Anthony Aloi of Plainsboro, N.J., captured the MGA’s 2008 Met Junior Championship at Rockaway River Country Club in Denville, N.J. On the final day, Aloi, who will play at Furman University in the fall, defeated both tournament favorite Cameron Wilson (Norwalk) and Dillon Corbo (Montville, N.J.) in the championship match. Amazingly, both matches went extra holes.

As for the local players, it was a so-so week. Rye’s Sam Weiss led the way by making it to the quarterfinals before losing to Sayville’s Michael Furci, 2 and 1. Weiss, who will play at Occidental College next season, hasn’t been playing many competitions this summer, but came in playing the best golf of his life.

He recently tied the course record at Rye Golf Club with an 8-under-par 63 and in this event he stayed sharp. His most impressive performance was a 5 and 3 win over Brewster’s Mike Miller, this past season’s high school golfer of the year for Westchester/Putnam. In that match, Weiss didn’t card anything worse than a par.

Bronxville’s John Torell, who will be a junior at Brunswick Academy next year, made it to the round of 16 before losing to Weiss, 3 and 2. Torell knocked out the Rockland player of the year in New City’s Stephen Scialo (Clarkstown North), 1 up in the second round.

Speaking of Scialo, the Delaware-bound player won Monday’s MGA Met Amateur qualifier at Arcola Country Club in spectacular fashion. Playing in a field of 130 golfers, with the top eight earning spots, Scialo fired a course-record-tying 7-under 65 to win by four shots. He then won his first match on Tuesday 7 and 6 and was leading 4 up through six holes against Torell before losing.

Sounds crazy, but those are the types of things that happen in match-play. To win a 6-round tournament in that format you either have to fire six great scores or get lucky with certain matchups.

Speaking of great scores, we’re certainly not seeing many of those through two rounds at the British Open. And how about Greg Norman and David Duval in the hunt? Their performances should certainly help fill the void left by Tiger’s absence.