New Jersey Open Golf Championship has its first African American titlist
RINGOES – Louis Kelly squared off in a playoff against a former winner on the PGA Tour and it was groundbreaking.
Kelly won a three-hole aggregate playoff against Jason Gore to win the 102nd New Jersey Open Golf Championship on Wednesday afternoon at The Ridge at Back Brook. Kelly is the first African American titlist, saying, "I love being a pioneer," and the Sewell resident earned a check for $20,000.
“I’m excited and hopefully this is just a kickstart of a long stretch here,” said Kelly, 28, an assistant pro at Burlington CC.
Kelly went par-birdie-birdie in the playoff to best Gore, 48, who went bogey-bogey-par. Gore was eligible to compete in his first New Jersey State Golf Association Open because he works in the Garden State for the USGA as managing director of player relations.
“It was just rinse and repeat for me,” Kelly said of the playoff. “I was actually less nervous in the playoff than I was in regulation, because I know you can lose in regulation. In the playoff, you can kind of get some shots back. You only have to beat one guy.”
Kelly and Gore turned Wednesday's final round into a two-pro race and finished at 10-under 203, seven strokes ahead of the field. Gore shot 6-under 65, closing with a birdie, and Kelly shot 66, also closing with birdie.
Mark Costanza of Hamilton Farm was low amateur. Costanza, who won this title in 2020, was third after closing with 69 for 210. Pro Brent Paladino of the New Jersey PGA was fourth after carding a second consecutive 72 for 213.
Defending champion Tyler Hall of Upper Montclair, bidding for a record-tying fourth Open title, finished in a five-way tie for sixth at 215. The pro continued to struggle with his putter and closed with 74.
“The putter got cold, and kind of just stayed cold, and that put stress on everything else,” said Hall, 40. “And today everything kind of broke down on me. The tee shots, I wasn’t putting it in great position off the tee, and I just had a hard time judging the bounces on the greens.”
Kelly won the playoff, 10-14, with a par on the par-4 16th, a birdie on the par-3 17th and a birdie on the par-5 18th. Gore bogeyed the 16th and 17th and was granted a par on the 18th after Kelly’s birdie putt led him to pick up his ball and concede.
“[Gore] was holing out on me today, and making all these birdies, so he definitely pushed me today,” said Kelly, a 2010 NJSGA Junior titlist and 2011 graduate of the Gloucester County Institute of Technology. “But I just played my game. I didn’t make any mental errors, which was great.”
“I’m proud of the way I played today, I just didn’t perform in the playoff, and it happens,” said Gore, whose PGA Tour win came in 2005 at the 84 Lumber Classic. “I didn’t lose – he played great, Louis won.”
Kelly’s final hole of the playoff was impressive and demonstrated his confidence. With a three-shot lead, the 5-foot-10, 175-pounder bombed his drive into the fairway on the par-5 and needed only a gap wedge to reach the green and two-putt for the birdie.
“I still want to play on the PGA Tour,” Kelly said, “so I know I can do that, and this is just a steppingstone.”
102nd New Jersey Open Championship
at The Ridge at Back Brook, Ringoes
Par: 71
Final
Louis Kelly, Burlington-# 72-65-66-203
Jason Gore, NJPGA Life Member 69-69-65-203
a-Mark Costanza, Hamilton Farm 73-68-69-210
Brent Paladino, NJPGA A-11 69-72-72-213
a-William O'Neill, Spring Brook 70-71-73-214
a-Cole Ekert, Fairmount 79-65-71-215
a-Max O'Hagan, Knickerbocker 72-66-77-215
Bill Hook, Knickerbocker 70-68-77-215
a-Lukas Clark, Galloway National 71-69-75-215
Tyler Hall, Upper Montclair 69-72-74-215
a-Troy Vannucci, Little Mill 74-68-74-216
a-Brendan Hansen, Spring Lake 72-70-74-216
a-Pat Wilson, Hamilton Farm 74-72-70-216
a-Mac Bredahl, Fairmount 74-72-71-217
a-William Huang, Springdale 72-73-73-218
Lowell Miller, Rockaway River 69-77-73-219
Frank Esposito Jr., Mountain Ridge 77-70-72-219
Steve Shellock, Suneagles 78-69-72-219
Brian Gaffney, Essex Fells 71-73-76-220
Tony Perla, Forsgate 73-72-76-221
a-Johnny Bush, Plainfield 78-69-74-221
a-Jack Wall, Manasquan River 71-70-80-221
Danny Daniels, Knickerbocker 77-69-75-221
a-Austin Devereux, Manasquan River 73-75-73-221
a-Michael Brown, Rock Spring 70-74-78- 222
a-Colin Summers, Plainfield 73-70-80-223
Danny Lewis, Hollywood 76-70-77-223
a-Christopher Warner, Indian Spring 72-74-77-223
a-Dan Keenan Little Mill 75-74-75-224
a-Dean Greyserman, Hamilton Farm 69-76-80-225
Grant Sturgeon, Arcola 75-73-77-225
a-Thomas Urciuoli, Baltusrol 80-69-76-225
Gregory Baker, Rockaway River 74-76-76-226
a-Jason Salameno, North Jersey 68-79-79-226
a-Melan Dhaubhadel, NJSGA E-Club 76-74-77-227
a-Doug Ergood, Tavistock 74-76-77-227
a-Connor Bekefi, Pine Barrens 77-71-79-227
a-Tucker Sandercock, NJSGA E-Club 76-73-78-227
a-Arav Patel, Forsgate 75-75-79-229
a-Patrick Ryan, Essex County 72-78-80-230
Ryan Buckley, Fiddler's Elbow 78-72-89-239
a-James Arbes, Watchung Valley 72-73-WD-WD
#-Kelly won 3-hole aggregate playoff
a-denotes amateur
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: New Jersey Open Golf Championship has first African American titlist
