For one weekend a year, Haverstraw borrows a little major-championship gravity. While Wyndham Clark ground out a wire-to-wire U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, our field played its own version — the Pair-with-a-Pro tournament, where your net plus a real U.S. Open pro’s Sunday score makes your total, and the lowest in each flight wins.

And this year one pro tilted the whole board: Peter Uihlein’s closing 66 was the lowest Sunday round of anyone we’d handed out, and it turned into a golden ticket. Both members who drew him won their flights — Joseph Sparta (C Flight, net 72 + 66 = 138, the lowest total in the entire field) and Christopher Napolitano (A Flight, 73 + 66 = 139).

The rest of the flags got planted around them. Sean McGarvey won Championship at 142 — the hard way, too, since his pro Maverick McNealy handed him only a 73; McGarvey carried that pairing himself. And in a nice bit of family business, his father Brian McGarvey took B Flight at 141 (net 74 + Ben James’s 67). Will Poleway won D at 141, and in the Gold pairing Matt Burgay edged it at 142 on that same Ben James 67. The draw giveth and the draw taketh away — just ask anyone who pulled William Mouw’s 80.

As we do at every event, each member’s net score was also ranked for season points — the running tally that builds toward the year-end interclub matches, the Patriot Cup and Challenge Cup. One number towered over the net board: John Aiello’s 76/67, the lowest net in the entire field, which earned him Player of the Week. Sean McGarvey posted the day’s low gross (a 68 on a plus-handicap card, net 69), and Steven Silber’s net 72 nudged him to the top of the Championship season-points standings.

One event, plenty of stories: a pro on your card, a flag in every flight, a McGarvey or two on the trophy board, and a fresh batch of season points headed toward the Cups. Eight of twenty-four events down — and somewhere, Peter Uihlein has no idea he just won Haverstraw two flights.

No pro’s Sunday score required. John Aiello — A Flight, 76/67 — carded the lowest net in the entire field, clear of everyone in every flight. It wins him A Flight and Player of the Week in the same stroke.

PoW rule: best net across all flights for the tournament. Ties broken by going back to the #1 handicap hole and forward as needed.

The name says it all — no team gimmicks, no alternate holes, no asterisks, just eighteen holes and a scorecard. There was, however, one complication: the Knicks won the NBA championship the night before the Sunday wave teed off. So a good chunk of the field rolled up Sunday morning running on zero sleep, a wrecked voice, and the lingering glow of an all-night celebration. “Just Golf” quietly became “just try to keep your eyes open.” Somehow, a few of them still went low.

None lower than Joseph Sparta, who posted the round of the day — an 80/66 to win C Flight and walk off with Player of the Week. After sitting out Bones, he didn’t just rejoin the C-Flight race; he took back the top of it.

Behind Sparta’s 66, the other four flight winners packed into a tight three-shot window — net 68 to 70.

Championship went to Steven Silber (77/68), a stroke clear of Ryan Siuta’s even-par 70 for net 69. A Flight came down to a match of cards: John Calcaterra and Mike Zacchio both signed for net 70, and Calcaterra (78/70) had the better card. And here’s the kicker — by his own admission Calcaterra was up half the night watching the Knicks lift the trophy, then dragged himself to the first tee on fumes and won his flight anyway. Some guys handle a championship hangover better than others. In B Flight, the Jordan Covell machine rolled on — 78/68 for his third win of the season, stretching the biggest single-flight lead in the club.

D Flight gave us the day’s best traffic jam. Angelo Balassone (86/69) won it, with a three-way tie at net 70 right behind — Vincent Gamboli, Steve Weiss, and Steve Stone, a brand-new member who picked an excellent week to introduce himself. Welcome aboard; that’ll be 40 points, please.

Over in the Gold pool, Robert Salemo took it at net 69 — the same number that earned him 2nd in C Flight on the day.

And a word for Mike Zacchio, 2nd in A Flight (79/70): not a new face at all, but a longtime member back in the mix after knee surgery. The knee, for the record, appears to be working just fine.

Seven of twenty-four events down. The flights are separating, a few names are running away with their races, and the Knicks are champions — not a bad weekend. On to the next one.

On a day when the whole field seemed to find net 68, one man went one better.

