Our sportswriter goes 9 holes with top Islander golfer, Jay Card III
The 10th hole at Gardiner’s Bay Country Club (GBCC) is a 391 yard dogleg left from the back tees.
I let Jay Card III tee off first on Monday morning and the reigning three-time club champion chose a three iron. He shaped it around the corner and the ball came to rest 108 yards from the pin in the center of the fairway at the bottom of the hill. Perfect.
His wedge to the green came up about 15 feet short of the flag. One putt for birdie.
Wow.
The winner of the last three club championships, Jay will not be defending his crown this year. He qualified to compete in the 116th US Amateur Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The U.S. Amateur is one of the most prestigious championships in golf, with winners making a who’s who of the sport, including Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. Facing off this year are 312 of the finest amateurs in the world in an elimination tournament from August 15 to 21.
The first two days are a pressure cooker. Every golfer plays 18 holes on Monday and Tuesday and only the 64 players with the lowest aggregate scores will move on. If any players tie after the Tuesday rounds, they are immediately matched up in a sudden death format until one person qualifies for the 64th slot. From there, 32 single elimination matches will boil down to a one-on-one 36-hole championship match on Sunday on the 7,400-yard South Course nicknamed, “The Monster.”
Playing the back nine with the 23-year-old Jay, I saw a calm, unhurried athlete who seemed to have every shot necessary to compete at the highest level. Of course, when you hit eight of nine greens, six of seven fairways, one-putt four times and get up and down on the one green you miss, getting out of trouble is not really an issue.
Jay’s game is a combination of distance and accuracy. “I land it about 290 and most of my drives are right around 300 yards,” he said. He was being modest. On the 14th hole, which was playing 361 yards on Monday, Jay drove the ball to 130 yards from the flag — into the wind. That’s 331 yards. He hit a pitching wedge into the green to 20 feet and two-putted for par.
On the par 5 15th, a 310-yard tee shot left him 180 yards to the green from the left rough. A perfect 7 iron to 23 feet left an uphill putt for eagle. He burned the edge with his first putt and tapped in for birdie.
Going Low
Jay — son of Jay Card Jr. and Judy Card — graduated from High Point University with a B.A. in music and a concentration in voice this past May. A “bass 2,” he has performed twice with the North Carolina State Opera in Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” and Rossini’s “Barber of Seville.”
Soloing in front of 1,500 people, in English, he said, is more pressure than having a meaningful 4-foot putt in competition. “If I miss the putt, O.K.,” he said. “I tried to make it and it didn’t go in. But forget the words in the middle of a solo? Everyone in the audience knows.”
I asked why he said “in English?”
“Because if you forget the words in German or French very few people will know,” he smiled.
Still, the experience of performing under the lights does have relevance to him that relates to tournament golf. He feels that performing and succeeding under scrutiny is a discipline that builds mental toughness.
GETTING READY
This summer, Jay has been caddying at National Golf Links in Southampton and playing tournaments. In July, he took third in the Michael Hebron Amateur at Bethpage Black.
On Thursday, August 11, he and former GBCC club champion Jay Sessa will be part of the 12-man Long Island team in the Stoddard Trophy Matches at the Century Country Club in Westchester. The “Stoddard,” played since 1922, is a Ryder Cup style triangle tournament that pits Long Island against teams from Westchester/Connecticut and New Jersey.
Leigh Notley, head professional at GBCC, put Jay’s accomplishments and prospects into perspective. “These are the three hundred and twelve best amateurs in the world,” Mr. Notley said. “For Jay, this is the first rung on what hopefully will be a long ladder of success.”
The pro believes if Jay drives the ball well he has a chance to make it to the round of 64. After that, the pressure increases and anything can happen.
Jay shot a three under par 32 on the back nine with me on Monday. Three birdies and six pars gave him a pretty clean scorecard.
He looks like a golfer ready to compete at a very high level.
