Exemption Categories (if otherwise eligible):
1. All Past Met Open Champions.
David Pastore
Peter Ballo
Dylan Newman
Ryan Siegler
Andrew Svoboda
Luke Sample
Matt Dobyns
Josh Rackley
Mark Brown
Ben Polland
Grant Sturgeon
Danny Balin
Tyler Hall
Bob Rittberger
Andrew Giuliani
Mark Mielke
Frank Bensel
John Guyton
John Stoltz
Johnson Wagner
Michael Gilmore
Mike Burke Jr
Bruce Zabriski
Darrell Kestner
Charlie Cowell
Mike Diffley
Larry Rentz
Bobby Heins
Jim McGovern
David Glenz
George Zahringer
2. USGA Champions and members of the Walker Cup Team from the past 10 years.
3. 25 lowest scores and ties in the 2025 Met Open Championship.
David Pastore
Ryan McCormick
Peter Ballo
Peter Bradbeer
Max Theodorakis
Nathan Han
Christian Cavaliere
Melan Dhaubhadel
Joseph Dolezal
Colin Summers
Clancy Waugh
Danny Balin
Paul Pastore
Ethan Ng
Cole Ekert
Mike Ballo Jr
Dean Greyserman
Darin Goldstein
Andre Chi
Luke Sample
Ben Mitchell
Mike Rothberg
Danny Harcourt
Elliot Parker
Armando Favela
4. 2026 Open Champions of the LIGA, NJ Golf, CSGA, WGA and New York State.
LIGA June 9-11
NJ Golf 20-Jul
CSGA
WGA June 15-16
New York State July 14-16
5. 2026 Long Island and Westchester PGA Champions.
Long Island
Westchester
6. 2025 NJ and Met PGA Section Champions, NJPGA Fall Finale (formerly Charity Classic) and MGA Senior Open Champion.
NJPGA Grant Sturgeon
MetPGA Danny Balin
NJPGA Fall Finale Danny Harcourt
MGA Senior Open Brian Gaffney
7. 2026 Met Amateur and Ike Champions.
Met Amateur
Ike
8. 2026 WGA, LIGA, NJ Golf, NYSGA and CSGA Amateur Champions.
WGA July 6-8
LIGA June 23-26
NJ Golf
NYSGA
CSGA
9. Past U.S. Open and PGA Champions.
10. Top 3 on the 2025 MGA Player of the Year and the current leader on the 2026 MGA Player of the Year list as of August 7, 2026.
1 Christian Cavaliere
2 Matthew Lowe
3 Dean Greyserman
Current Leader
11. Top 5 on the 2025 Metropolitan and New Jersey PGA Section Player of the Year Lists.
Met PGA NJPGA
Peter Ballo 1 Danny Harcourt
Danny Balin 2 Brent Paladino
Andre Chi 3 Grant Sturgeon
Dylan Newman 4 Brian Gaffney
Matt Dobyns 5 Frank Esposito
12. Qualifiers and Alternates for the 2026 U.S. Open and PGA Championships.
13. 2026 NJPGA Charity Clambake, and NJPGA Match Play Champions.
NJPGA Charity Clambake
NJPGA Match Play
14. 2026 Metropolitan Professional Champion.
15. Top 500 in the Men’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) at the time of entry.
Players must identify themselves at registration.
16. Top 500 in the Men’s Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) at the time of entry.
Players must identify themselves at registration.
17. Professional representative and Current Club champion at Championship Host Club – Essex County Country Club.
18. Special exemptions as determined by the MGA.