Yesterday I had the pleasure of covering the Stoddard Trophy Matches at Fresh Meadow Country Club in Lake Success (great name!), Long Island.

For those of you not aware, the competition is a team-format similar to the Ryder Cup. Except there are three teams and there isn’t one team that seems to win every year…

The three teams are the Westchester Golf Association (WGA), New Jersey State Golf Association (NJSGA) and Long Island Golf Association (LIGA). The WGA’s team was very strong this year, with plenty of college-aged talents and not surprisingly, it cruised to a win over the other two teams.

Max Buckley (Westchester Hills), Andrew Giuliani (Trump National) and Jim Graham (Winged Foot) led the way with four points each. Michael Quagliano (GlenArbor) and Joe Sommers (Winged Foot) were among those chipping in with three points.

Rockland residents Pat Pierson (Minisceongo) and Chris Scialo (Dellwood) added two points apiece.

For Buckley, the 2007 Journal News High School Player of the Year, he will be off to SMU next week to begin his freshman year after a year of attending a junior golf academy in South Carolina. The hard work certainly seems to have paid off as he had a strong summer, highlighted by a win at the Westchester Amateur, and he should have a smooth transition into contributing for the Mustangs.

While many of the younger players will be returning to school as well, Pierson will be going on his own trip next week down to Pinehurst, N.C., for the U.S. Amateur. He will be joined by another area golfer, Joe Ervasti of Sleepy Hollow, in the event as well.

As for professional golf, I still can’t believe Sergio Garcia couldn’t pull out his first major title at the PGA Championship. It’s tough to beat Padraig Harrington though, who apparently in the absence of Tiger Woods has become, well, Tiger Woods.

His incredible clutch putting down the stretch along with the great ball striking of Garcia and the solid play of Ben Curtis made this a much more exciting event than I could have ever imagined.

Good for Harrington for using the Tigerless period to elevate himself into Hall-of-Fame status. Meanwhile, Sergio will just have to keep trying as despite playing terrificly, he wasn’t able to turn this year’s “glory’s last shot” into his first major glory.

Rain may have washed away most of today’s action in the third round of the PGA Championship, but I still got my fill … thanks to Directv.

If you were watching the early coverage on TNT by that particular cable provider, you got to see a nice little treat. Especially, if you’re a fan of Andres Romero.

As I wrote before, in the absence of Tiger Woods, I needed to find some other golfers that would really get me excited about, well, watching golf. I picked Anthony Kim and Andres Romero and today was another example of why.

On a special channel, TNT decided (brilliantly) to make the Romero-Chris DiMarco (snoozer) pairing as the featured group. I’m sure this decision came after Romero started firing at pins, but still, it was a good one.

The channel then only followed that group around and had two commentators only talking about them. Once again, brilliant.

During what would be commercial breaks, the channel simply aired pictures of Oak Hills in a slide show format. Then it was back to the action.

Romero was his usual gunslinging self, making seven birdies and carding a 5-under 65, the low round of the tournament thus far by two shots. When he wasn’t making birdies, he was short-siding himself in deep rough, but still managed to get up-and-down most of the time like he did on 17 and 18.

The rally moved him from a tie for 48th to a tie for 7th. With a leaderboard full of mostly unproven major championship players, this could be a chance for a breakthrough. The Argentinian has now fired rounds of 69, 78 and 65, which seems to be just his style.

What will he do next? Tune in to find out. I certainly will.

I had long been resistant to those naysayers who said the golf season was officially over the moment Tiger Woods pulled his rip cord on 2008. And given the drama of Greg Norman at the British Open, I thought I was on to something.

Except here comes the PGA with that walking charisma factory known as J.B. Holmes atop the leaderboard, and my argument is losing steam in a hurry.

Of course I will still be riveted by this weekend’s action, but I’m not the demographic you need to worry about. I’m a golfer and a golf writer, and if you can’t get guys like me interested, you might as well pack up the tents right now and wait for Woods’ return.

But do you really think some casual sports fan is going to be drawn away from Beijing and Brett Favre and the growing pennant race in order to see J.B. and Charlie Wi go down to the wire?

That’s what I thought.

I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I actually came to that realization after being at my desk for over an hour this afternoon. The TV above my head is now turned to the action, but I’m amazed that it took that long.

