A New Rochelle Native Wins the 106th Met Open in Croton

Andrew Svoboda tees off at Hudson National in the final round of the 2021 Met Open | Photo by Tim Hartin/MGA

The Westchester golf pro captured the prestigious title for the third time after scoring back-to-back birdies at Hudson National Golf Club.

Westchester native Andrew Svoboda captured his third Met Open title this week at Hudson National Golf Club in Croton. The heat and humidity didn’t deter him from playing under par each of the three days of the tournament, finishing with a 68 that was capped by birdies on holes 15 and 16 to separate him from the runner-up, Tom Lovelady of Silo Ridge.

“The win here is incredible because everyone knows Hudson National,” says Svoboda. “This is a bigger course, a championship course, and it’s known for being very tough, so it’s a prestigious win.”

Svoboda’s total score of 200 tied the lowest 54-hole total in Met Open history, set by Matt Dobyns at Piping Rock. This was the 106th playing of the metro area’s premier tournament and the second time it’s been played at Hudson National. The first was in 2004, which was coincidentally Svoboda’s debut tournament as a professional.

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His win also puts the New Rochelle native into a select group of golfers who have won the Met Open three times. His first win came in 2003 as an amateur at Metedeconk and his second was in 2018 at Wykagyl. He is one of only two players to capture the Walker L. Trammell trophy as both an amateur and a professional. The other is Johnson Wagner.

Svoboda, a teaching professional at Engineers CC on Long Island, has deep roots in Westchester golf. In addition to the Met Open, he won the Met Junior and Met Amateur championships and caddied at Winged Foot in high school and college (where he won 14 times for St. John’s). He then turned pro and captured three titles on the Web.com Tour before making it to the PGA Tour where he competed for three years and racked up three top-10 finishes, including a second at the Zurich Classic.

Tom Lovelady of Silo Ridge briefly held the lead during the final round but finished two strokes behind Svoboda. David Pastore of Golf Performance Center finished third, three strokes back, and Jack Wall, an amateur playing out of Manasquan River GC, took sole fourth (and low amateur title) with a four-under total of 206. Wall was also the low amateur and runner-up when Svoboda won at Wykagyl in 2018.

The Met Open will be contested at Bethpage Black next year for its 107th playing. It will be the third time Bethpage has hosted the event.


 

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