Joseph Sparta — C Flight, 80/66. The lowest net in the entire field, clear of the pack by a full stroke. No playoff, no match of cards, no drama required.

It’s his second Player of the Week of the season, and it comes with a bonus: the win rockets him back to the top of the C-Flight standings, a spot he’d ceded to Floyd Abrams while sitting out the Bones Jones Memorial. Lesson learned — don’t give Sparta a reason to come back hungry.

PoW rule: best net across all flights for the tournament. Ties broken by going back to the #1 handicap hole and forward as needed.

Somebody upstairs pulled a few strings. A couple of weeks after the Two-Man weekend tried to freeze us all into lawn ornaments, the Bones Jones weekend rolled in absolutely gorgeous — all three days of it — blue skies, soft breezes, the kind of weather that reminds you why you fell for this game in the first place. Call it coincidence if you must, but on the one weekend the club plays in Charlie “Bones” Jones’ honor, the sky showed up in its Sunday best. We’d like to think the old boy was leaning over a cloud, took one look at the forecast, and waved the gray stuff off with a grin: not on my weekend, fellas.

And the course was dressed for the occasion too. Take a bow, superintendent Chris Dyroff and the grounds crew — Rotella was immaculate: fairways like carpet, greens rolling pure, and scoring conditions so generous that par itself was in danger. Thanks, Bones. Thanks, Chris.

And sure enough, par took the hit: Sean McGarvey went out and carded a 66 gross — six under, the low round of the tournament. But on this particular weekend, the number everyone will remember wasn’t 66. It was 68.

The Bones Jones Memorial is the club’s biggest single-day payout — $200 / $150 / $50 to the three lowest nets in the entire field, flights be damned. And this year it came down to a match of cards, because three men signed for net 68: Sean McGarvey (Champ, 66/68), Jarred Lauder (A, 72/68), and Brian McGarvey Sr. (B, 76/68). Two McGarveys and a Lauder — sounds like a law firm, played like one too. (For the record, a third McGarvey, Brian Jr., posted 74/70 up in Championship. Three McGarveys on one property; the tee sheet has filed for hazard pay.)

On a three-day event there’s no marching back out for a playoff — the tie goes to the cards, comparing scores at the #1 handicap hole (Hole 6) and working forward. McGarvey’s card was best there, and that was that: $200 and Player of the Week, thank you and good night. At the next hole (#4), Lauder’s card edged Brian McGarvey Sr. for 2nd and $150; McGarvey Sr. settled for 3rd and $50. Spare a thought for John Facciola (A, 78/69), who missed the entire party by a single stroke at net 69. One shot. He will be reminded of this often, and lovingly.

And here’s the kicker: each of the three money men also won his own flight. Efficient work, gentlemen.

Championship was Sean McGarvey’s 68, clear of a net-70 tie between Brian McGarvey Jr. and Greg Zamalkany. A Flight went to Lauder, with Facciola a heartbeat behind. B Flight belonged to Brian McGarvey Sr. (68), trailed by James Ridge (72) and Tim Rotundo (73).

C Flight was the heist of the day. With points leader Joseph Sparta taking the week off, the vault was left unguarded — and Andrew Salemo (86/72) strolled right in, holding off Paul Facciola (85/73) and Floyd Abrams (90/76). Abrams’ 40 points were enough to quietly swipe the top of the C standings while Sparta’s back was turned. He’ll want to read this paragraph twice.

D Flight was a wire-to-wire clinic from Sean McLaughlin (85/70), with Patrick McCarthy (86/71) shadowing him the whole way. Behind them, gridlock: Jack Porette and Joe Savignano jammed at 77, and a six-deep pileup at net 78 — Balassone, Barton, T. Bohlander, Goggin, Nguyen, and Poleway, 17.5 points apiece. Parking was a nightmare.

Six of twenty-four events in the books, the leaderboards are bunching up, and the weather’s officially forgiven for May. On to the next one — and thanks again, Bones. We owe you one.

One number sat at the bottom of three different scorecards: net 68.

Sean McGarvey (Champ, 66/68). Jarred Lauder (A, 72/68). Brian McGarvey Sr. (B, 76/68). On the club’s biggest stage of the year, the three lowest nets in the entire field were separated by nothing at all.

