The Metropolitan Open is a

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

tournament organized by the Metropolitan Golf Association. In the early 20th century it was one of the top events in the country and was retroactively given PGA Tour-level status.

History

The tournament has been played annually since 1905, and is the third oldest "open" golf tournament in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, after the U.S. Open and

Western Open The Western Open was a professional golf tournament in the United States, for most of its history an event on the PGA Tour. The tournament's founding in 1899 actually pre-dated the start of the Tour, which is generally dated from 1916, the y ...

. It was staged for the first time in 1905 at Fox Hills Golf Club on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

, which played the dual role of host and sponsor. In 1908, the Metropolitan Golf Association hosted the tournament for the first time. In 1914,

Macdonald Smith Macdonald "Mac" Smith (March 18, 1890 – August 31, 1949) was one of the top professional golfers in the world from about 1910 into the mid-1930s. He was a member of a famous Scottish golfing family. Smith is regarded, based on his results, as on ...

shot recorded a 278 aggregate, the lowest score ever for a 72 hole tournament. It is held at member clubs in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

, and

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. It was considered a

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

event from 1916 to 1940. In fact, it was one of the "major" tournaments of this period. In 1941, however, the Metropolitan Golf Association "discontinued" the event citing that it was a "financial burden." At the end of the decade, however, the organization renewed the event and it has evolved one the premier local events in the tri-state area. In 1976, the Met Open became one of the first tournaments to use a 3-hole aggregate playoff, a style now adopted by most of the major championships. The 2009 winner was

Andrew Giuliani Andrew Harold Giuliani (born January 30, 1986) is an American political commentator and golfer. He was a special assistant to the President and associate director of the Office of Public Liaison, during the Trump Administration, Trump administrat ...

, the son of former New York City mayor

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (, ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 19 ...

Winners

Sources:

References

External links

Metropolitan Golf Association
{{Former PGA Tour Events Former PGA Tour events Golf in Connecticut Sports competitions in Connecticut Golf in New Jersey Golf in New York (state) Recurring sporting events established in 1905 1905 establishments in New York City