Men’s Golf: Westfield’s Barnes Blake Ends Summer on High Note

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — What a way to end the summer for Westfield High alum and Georgetown sophomore Barnes Blake.

Blake, the 2022 NJ.com Boys Golfer of the Year, along with Morristown senior and Notre Dame 2025 commit Liam Pasternak, the defending 2024 NJ.com Boys Golfer of the Year, teamed up to fire a 7-under-par 65 to become one of three teams to co-medal in the qualifying round for the USGA's 10th U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship on Monday at New Jersey National Golf Club.

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Ben Shields (Towson, Maryland) and Mike Filler (Glen Burnie, Maryland), along with Temple sophomore Matthew Vital (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) and Rutgers freshman Bennett Espenshade (Baltimore, Maryland) earned their spot to compete at Plainfield Country Club in Edison (May 17-22, 2025).

Blake and Pasternak started the day with a solid 5-under par on the front nine.

“Liam and I are really close friends, so we’ve always wanted to play in the four-ball together, and with it being hosted at Plainfield and Echo Lake CC we wanted to give qualifying a shot this year. We played off each other quite nicely today without having too many overlapping birdies and helped out each other on some holes when the other struggled,” said Blake, who actually moved in for his sophomore year at Georgetown on Sunday morning and came back to the Garden State to play in this event. He was heading back to school on a flight Monday night.

Blake has played in only one other four-ball match in his career — the Stoddard Cup earlier this year at North Jersey CC in Wayne.

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Four other Garden State golfers earned first and second alternate spots.

Eric LeFante (Mendham, NJ) and Tyler Brewington (Oceanport, NJ) earned first alternate status and Justin Chae (Summit, NJ) and Tucker Sandercock (Morristown, NJ) grabbed the second alternate spot.

Both teams shot a 6-under par 66 and advanced after a 6-for-2 playoff.

Westfield native James Arbes, along with Kevin King of Sterling were also part of the alternate spot playoff but failed to advance. Other Westfield golfers that failed to make the cut included Colin Summers 5-under 67; Glen Bliwise even 72 and Steve Wilcox 1-over 73.

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