Joe Saladino and Michael Quagliano, the last two winners of the Mittelmark Invitational, highlight a strong field of amateurs who are going to play 36 holes Monday at Fenway Golf Club.

I’m jealous.

That’s a fun course perfectly suited for this kind of competition. David Pastore, the reigning Met Junior champion, is playing. Michael Furci, the low amateur out at Bethpage during the state open, is coming. They will be joined by the likes of Max Buckley, Chris Scialo, Mike Miller, Phil Auerbach and Mike Reardon, who are all having good summers.

Keep an eye on David Weisfeld, too. The University of Michigan senior is the reigning club champion at Fenway.

Here is a link to the tee times if you want to see the complete field.

In the name of raising funds to send more deserving kids to college, the Westchester Golf Association is seeking golfers who don’t mind playing an eight-hour round.

Maybe even more.

The organization’s first golf marathon will be held Aug. 24 at Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor and they are looking for 10 players to complete the field. Participants must commit to raising $1,000 in pledges to benefit the WGA Caddie Scholarship Fund.

For information, contact the Westchester Golf Association at 914-347-2340.

I’m thinking Greg Norman is stealing the headlines, but Old Oaks head pro Bobby Heins fared pretty well, too, shooting an even-par 72 in the first round of the U.S. Senior Open at Crooked Stick Golf Club.

A goal of staying on the right side of the cut line is easily within reach.

Heins started on the back nine and rolled in 12 consecutive pars. He was 2-over with three holes to play, but got those strokes back on Nos. 7 and 9. If you didn’t get a chance to read the story on Heins in today’s paper, here’s a link.

Jerry Courville Jr. is 1-under and George Zahringer is 1-over, both have won MGA player of the year honors on several occassions. Mahopac native Larry Laoretti is 6-over.

You knew it was only a matter of time before cell phone applications were created for us gadget-loving hackers. The question is, do they work from the parking lot? Most clubs do not allow electronic devices to be used anywhere near the course.

Anyway …

Here’s a recently-launched iPhone app that was passed along to me, and I don’t have any idea whether this works. Connect Infinity created the Putt Reader app, and claims it’s will help a golfer read the breaks on greens, sink more putts and ultimately lower scores. It’s supposed to calculate the arc of the putt with a groundbreaking scientific algorithm.

Let’s call it a training aid because I do not want to even imagine getting stuck behind a foursome punching numbers into their iPhones on every green.

This is from the release:

“You simply place your iPhone on the green, set the distance to the hole, then set the distance to the break and let the application work its magic. The Putt Reader will calculate the break or curve of the green, ultimately allowing you to line up your putt perfectly. The Putt Reader also provides useful caddie tips, such as how many balls outside the hole you should aim, if you should hit the ball firmer for an uphill putt, and much more.”

When they come up with something that projects a yellow line that follows the break to the hole, let me know. And if you’ve actually tried any of these apps out, leave a comment or review.

If you’d like more information on this app, here’s the company link.

Trevor Sahn and Erica Schindel have more in common than matching trophies after winning today’s Journal News Tournament of Champions.

Both are celebrating breakthroughs on the local scene.

They also had a taste of major Division I collegiate golf before downsizing. Sahn was at Purdue for a season. Schindel began at Rutgers. Sahn settled in at Drexel, where he is a junior. Schindel has a degree from Hofstra, where she played for three seasons.

Both putted confidently on the massive greens at Tamarack.

“This course sets up perfect for me,” said the 20-year-old Sahn, a Bronxville resident who’s a member of St. Andrew’s. “All you have to do out here is find the fairway and make putts. The greens here are impossible, so it’s good that I was finding the right spots.”

“The course was gorgeous,” said the 27-year-old Schindel, a Harrison native who got in by winning the club championship at Ridgeway and now belongs to Scarsdale Golf Club. “Some of the pin placements were tough. A couple of them were almost hidden.”

There will be a highlight show at some point in the future, but to get a true sense for the drama that played out in the final round of the New York State Open at Bethpage Black yesterday, contact your local PGA professional.

A number of them were huddled under the scoring tent watching above the 18th hole.

Several came out to watch Brian Lamberti and Keith Dicciani make a couple of unbelievable swings on the final three holes. I’m a long way from retirement, I hope, but there will come a day when I recall the events that unfolded that afternoon from a rocking chair.

There were all kinds of great stories this week.

Lamberti has a history of playing well at Bethpage, and was coming back after taking a year away from competitive golf to deal with a divorce. Read all of the details here.

