Past RDGA Match Play Champions

Yarik Merkulov won his second consecutive RDGA Men’s Match Play Championship title at Ridgemont Country Club in 2021, defeating Ridgemont’s Nick Sortino, 1-up in a close Championship final match.

Now in its 26th year as one of the Rochester District Golf Association’s top annual championships, the RDGA Match Play Championship returns to The Golf Club at Blue Heron Hills in 2020 for just the second time in the event’s history.

Each year, the starting field for the RDGA Match Play Championship is filled by invitees based on the top point leaders from the RDGA’s Player of the Year Award points list from the previous season – a list that incorporates points earned based on performance by players in certain local, state and national events.

In recent years, three of the RDGA’s top younger players – Gavin Hall, the three-time District Championship winner from Mendon Golf Club; Oak Hill Country Club’s Trevor Sluman, winner of the 2014, 2015 and 2016 District Championship; and former Locust Hill Country Club member Dominic Bozzelli (now a touring professional on the PGA Tour) – have each won the District Match Play title.

The RDGA Match Play Championship also has a unique connection to the RDGA District Championship, dating back to the earliest days of the RDGA in 1930. For the first 38 years of the RDGA District Championship, the event was conducted as a match play competition – until 1969, when a 72-hole stroke play format was adopted, which has continued to be used to this day. When the RDGA Match Play Championship was added to the District schedule in 1997, it restored the tradition of top match play competition that had been absent from the RDGA for nearly 30 years.

Between 1997 and 2015, the RDGA Match Play Championship featured a starting field of 32 players, with the top 31 RDGA Player of the Year point winners from the previous season joining the defending champion to form the starting field. Beginning in 2016, the size of the starting field was reduced to the top-24 point winners (including the defending champion), due to the growing popularity of the RDGA Senior Match Play Championship and the need to accommodate a larger number of players competing for the two Championships on the same host course. By 2020, however, the starting field for both Match Play Championships was increased to 32 – and continues at that level to this day, with players in both Championships being invited to enter based on the top-32 points list leaders from the previous season.

In 2021, the RDGA Men’s Match Play Championship featured an all-Ridgemont contest between Nick Sortino and Yarik Merkulov in the Championship final. Through the first 10 holes, Sortino took a 1-up lead on three separate occasions, only to see Merkulov tie it up again a hole or two later. But Merkulov won back-to-back holes on 11 and 12 to take his first lead of the match – and never looked back. The two fellow club members matched each other, hole-by-hole, the rest of the way in, until Sortino ran out of holes and Merkulov secured his second consecutive RDGA Match Play title by a 1-up margin.

The RDGA Senior Match Play Championship

Ron Plummer of Ridgemont captured his first RDGA Senior Match Play Championship title in 2021 on his home course, defeating defending champion Rich Luther in the Championship finals.

In 2015, the RDGA Match Play Championship format was opened up to include a new competition: the RDGA Senior Match Play Championship – open to all eligible amateur male golfers ages 55 and older who are RDGA members in good standing.

In the inaugural Senior Match Play Championship finals in 2015, past RDGA Senior Championship winner Mark Battle became the first player to claim the “Senior Slam” – having won both the RDGA Senior Championship title as well as the District Senior Match Play title.

In 2016, Bob Chalanick of Ravenwood Golf Club became the second “Senior Slam” winner in as many years, following up his 2015 RDGA Senior Championship title with the Senior Match Play title.

In the 2021 RDGA Senior Match Play Championship Final at Ridgemont Country Club, defending champion Rich Luther of Stafford Country Club built what looked like a strong 3-up lead over Ridgemont member Ron Plummer over the first 5 holes. Plummer then began to slowly chip away at Luther’s lead, getting back to 1-down after 10 holes. On 14, Plummer won the hole to pull even with Luther with 4 to play – and on the next hole, he took the lead for the first time in the match. Winning the 16th hole, Plummer held a 2-up lead – and after a tie on 17, Plummer secured his first RDGA Championship title, winning the 2021 RDGA Senior Match Play crown.