I guess this is what happens when you take Tiger out of the least compelling of the four major championships. In fact, I was talking with fellow Journal News team members Josh Thomson and Eric Lebowitz about how much less build up there has been this week in the absence of the world’s No. 1 golfer.

But there are others playing and playing well on the tough Oakland Hills course, including my new favorites Anthony Kim and Andres Romero. Kim is in the clubhouse with an even-par 70 (the average score right now is over 75) and Romero is through 8 holes at 2-under and tied for the lead.

Romero just rammed in a 30-footer for birdie that looked like it would have gone off the green if it didn’t hit the back of the cup. I guess that’s how he makes so many birdies … and bogeys.

I’m disappointed that Wake Forest product Bill Haas once again isn’t in the field at a major. I was hoping he could get into this event since this was the course on which he won medalist honors at the 2002 U.S. Amateur before losing in the semifinals to Ricky Barnes (“The next Arnold Palmer” … still waiting for that one to come true). During that event he also posted an unbelievable 7-under 28 on the front nine.

This week, though, he’ll have to settle for watching his 54-year-old dad, Jay Haas, try to battle the youngsters.

For the third straight year, I got to cover the Carter Cup yesterday at Baltusrol Golf Club. The famed lower course (and lesser-known upper course for that matter) look better and better each time I go.

The event is the MGA’s junior stroke-play championship and consists of 36 holes (18 on both courses) over one day.

This year, the action was exciting with New Canaan’s Curtis Loop defeating Norwalk’s Cameron Wilson on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff. Wilson, one of the top junior golfers in the country, was seemingly in control the entire day after shooting a 68 in the opening round. His 73 in the second round should have been good enough for the win, but Loop fired an incredible 5-under 67 in round two to catch him.

As for the local players, it wasn’t an especially stellar performance. Stephen Scialo (New City-Clarkstown North) led the way finishing in a tie for 9th place.

Rye’s Sam Weiss (T-14) and Bronxville’s John Torell (T-17) were the next highest finishers followed by Garnerville’s John Casey and Rye’s Walker Steers, who both finished tied for 20th.

Steers certainly made his finish exciting, birdieing No. 17 and then nearly holing a 4-iron from 210 yards on No. 18 for double eagle. He settled for the tap-in eagle and a top 20 finish that will get him back into this prestigious field next year.

There was an Alexander Meyer in the field, which a few of the players thought for a moment was me when they saw that name on the board… It obviously wasn’t (the scores were too good), but if it would have gotten me playing on those courses, I would have let them spell my name however they want!

Unfortunately, this event coincided with an AJGA event at Richter Park in Danbury, causing several of the top junior players to have a tough choice. I will get to see those guys and girls on Friday for the third and final round of that event.

After yesterday’s first round, Brewster’s Mike Miller leads the field of 104 players with a 2-under 70. Rye’s Mark Mumford is part of a four-way tie for second place after posting a 71. Marisa Kamelgarn shot 75 and is in third place of the girl’s division.

The American Junior Golf Association was in the area this past week for the Lessing’s Championship at Island Hills Golf Club on Long Island. Not surprisingly, many of the top local junior golfers were in the field for these all-important events when it comes to trying to impress college coaches.

One player who wasn’t trying to impress any coaches was Marisa Kamelgarn. The senior-to-be at Mahopac has already verbally comitted to Morehead State in Kentucky. In this event, she led after both the first and second rounds before finishing second place with a 1-under, three-round total of 212.

On the boy’s side, Brewster’s Mike Miller, Mahopac’s Luke Feehan and Bronxville’s John Torell all finished in a 7th-place tie with even-par totals of 213. Torell finished in spectacular fashion with a closing round of 4-under 67, that included a 5-under 31 on the front nine!

Cortlandt Manor’s Jonathan Renza was right behind with a 215 total, good for a 13th-place tie. Rye’s John Davies overcame a tough second round to bounce back with a 2-under 69 in the third round to finish tied for 22nd.

The AJGA will be back in the area next week as well with the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network Championship at Richter Park in Danbury. I’ll be there for Friday’s final round and the field should once again be loaded with these players as well as some others.

Stephen Scialo doesn’t just play well in qualifiers, he dominates them. Scialo, a recent Clarkstown North graduate, won another qualifier, this time for the Met Open, this past Thursday at Dellwood Country Club.