Dicianni was playing like a machine. He strung together 29 holes without a bogey, which is ridiculous on that course following a U.S. Open, and was five strokes in front heading into the final round. And the Metropolis assistant didn’t play a bad round. He was 3-over on the final round, which included a double-bogey on the par 3 eighth. Dicciani went back and forth, decided on a 5-iron and watched as the ball caught a wind swell, landed on the shaved bank and rolled back into a pond.

Lamberti went birdie-birdie-birdie to win, and really didn’t realize the odds against such a feat until he was sitting with friends afterward enjoying the usual post tournament fried foods. And the birdie-birdie-birdie description really fails to do justice. Read all of the details here.

I was out of breath, and it wasn’t from walking up the last hill to escape the rain.

When it was over, Lamberti, obviously affected by the support he’s received over the last year, was thanking everyone. He started with his sisters, Faith and Dawn, and brother, Frankie. He thanked Golf Club of Purchase director of golf Carl Alexander, who provided a quick putting lesson before the state open got under way on Tuesday. He thanked his caddy Joe, a guy he met while throwing competitive darts in Texas.

There were tears when he pulled out a golf ball from the round with his young daughter’s name, Paige, written on it.

“All I thought about today were pars and Paige,” Lamberti said.

The other image that sticks with me is of Keith Dicciani standing in the 12th fairway watching a standard-bearer chase down a rectangular slip of paper. It was his name card. It blew right off the sign as the weather became a factor. That cannot be a good omen.

Keith Dicciani is playing remarkable golf. He was flirting with the course record at Bethpage Black until he recorded bogeys at Nos. 17 and 18, carding a 3-under par 67 yesterday. The assistant from Metropolis Country Club is leading the New York State Open with a 136 total.

He’s five shots clear of the field.

“I feel pretty good,” Dicciani said. “I can’t control what anybody shoots tomorrow, but I need one more solid round like today.”

The course record happens to be held by Craig Thomas, who is the head professional at Metropolis.

“I’d like to keep it going with the PGA coming up,” said Dicciani, who qualified for the final major of the season last month. “I’m hoping to take some momentum into that and this is a good warm-up. It’s a hard course. You have to drive the ball well, and I assume Hazeltine will be the same way.”

Granite Springs resident Brian Lamberti is tied for second with Piping Rock’s Mike Gilmore at 141.

For all of the scores, go to the Met PGA web site.

A small field was able to get on the course, but it wasn’t long before the persistant rain picked up at The Links at Union Vale and forced tournament officials to suspend play at the Journal News Public Links Championship. They will not be going back out today.

We should have a resumption date shortly.

They are getting all of the golfers in right now and will sort out the details before lunch. Stay tuned. The weather is also slowing down the New York State Open at Bethpage, which was delayed an hour this morning.

(Update 1:05 p.m.): The Journal News Public Links Championship is being called a washout. They are going to start over Aug. 20 at Union Vale.

Many of the best amateur golfers from the area will be representing the Westchester Golf Association on Wednesday at the Stoddard Trophy, a triangular match-play event against teams from the New Jersey State Golf Association and the Long Island Golf Association.

The Ridge at Back Brook (N.J.) is playing host.

Hank Malfa is captain of the WGA team, which includes Phil Auerbach (Brae Burn); Max Buckley (Westchester Hills); Mark Costanza (Tuxedo Club); Chris Deforest (Rondout); Jim Graham (Winged Foot); Josh Goldstein (Grossinger); Kirk Kashevaroff (Tuxedo); Brian Mackey (Spook Rock); Pat Pierson (Minisceongo); Mike Reardon (Tuxedo); Joe Sommers (Winged Foot); J.F. Sorbella (Maple Moor).

Mike Miller is 18 holes away from qualifying for the match-play tournament of the U.S. Junior Amateur after shooting a solid even-par 72 in today’s first round at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.

The Brewster resident is tied for 18th at the moment with still a quarter of the field yet to finish. Odds are he’ll be in the Top 30 after the day, which is ideal position. The top 64 finishers after tomorrow’s second will move on to the match play tournament, which starts on Wednesday.

Miller gave little reason to think he won’t qualify. He drove the ball extremely well and avoided any three-putts. He just about every green and rarely left himself anything longer than four-feet for par. Miller, who missed the cut at the Junior last year, will tee off at 7 a.m. tomorrow.

Mark Mumford of Rye hasn’t faired nearly as well. He started on the tenth and was 8-over-par after six holes and salvaged a 43 at the turn. He has four holes to go. I’ll be back soon with another update.

UPDATE, 10:22 p.m.: Miller is tied for 29th overall entering the final round. He tees off tomorrow at 7 a.m. Mumford is 126th. He’ll start at 8:30.