By James Carlucci
ST. JAMES — Will Bernstein’s hot July continued Thursday with match play victories in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the 95th Met Junior Championship at Nissequogue Golf Club. Bernstein, who won the 2012 LIGA Junior Championship July 5th, will play in the finals today.
In his semifinal match, Bernstein defeated top-seeded Peter Kim 3 and 2.
“I went down one after the third hole and made a bogey, and then after that, I won three straight holes,” Bernstein said. “He missed a couple of 10-footers for par, and that kind of changed the momentum of the match. That got me to 2-up, and I wasn’t down after that.”
Leading 1-up at hole 10, Bernstein birdied the par-4 11th hole and parred the par-3 12th hole to distance himself from Kim.
In his quarterfinal match that was stopped after hole 14 Wednesday due to rain, Bernstein defeated Mark Reilly 1-up. He was able to recover from a double-bogey on hole 17, tying Reilly on the par-4 18th hole to hold on for the win.
“It was a little strange not starting on the first hole, but it was only 12 hours after we played before, so it still felt like the match,” he said. “It didn’t feel that strange, but it was definitely different than usual.”
Bernstein said Wednesday’s heavy rains did not affect play Thursday.
In the finals, he will play Scott Kim, whom he has never faced before. Bernstein said he is comfortable playing at the course after two days on it.
“Now it’s just basically hitting the ball,” he said. “I haven’t really been thinking about where to hit it. It feels like my home course after six rounds of playing it.”
To follow this morning’s final live, click here to go to the MGA’s website.
95th Met Junior Championship
Semifinals
Will Bernstein, New York, N.Y. def. Peter Kim, Metuchen, N.J., 3 & 2
Scott Kim, River Edge, N.J. def. Jerry Wall, Brielle, N.J., 4 & 3
Quarterfinals
P. Kim def. Stephen Pastore, Greenwich, Conn., 21 holes
Bernstein def. Mark Reilly, Babylon, N.Y., 1 up
S. Kim def. Christopher Gabriele, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. 1 up
Wall def. Armando Olivieri, Greenwich, Conn., 5 & 3
