Led by LIers, MGA team beats the Irish

Ever since 1996, the Carey Cup had belonged to amateur golfers from Ireland, the country that is known as the Old Sod. Thursday, the trophy finally was reclaimed by golfers who call Bethpage Black their home turf.

Three Long Islanders led the Metropolitan Golf Association team to a 7 1/2-4 1/2 win over the Golfing Union of Ireland on the Black Course. There is no telling how much local knowledge came into play in the two-day biennial event, but the setting sure made it sweeter.

"I played my first round of golf here, 38 years ago," said Dennis Lynch, 50, representing the Bethpage-based Nassau Players Club, after he defeated Aaron Kearney, 5 and 4.

It had a double meaning for Clancy Waugh, 16, from Deepdale Golf Club, who went 3-0 in the Ryder Cup-style matches. For starters, he was stunned and proud to be picked for the team. Plus, he had the same pull of roots that persuaded the late New York Gov. Hugh Carey to donate the cup.

Waugh's first name is his mother's maiden name. "My grandpa came over on the boat to Ellis Island from Galway, back in the day. He actually threw the discus for the Irish Olympic team," he said, referring to Cummin Clancy. The teenager beat Gary McDermott, 1-up, but by just halving the 16th hole, he clinched the Cup and ended the Met area drought.

No one on the winning team knew the history better than did Joe Saladino, 31, of Huntington Country Club. He has played in seven team matches for the MGA in Ireland, France and other disparate places. "Bethpage has been a special place for me. I've played a lot of events here," Saladino said after he closed out Niall Gorey, 4 and 2. "To be almost right in my backyard and get it, it's nice. I feel like I can celebrate it with a lot more people, instead of sending texts."

He insisted on being paired with Waugh, whom he met in the Long Island Amateur final this summer, and the two swept their two matches in the driving rain Wednesday. The Carey Cup capped Saladino's big week (he won the Nassau Invitational Sunday) and immense year (22-0 in match play).

But perhaps it meant the most to Lynch, who planned on coming out to watch the matches before he was chosen for his first and probably last international competition. "This is it, I'm sure," he said, adding that he was warned that it could be daunting, three rounds in two days at 50. "I told them I'd play four rounds in one day."