On a three-day event, you don’t replay it — you settle it on the cards. The tiebreaker compares scores at the #1 handicap hole (Hole 6) and works forward, and McGarvey’s card was best. That earned him the $200 top prize and Player of the Week; Lauder’s card took $150, McGarvey Sr. $50.

Sean’s 66 gross on a plus-handicap card was the low gross of the tournament, too — six under par on a day the course was giving. A clean afternoon’s work.

PoW rule: best net across all flights for the tournament. Ties broken by going back to the #1 handicap hole and forward as needed.

First, the weather — because a few of these scorecards deserve an asterisk shaped like a snowflake. Saturday was freezing cold and howling: the kind of wind that adds two clubs to every shot and removes all feeling from your hands somewhere around the 3rd tee. Pars felt like birdies, putts broke uphill, and keeping the ball on the property counted as a quality swing. If you drew a Friday or Sunday tee time, congratulations — you won the only lottery that mattered this weekend, and you owe the Saturday crew a beer (and maybe a space blanket). For everyone who toughed it out Saturday: that wasn’t a round, it was a survival story — go ahead and count every number on your card as worth double.

Now, the golf.

Five teams walked in tied at net 73. Five. In an alternate-hole format that punishes every loose swing, half the field still bunched at the top, and the only way out was a playoff.

Jordan and Steven Silber came out of it as team champions, sealing it on the second extra hole on a match of cards — $75 each in pro-shop credit. Conor Lynam and Feriz Kukaj went the distance for 2nd ($50 each) — their card didn’t settle until the fifth playoff hole. The other three teams in the pileup — Ryan & Michael Siuta, Anthony Cannella JR & Rocco Cannella, and James Ridge & Brian McGarvey — all carded 73 and simply ran out of playoff holes.

On the individual boards, the flight races stayed just as tight.

Darrin Sloan posted the low gross of the tournament — 73 — and a net 71 to win Championship outright. Michael Manera matched that net 71 to take D Flight wire-to-wire.

The day’s lowest net was 69, and three players got there: Mike Negri (A, 77/69), Feriz Kukaj (A, 79/69), and Jordan Covell (B, 80/69). Negri and Kukaj split A Flight at the top (T-1, 47.5 each); Covell took B Flight on his own. The PoW tie went to a playoff — see the separate write-up.

C Flight needed a calculator. Jake Rotundo, Floyd Abrams, and Chuck Barker all signed for net 72, a clean three-way share of 1st at 45 points apiece.

A few more lines off the boards:
· Champ T-2: a five-deep knot at net 75 — Ryan Siuta, Anthony Pisciotta, Rocco Cannella, Ken Confrey, and Greg Zamalkany, 35 each.
· B Flight 2nd: Brian McGarvey and Andrew Howard, both 72 net.
· Welcome aboard: new members Avery Hood (T-3 in A at net 75), Justin Ottman (D), and the returning Jason Lieberman (Championship) all got into the mix.

Five of twenty-four events complete. Bones Jones Memorial is next — and after Saturday, everyone’s hoping for a calmer forecast.

Three players, three flights’ worth of grit, one number at the bottom of the card: net 69.

Mike Negri (A, 77/69). Feriz Kukaj (A, 79/69). Jordan Covell (B, 80/69). On a weekend where the wind made 69 feel like something closer to 60, all three found it.

The Player of the Week tie went to sudden death, and it ran four holes deep before it broke. On the 4th extra hole — the 16th — Negri made par, and that was the cleanest answer anyone could give.

Three terrific cards in nasty conditions. One trophy. Negri’s your Player of the Week.

PoW rule: best net across all flights for the tournament. Ties broken by going back to the #1 handicap hole and forward as needed.

Some weekends the course gives nothing back. This one gave plenty.

Mark Dowen walked off 18 with a number nobody else came within five strokes of. 94/61. Twenty-nine point nine handicap, gross 94, net sixty-one. The next-best score on the day was Jim Barton’s 66 from the gold tees. Five strokes clear. The PoW vote took about a second.

And that wasn’t even the wildest card of the day.

In Championship, Sean McGarvey shot a 66. Six under par, gross, full conditions, no asterisks. With his plus-handicap card his net rounded to 67 — second-lowest of the day — but the gross is what people will remember. It’s the lowest gross at HGC this season and quite possibly the round of the year. McGarvey doesn’t talk much. The card spoke plenty.

