Blog
May 19

RDGA Match Play Championships Coming to Ontario Country Club This Weekend

With a storied history that pre-dates the RDGA, scenic Ontario Country Club hosts the 2015 District Match Play Championships this weekend, May 22 to 24.
 
“May madness” is coming to Ontario Country Club this weekend as the 2015 Rochester District Golf Association Match Play Championship gets under way, beginning on Friday, May 22. A full field of 32 top-ranked golfers – based on points earned during 2014 tournament competition – tees it up in single elimination match play, with Stafford Country Club’s Jim Scorse as the defending champion and No. 1 seed.

And – new this year – a District Senior Match Play Championship will be held along with the Match Play Championship, featuring 16 top 55-and-over golfers, including defending RDGA Senior Champion Bob Zeman from Sodus Bay Heights as the No. 1 seed.

The RDGA’s first major championship of the season, the District Match Play Championship is celebrating its 19th year in 2015. The Match Play Championship also has a unique connection to the RDGA District Championship, dating back to the earliest days of the RDGA in 1930. For the first 38 years of the RDGA District Championship, the event was conducted as a match play competition – until 1969, when a 72-hole stroke play format was adopted, which has continued to be used to this day. When the RDGA Match Play Championship was added to the District schedule in 1997, it restored the tradition of top match play competition that had been absent from the RDGA for nearly 30 years.

In addition to crowning Match Play and Senior Match Play Champions following the final matches on Sunday, RDGA Match Play finalists will also earn exemptions into the 2015 RDGA District Championship John H. Ryan Memorial, to be hosted by Midvale Country Club on July 8 to 11.

Historic Ontario Country Club pre-dates the RDGA, first opening in 1928 and hosting several important District and State championships. The course has undergone significant transformation through the years – including a redesign by world-famous architect Geoffrey Cornish in the early 1980s. Re-named Brookwoods Country Club as part of an ownership change in 2007, the club recently returned to its roots by reclaiming its Ontario Country Club name. Now fully open to the public, Ontario Country Club is managed by Director of Golf Operations Matt Mancine.

The 2015 RDGA Match Play Championship begins on Friday, May 22, with the first match teeing off at 7:30 a.m. The 32-player starting field will then be cut in half following the morning matches, with the Round of 16 teeing off Friday afternoon. Two rounds will also be played on Saturday, May 23, and the remaining two players will square off in the final match on Sunday morning. Spectators are welcome to attend all three days of the RDGA Match Play Championships, free of charge.

 
To follow all the RDGA Match Play Championship action, brackets and match results can be found HERE.
 
To follow the RDGA Senior Match Play Championship action, brackets and results can be found HERE.