Yes, Dellwood is his home course, but shooting a 2-under-par 68 (really 3-under, but one of the par 5s was played as a par 4) and defeating a field of 129 of the top amateurs and pros in the area and beyond is impressive no matter how you slice it.

Norwalk’s Cameron Wilson, who will be a junior at St. Luke’s this year, finished second place. The rising star recently made it to the match-play portion of the U.S. Junior Championship at Shoal Creek (Ala.) Golf Club.

The score capped another impressive week for Scialo, who on Monday won the Journal News Tournament of Champions in a playoff over Sleepy Hollow’s John Ervasti. I’ll see the University of Delaware-bound golfer at the Carter Cup (the MGA’s Junior stroke-play championship) at famed Baltusrol next Wednesday.

I had the pleasure of participating in the 2nd Annual Canno Invitational this past Thursday. Hosted by Rye Neck golf coach Mark Canno, the event was held at Metropolis Country Club and once again featured some of the area’s top junior and college golfers and of course… me.

The weather was great and the course was in spectacular shape. Play wasn’t as stellar as last year when I played with Andrew Cohen (Mamaroneck/Bucknell) and he nearly tied a course record with a 5-under-par 66. Then again, that will be tough for anyone to ever beat.

Once again there were four foursomes, each with a Metropolis member. The competition was a team best ball as well as medal play for the young guns.

This year’s winner was former Rye Neck standout and 2006 Journal News Player of the Year Brian Bartow. The soon-to-be junior at Bucknell fired an even-par 71 in which he didn’t make a bogey until the 13th hole.

Bartow held off Duke University’s Michael Quagliano, who finished with a 73. Quagliano, a former Journal News Athlete of the Season after winning the New York State High School Championship in 2003, was recently in the field at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Of course, that was when some guy named Tiger hogged all the headlines.

Fortunately for me, I got to witness and play with both Bartow and Quagliano. Not surprisingly, along with the host himself, Mark Canno, we finished with a best ball score of 65 to take the title. Mark and I were mainly spectators, but his fantastic birdie on the beautiful, yet difficult, par-4 sixth hole, went a long way in helping the cause.

Quagliano will be competing at the U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst later this month. Several other players in this event were still in slight depression mode after just missing out on qualifying the day before.

Bartow barely missed at Trump National in Briarcliff where he fired an incredible 68 in round one, but a tough round two, left him a couple shots off the cut. At that same site, Anthony Rubeo (Pleasantville/Iona) missed by one shot. He’s an alternate along with Chris Scialo (Clarkstown North/Towson).

Also playing the other day was New Rochelle rising senior Dylan Newman, who traveled to Massachussetts to try to qualify for the Amateur. Newman shot 2-under par, but he too missed by one shot.

Despite the close calls, those performances were all tremendous and these guys will all have plenty of more opportunities to qualify into that event. All were able to play well at Metropolis as well, as Rubeo and Newman each shot 76. Former Hastings’ standout Jeremy Troy (UConn) finished third with a 75.

Bartow made the turn at 1-under with eight pars and a birdie on No. 4. He was neck and neck with Quagliano (35 on the front) until the par-3, 15th hole. Bartow stuck a 9-iron to about 2 feet on the 140-yard hole and Quagliano found the left greenside bunker and made bogey for a two-shot swing.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed watching the show and playing with a couple of outstanding golfers I’ve gotten to cover throughout the years. You don’t get to play too often with someone who teed it up at a U.S. Open and who still vividly remembers playing practice rounds with the likes of Retief Goosen and Boo Weekly.

Speaking of someone who knows a thing or two about major championships, longtime legendary head pro at Metropolis, Gene Borek was also in attendance. Borek followed our group around (I have a feeling he really wanted to watch Quagliano and not myself play, but I could be wrong…) for the first few holes before leaving to give a lesson. His presence only added to the day.

I’m grateful to Mark for inviting me again to participate in this fun event. I didn’t shoot the 78 I did last year, but hopefully, I didn’t embarrass myself too much to not warrant an invitation next year. Mark is a great supporter of the local golf scene and he has a vision of continuing to improve the already impressive field. So Tiger, if you’re reading this, save a date sometime next summer.