The match-of-cards stayed busy. Down in B Flight, Brian McGarvey (father of Champ-flight Sean, who carded the day’s 66) shot 79/68. So did James Ridge. Hole-by-hole on the cards, McGarvey had the edge. Solo 1st by the slimmest of margins.

Three-way tie at net 78 in B for the next bracket — Clochessy, Jacobs, and Maltbie split T-3 at 35 points each.

Joseph Sparta keeps writing the same story. C Flight, 82/67, wire-to-wire win, his second of the season. He’s now sitting on 172.5 season points in C — a 50-point lead over Joe Galvin in second. The C Flight race that was a three-way tie last week is no longer a race.

And in A Flight, Christopher Napolitano finally cashed in. After three top-5 finishes to start the year, he posted 78/68 for his first outright A win of the season. He now leads Lauder by 30 points.

The Gold pool was a tight 4-player field with a familiar storyline:
· Jim Barton — 92/66 (Gold winner; solo 2nd in D Flight)
· Jack Porette — 93/72 (5th in D)
· Matt Burgay — 103/79 (7th in D)
· Stephen Hittman (walk-up) — 110/91

Around the rest of the boards:
· A Flight T-7: Carr, Casey, and Lepic all at 87 (or 85) gross / 77 net — 15 points each.
· D Flight depth: Vincent Gamboli (89/68) finished 3rd; Doug Nguyen (94/70) 4th.
· C Flight: Robert Jones (91/74) and Jack Vasquez (91/75) rounded out the top three behind Sparta.

Four of twenty-four events complete. Spring is finished. On to June.

Some weeks you grind. This week, Mark Dowen flew.

94 gross. 33 strokes. Net 61. Eleven under par on his net card. The kind of round where you stop counting and start hoping the scorecard doesn’t evaporate before you turn it in.

How clean was it? The next-best net of the entire tournament was Jim Barton’s 66 in the Gold pool — five strokes back. After that, four players tied at net 67 (Joseph Sparta and Sean McGarvey leading them). Net 68 had another seven players. Dowen was on his own at 61, in a tier nobody else reached today.

D Flight win, going away. Player of the Week, going away. Sometimes the math just works.

PoW rule: best net across all flights for the tournament. Ties broken by going back to the #1 handicap hole and forward as needed.

Some weeks the wind talks. This one whispered.

Jarred Lauder shot the round of his life. Even par. Seventy-two. No asterisks, no give-me putts, no friendly bounces — just 72 honest strokes around Rotella. The man fixes pipes for a living, and on Sunday he drained every one of them — not a single putt leaked all afternoon. His best round ever at HGC and the kind of card you keep in a drawer. Net? 64. A Flight win and the lowest gross of the day all at once.

Plot twist: he had to share the net 64.

All the way down in D Flight, Steve Weiss walked in with a 99/64. Same net, four flights apart. Weiss took D, no argument. But Player of the Week only fits one trophy on the mantle. The tiebreaker rule: match-of-cards. Hole by hole, allocation in hand, the officials worked it out. Lauder's card had the edge. PoW is his. Weiss took D Flight and a story he'll tell for the rest of the season.

And Lauder's wasn't even the only tie of the day.

In Championship, four players all walked off the 18th green with the same number: net 74. Anthony Cannella (78/74), Steven Hegner (81/74), Anthony Pisciotta (80/74), and Darrin Sloan (77/74). No 3-hole playoff this time — back to the cards. Sloan had the better scorecard count, and the trophy is his.

The Jordan Covell train keeps rolling. Three events in 2026, three top finishes. 83/72 for the B Flight win, his second outright victory of the season. He now sits on 145 points — 60 points clear of second in B and the highest single-flight total in the entire club. He's not playing the same game as the rest of B Flight right now.

Joseph Sparta ran away with C at 83/68, the best net of the tournament across all flights below Champ. He, Joe Galvin, and Floyd Abrams are now in a three-way tie at the top of C-Flight standings — Sparta and Galvin at 122.5, Abrams at 120. Closest battle in the club.

