{"id":315842,"date":"2026-08-07T05:54:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T05:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/315842\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T05:54:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T05:54:20","slug":"brooklyn-bench-and-bar-retains-verrazzano-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/315842\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn bench and bar retains Verrazzano Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>DYKER HEIGHTS \u2014 The Verrazzano Cup, an annual golf tournament that pits judges and lawyers from Brooklyn against their counterparts from Staten Island, will remain in the borough for another year after the recent match ended in a draw.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Held at Dyker Beach Golf Course on July 23, the event began 19 years ago, conceived by avid golfer Hon. Theodore \u201cTeddy\u201d Jones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>From left: Mark Rayo, Steven Bamundo, Mike Rossi, Gregory J. Cerchione, Gregory T. Cerchione, Dave Davis, Hon. Donald Kurtz, Anthony Metervini, Hon. Bernard Graham, Anthony Vaughn, Hon. David Vaughn, Joseph Ferri, William Santo, George Farkas, Thomas Magill and Anthony Genovesi. Photo: Steven Bamundo<\/p>\n

The Verrazano Cup is divided into a series of two-person, best-ball matches between Brooklyn and Staten Island lawyers and judges. Each match contributes points toward the overall team championship. The tournament typically features 20 golfers from each borough.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because Staten Island was unable to field a full team, resulting in the forfeiture of two matches, Brooklyn would have prevailed on points. However, in the spirit of sportsmanship and camaraderie, Brooklyn team captain Steven Bamundo agreed to record the competition as a draw, holding on to the Verrazano Cup for another year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>The Verrazzano Cup. Photo: Steven Bamundo<\/p>\n

Bamundo told the Brooklyn Eagle that the objective of the tournament is to foster relationships between the legal communities on both sides of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll in all, it was a great day that ended with dinner, cigars, wine and stories about the day\u2019s events,\u201d Bamundo said.\u00a0 \u201cWe also had tons of laughs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Steven<\/a>Steven Bamundo, left, alongside Hon. William Mastro. Photo: Mario Belluomo\/Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

Bamundo, an avid golfer, said many golfers involved in the competition typically play casually. \u201cIn the end, we are all about having a great time, so regardless of ability, everyone is welcome to participate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn team member Hon. William Mastro referred to the golf outing as \u201cthe ultimate friendly competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Steven<\/a>Steven Bamundo, center, requesting a moment of silence in memory of Judges Theodore \u201cTeddy\u201d Jones and Philip G. Minardo. Photo: Steven Bamundo<\/p>\n

Mastro noted that his \u201cpolitical and legal roots\u201d are in Brooklyn, although he has worked on Staten Island since 1982.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sort of a hybrid,\u201d he said. \u201cIn Brooklyn, I sat in the Appellate Division for almost 20 years, but when this golfing event began, I was on Staten Island,\u201d he said. \u201cI have friends on both sides of the bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mastro said Brooklyn team member George Farkas kept the laughs rolling. \u201cBefore practically every hole, George was telling a different joke,\u201d Mastro said. \u201cHe\u2019s a funny guy.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"George<\/a>George Farkas, left, alongside William Santo. Photo: Steven Bamundo<\/p>\n

Hon. Donald Kurtz, also a member of the Brooklyn squad, said he has been attending the Verrazzano Cup event since it began. \u201cI\u2019ve been going since the beginning, and I\u2019ve never missed one,\u201d Kurtz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to golf a lot,\u201d he continued. \u201cI play as much as possible since I retired nearly three years ago, but nothing is better than getting a chance every year to play with these guys. We\u2019re like brothers.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DYKER HEIGHTS \u2014 The Verrazzano Cup, an annual golf tournament that pits judges and lawyers from Brooklyn against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,3308,119118,2014,15313,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-315842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-daily-bulletin","tag-dyker-beach","tag-golf","tag-legal-community","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}