Christian Cavaliere (left) and Donte Groppuso (MET Golf Photo)
Christian Cavaliere of Hudson National and Donte Groppuso of Wiltwyck will face off in the final match of the 122nd Met Amateur Championship after successfully advancing through Saturday’s semifinal round at Somerset Hills Country Club.
Cavaliere, runner-up at the 2023 Met Amateur at Friar’s Head and in 2018 at Arcola, defeated 2020 Met Amateur champion Jack Wall of Manasquan River 3 and 2 to earn his spot in the 36-hole final. Cavaliere gained momentum heading into the back nine of the semifinal match after winning the par-4 ninth to take a 1-up lead. Another win on No. 10 got him to 2-up, but Wall took No. 11. Wall found the water on the par-3 12th, while Cavaliere made par to take the lead to 2-up.
“That was huge,” Cavaliere said of his win on the 12th hole. “He went first and he hit a good shot, it just spun so hard all the way back into the water. So I clubbed up, just chipped one up there, making sure it didn’t spin. You really never can know what will happen, you just have to stay super committed and patient.”
A birdie on the par-4 14th got him to 3-up, and after both competitors made par on Nos. 15 and 16, Cavaliere closed out the match.
“The par threes here are especially tough, so to play those well is paramount, and I think I've done that well this week,” said the 26-year-old. “You’re never trying to make something happen unless you have a really easy pin on the par threes and especially if they're super long, you just want to pick a spot and make three and get out there.”
And that’s what Cavaliere did to head to the championship match for the third time. “Yeah, super excited,” Cavaliere said. “This was the goal coming into the week. I wanted to get back here, wanted to give myself a chance. So I'm just happy to be in tomorrow and I'm going to rest as much as possible this afternoon and hopefully I'm fresh in the morning and we'll try to gut it out tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, 2024 Met Junior champion Jack Chung of Greenwich and Groppuso had a close battle of their own that went to the 18th hole.
Groppuso, with his younger brother Gavin as his caddie, took an early lead after the second hole and wins on Nos. 7 and 8 got him to 3-up as the competitors made the turn. On the back nine, Chung fought back and won Nos. 10, 11, and 13 to tie the match.
Chung took a 1-up lead after 15, but on the par-3 16th, a bogey for Chung and a birdie for Groppuso tied the match. “When [Chung] got 1-up going to 16, I just looked at my little brother, Gavin, and I said ‘We were here yesterday,’ and 9-iron is my favorite club, so I just swing to the middle of the green, hit a good shot, luckily won the hole,” Gropposo said.
Matching pars on 17 brought the match to 18, where Chung’s approach spun off the front of the green, while Groppuso was about 20 feet past the hole. Groppuso sank the putt for birdie to close out the match.
“It’s come down to the stretch in all three matches, so you kind of get a good feel of that pressure. I felt good off the tee, I stepped up to the tee and was pretty confident in myself,” he said. “We saw a good line, we’ve had good lines all day, I just haven’t matched the speed. It was probably one of the best putts, one of the best feelings. Having [my brother] by my side was amazing, I couldn’t ask for a better putt."
The 36-hole championship match between Cavaliere and Groppuso will begin at 7:15 a.m. on Sunday. The winner of the Met Amateur is exempt into the U.S. Amateur, which will be hosted by Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota. For more coverage of the 122nd Met Amateur, follow @MGA1897 on Instagram and X.
ABOUT THE
MET Amateur
The competition is open to male Amateur
members of MGA Member Clubs who have a
current USGA Handicap Index of 5.0 or less
and to those exempted by the MGA
Committee. All entrants are subject to the
MGA Rules and Regulations.
Format of play:
18 hole sectional qualifying round.
Qualifiers
play 36 hole on-site qualifying round,
determining 16 players for match play.
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