Around the rest of the day:
· D Flight: Weiss's 64 led; Jack Porette took the Gold pool prize (93/72) and finished 2nd in D. Thomas Bohlander, Anton Voltchok, and a host of others packed the top.
· Gold pool: 9 entries. Porette took the prize.
· A Flight depth: Richard Stpierre (78/69) and John J Calcaterra (77/70) right behind Lauder.
· B Flight runner-up: Seamus Garrity at 87/74, 2nd in B.

The weather held, the greens were honest, and a few unlikely names slipped onto the scorecards. On to the next one.

Two players. Four flights apart. The same number at the bottom of the card.

Jarred Lauder in A Flight: 72/64. Even par. The lowest gross of the day, and his best round ever at HGC. The kind of card members frame.

Steve Weiss in D Flight: 99/64. Different game, same net. The kind of high-handicap heater that wins tournaments.

Both took their respective flight wins. PoW only goes to one. Tiebreaker rule for PoW skips the hardest hole and goes straight to match-of-cards — comparing hole-by-hole scores under handicap allocation. Lauder's card had the edge.

Lauder is your PoW. Weiss took D Flight and a story.

PoW rule: best net across all flights for the tournament. Ties broken by match-of-cards (hole-by-hole comparison under handicap allocation).

Some weekends the course gives nothing back. This was not one of those weekends.

Kristian O'Grady and John Casey did the thing every two-man partner dreams about: low score every hole, team net 61. $75 each in pro shop credit and the kind of result that holds up at the bar all summer.

Two teams tied behind them at 62. The Cannella tandem — Rocco and Anthony Cannella JR — won 2nd via match-of-cards over Mike Negri & Anthony Pisciotta. The card said Cannellas.

Three players carded the tournament's lowest individual net of 66:
· Kristian O'Grady — 69/66
· Jared Lauder — 74/66 (A Flight)
· Mike Negri — 75/66 (A Flight)

Three-way tie, Player of the Week tiebreaker triggered, back to the #1 handicap hole. Negri birdied it. PoW is his.

And Kristian O'Grady's 69/66 deserves its own line. We checked: it's his first sub-70 round in HGC history. The man shot 69 and then won a team event. Some weeks you should just buy lottery tickets.

Two stories worth their own paragraph:

Jordan Covell is having a moment. Two events, two top-2 finishes, sitting on 95 season points — the highest single-flight total in the entire club. Through seven weeks of golf, he's been the most consistent player in the building regardless of flight. B Flight has a Player of the Season frontrunner already.

Mary Corretjer's C Flight debut. First event in her new flight assignment, opens with 86/72 to win it outright. Her net 72 was 3 strokes clear of the rest of the flight. Some debuts speak for themselves.

Around the rest of the flights:
· Champ: O'Grady's 66 won it. Anthony Cannella JR and Anthony Pisciotta tied for 2nd at 71.
· A: T-1st Lauder & Negri (66). A five-way logjam at net 73 — Aiello, Napolitano, Facciola, Fox, Griffin.
· D: Doug Nguyen 96/72, no drama. Phil Quinn & Jack Porette tied for third at 81.

130 golfers on the boards. Standings are tight. On to the next one.

Three players walked in with the same number at the bottom of the card: net 66.

Kristian O'Grady (Champ, 69/66 — his first sub-70 ever at HGC). Jared Lauder (A, 74/66 — a clean low round). Mike Negri (A, 75/66 — the loud one).

Tiebreaker rule sends it back to the #1 handicap hole. The #1 handicap at Rotella is Hole 6 — the one most members bogey and move on. Negri made birdie. Cleanest possible answer to a three-way tie.

Three excellent scores. One trophy. Take that, #6.

PoW rule: best net across all flights for the weekend. Ties broken by going back to the #1 handicap hole and forward as needed.

First event of the season is in the books. Anthony Cannella led wire-to-wire in Championship at 78/74. James Monte matched the 78 gross in A Flight and netted 71 for the win — also picking up Golfer of the Week. Tim Rotundo took B Flight at 82/71. C Flight produced co-champions: Joe Galvin and Floyd Abrams both at net 73, sharing the place-1 points. Galvin took the regular C-flight prize while Abrams (G) collected the Gold pool prize. Sean McLaughlin closed it out in D Flight with another 73 net. 76 members posted scores on a soft course.