Top golf amateurs to vie for 47th annual Porter Cup, July 20-23

by Terry Duffy
Dispatch, Tribune, Sentinel, June 30 - July 2, 2005

The 47th edition of the Porter Cup Amateur Golf Tournament -- the second ranked tourney of its kind in the US -- returns to the Niagara Falls Country Club, Wednesday, July 20 through Saturday, July 23.

First staged in 1959, the tourney was originally known as the International Invitational at Niagara Falls Country Club and comprised primarily of businessmen and college students.

It expanded in scope from 54 to 72 holes and in national prominence in 1960, and was renamed the Porter Cup in honor of Alex L. Porter, a well-known local businessman, who donated the trophy. Taking a lead from the Masters Tournament, that year the Porter Cup also began honoring the winner of the annual tourney with the name sake trophy and green blazer. It’s a tradition that continues to present day.

Also tradition at Porter is the caliber of amateur players who have made the trek up to the Lewiston course as part of their national circuit over the years.

This was much due to the pioneering efforts of tournament founder Dick Harvey, a master recruiter from the 1960s. Over the past 40-plus years many of the nation’s rising golf stars have included a visit to the Niagara Falls Country Club -- which features a par 70-6, 621-yard championship course with 90 challenging sand traps -- as part of their amateur tour. Names such as Bill Harvey, winner of the 1963 Porter Cup in a record 77 holes; Vinney Giles, who won the Porter Cup as an amateur and later the Harvey Cup as a top senior; Bob E. Smith, the only back-to-back winner in Porter Cup history; and Jay Siegel, a 32-time Porter Cup participant and three-time champion who is ranked as one of the best amateurs of all time, come to mind.

And there have been others. Golf legends such as 1972 champ Ben Crenshaw; and PGA stars Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III, David Duval, Tom Lehman, Hal Sutton, and Justin Leonard have all visited the NFCC to participate in this annual top-ranked amateur tourney over the years.

And the game plays on.

For the 2005 event, the Porter Cup executive committee has announced the selection of attorney A. Joseph Catalano to serve as general chairman of the tourney.

A Lewiston resident, Catalano is active in a number of community volunteer endeavors. Honored in 2003 as a Distinguished Alumni of Niagara County Community College, Catalano is a member of the Mount St. Mary’s Hospital board of associates Pro-Am Golf Tournament where he served as past president; is president of the Thomas M. Cooley School of Law NY state Alumni Association; a member of the United Way of Niagara Sponsorship Committee; and serves as a volunteer for Niagara County Legal Aid.

Visitors to this year’s Porter can again look forward to seeing many of the best amateurs in the game -- including two from the Buffalo area vying for top honors. In fact there’s over 60 players from throughout the U.S., Canada and beyond expected to visit the NFCC. As of late June the field comprised such up and comers as:

•Michael Barbosa -- St. Petersburg, Fla.; Skip Berkmeyer Jr. -- St. Louis, Mo.; Ryan Blaum -- Coral Gables, Fla.; Dane Burkhart -- Aiken, S.C.; Rafael Cabrera-Bello -- Gran Canaria, Spain; Peter Campbell -- Encinitas, Calif.; Jon Curran -- Hopkinton, Mass.; Tripp Davis -- Norman, Okla.; Jason Day -- Queensland, Australia; Will Dodson -- Dallas, Texas; Andrew Dodt -- Queensland, Australia; Judd Easterling -- Wichita, Kan.; Gene Elliott -- West Des Moines, Iowa; Matt Every -- Daytona Beach, Fla.; Brady Exber -- Las Vegas, Nev.; Jack Ferguson -- High Point, N.C.; Erik Flores; Grass Valley, Calif.; Josh Geary -- Tauranga, New Zealand; Danny Green -- Jackson, Tenn.; Alex Hamilton -- Aiken, S.C.; Brian Harman -- Savannah, Ga.; Matt Harmon -- Grand Rapids, Mich.; Alan Hill -- Spring Branch, Texas; Jeff Hood -- Atascadero, Calif.; Billy Hurley -- Annapolis, Md.; Bradley Iles -- Lower Hutt, New Zealand; Tim Jackson -- Germantown, Tenn.; Anthony Kim -- Norman, Okla.; Trip Kuehne -- Irving, Texas; Nathan Lashley -- Scottsbluff, Neb.; and Peter Laws -- Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

•Also, Joon Won Lee -- New South Wales, Australia; Marc Leishman -- Melbourne, VIC Australia; Trent Leon -- Dallas, Texas; Tyler Leon -- Dallas, Texas; Henry Liaw -- Rowland Heights, Calif.; Luke List -- Ringgold, Ga.; Pablo Martin-Benavides -- Malaga, Spain; David May -- Auburn, N.Y.; Mike McCoy -- West Des Moines, Iowa; Jon McLean -- Weston, Fla.; Terrence Miskell, New Brunfels, Texas; Roy Moon -- North Hills, Calif.; Pat Moore -- Tempe, Ariz.; Michael Morrison -- Atlanta, Ga.; John Scott Rattan -- Montgomery Village, Md.; Kyle Reifers -- Columbus, Ohio; Jay Reynolds -- Austin, Texas; Zack Robinson, Stillwater, Okla.; Matt Rosenfeld -- Plano, Texas; Jim Roy -- Syracuse, N.Y.; Michael Schachner -- Libertyville, Ill.; Michael Sim -- Connolly, West Australia; Webb Simpson; Raleigh, N.C.; Nathan Smith; Brookville, Pa.; Pat Tallent -- Vienna, Va.; Andrew Tampion -- Melbourne, VIC Australia; Matt Thomas, Blasdell, N.Y.; Nick Thompson -- Coral Springs, Fla.; James Vargas -- Miami, Fla.; Lee Williams -- Alexander City, Ala.; and Jeff Wolniewicz -- West Seneca, N.Y.

It all gets under way Monday, July 18, with registration and practice. Preliminary competition opens Tuesday July 19 with the Ham Am morning round shotgun at 7;30 a.m., and continues with the Ham Am afternoon round shotgun at 1 p.m.

Wednesday, July 20 opens with the first round of the Porter Cup at 7:30 a.m. The Titlist/Mizuno Long Drive contest concludes the first day of play at 5:30 p.m.

Thursday sees the second round kicking off at 7:30 a.m.; the third round continues Friday at 7:30 and the final round, Saturday, again at 7:30 a.m. Award ceremonies and a naming of the 2005 Porter Cup champion will take place at 5:30 p.m. that day at NFCC. In the event of rain throughout the tourney, final competition and the award ceremonies will move to Sunday, July 24.

As it has been throughout its history, this year’s edition of the Porter Cup is again free and open to the public. Area residents and visitors are invited to check out the best of the nation’s amateurs, in just a few short weeks at NFCC.

For further details on this year’s Porter, call the Niagara Falls Country Club at 282-1204.