg Gutch, Marc Johnson, Benton Kircher, John Kircher, Don Munn, Steve Salluzzo and Steve Yaniak.
A Look Ahead To This
Year’s Championship
The schedule for this year’s RDGA District Championship John H. Ryan Jr. Memorial begins with a practice round and opening ceremonies on Tuesday, July 24, followed by the annual Champions Dinner that evening.
Following a long-standing tradition of the RDGA Championship, there will be a ceremonial “first tee shot” during Tuesday’s (July 24) pre-tournament Opening Ceremony.
The 2018 District Championship begins with the first two rounds on Wednesday and Thursday, July 25 and 26, with a field of 114 players starting off holes No. 1 and No. 10. After 36 holes, the field will be cut to the low 40 players (plus ties) and will conclude with Rounds 3 and 4 on Friday and Saturday, July 27 and 28.
Following the conclusion of the Championship on Saturday, July 28, an awards presentation will be made to the 2018 RDGA Champion.
Other notes of interest at this year’s RDGA District Championship at Monroe:
– Only the Country Club of Rochester and Brook-Lea Country Club have hosted more RDGA District Championships (11 each).
– One contestant in this year’s starting field (Joey Maher) was not yet born the last time Monroe hosted the District Championship.
– Ten (10) Monroe Golf Club members will be attempting to win the 2018 RDGA Championship on their home course this year – Luke Bucci, Raymond Demonte, Mason Grower, Greg Gutch, Marc Johnson, Benton Kircher, John Kircher, Don Munn, Steve Salluzzo and Steve Yaniak.– The amateurs-only starting field does include one active professional: current NHL player Clarke MacArthur. MacArthur, a left winger for the Ottawa Senators and formerly of the Buffalo Sabres and Rochester Amerks, qualified for this year’s RDGA Championship by finishing runner-up to Jim Burns in the District Championship Qualifier at Lakeside Country Club on June 23.
– This year’s starting field includes two cousins; Blake Gianniny and Danny Gianniny, as well as a father-son duo; John Kircher and Ben Kircher. Incidentally, this will be John Kircher’s first appearance in the RDGA District Championship since finishing runner-up to Jim Scorse in 2012.
– The youngest player in this year’s field is 15 years old (Joey Maher); the oldest player is 68 (Matt Haefele – who also happens to be the defending RDGA Senior Masters Champion).
– Three past Champions are in this year’s starting field, accounting for a combined 10 District titles: Jim Scorse (2001, 2003, 2005, 2012, 2017); John Kircher (1990, 2000, 2004, 2011); and Joe Wilson (1989).
– This year’s District Championship marks the 36th anniversary of the tragic passing of tournament namesake John H. Ryan Jr. in a boating accident. Ryan was killed just two weeks after winning his second consecutive RDGA District Championship title in July of 1982. The RDGA soon thereafter renamed the tournament as the John H. Ryan Jr. Memorial in 1983. (Ken Andrychuk was the first to win the District Championship title as the Ryan Memorial in that year).
This article was written by RDGA Communications Director Dave Eaton.
Monroe Golf Club has been host to many major championships through the years – none bigger than the 2014 Wegmans LPGA Championship, which was captured by South Korea’s Inbee Park, above. The 2014 LPGA Championship also proved to be the final LPGA Tour event held in Rochester.
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