The annual Philadelphia Challenge Matches, which pit top
players from the Golf Association of Philadelphia against a team of
Philadelphia Section PGA pros, is always a fascinating get-together that brings
together two groups of really strong players that rarely compete against one
another.
It was held Tuesday at Lehigh Country Club and, like any
event at a busy time of the year, not everybody is available to tee it up in
the middle of the week. Still, the Challenge Matches drew a pretty
representative group of talented players to fill out both rosters.
GAP built a 4.5-1.6 advantage in the four-ball matches, which
enabled it to withstand a 6.5-5.5 edge the Philly Section PGA pros had in the
singles matches to give GAP a narrow 10-8 victory.
You could take any foursome and zero in on it, but a quartet
that featured what has to be two of the very best 60-plus-year-old players in
the country in LedgeRock Golf Club amateur Chip Lutz and Radnor Valley Country
Club head pro George Forster caught my eye.
The 63-year-old Lutz is coming off a run to the semifinals
of the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.,
an event he won in 2015. He finished in a tie for fourth The Senior Amateur
Championship at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club in Wales, an event he has won three
times.
The 62-year-old Forster will tee it up in the in the Senior
PGA Professional Championship, presented by Mercedes Benz USA, for the 13th
straight year later this month at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
after finishing tied for second in the Philadelphia Senior PGA Professional
Championship in August at White Manor Country Club.
Lutz knocked off Forster, 4 and 3, in their singles match
and teamed up with LuLu Country Club’s Glen Smeraglio, who swept the GAP and
Pennsylvania Golf Association senior amateur titles in 2017, to claim a 5 and 4
win over Forster and Philadelphia Cricket Club’s William Sautter. Smeraglio and
Sautter each earned a half-point as they finished all square in their singles
match.
Smeraglio wasn’t the only LuLu member to tee it up for Team
GAP and the LuLu guys played a big part in the victory for the amateurs.
The LuLu tandem of Troy Vannucci and Vince Kwon claimed a 4
and 3 win over Mike Furey, out of the Mahoning Valley Country Club pro shop, and
Steve Swartz of Out Door Country Club. Vannucci added a 6 and 5 singles win
over Furey while Kwon edged Swartz, 2 and 1.
LuLu’s Michael Brown Jr., winner of the Patterson Cup this
summer at Gulph Mills Golf Club, and John Samaha of Old York Road Country Club,
pulled out a 2 and 1 four-ball victory over a strong Philly Section PGA tandem
of Radley Run Country Club assistant pro Brett Melton and Stu Ingraham, the
head of instruction at the M Golf Range in Newtown Square.
It was a key point, especially considering Brown and Samaha
lost their singles matches, Brown falling, 5 and 4, to Melton and Ingraham
claimed a 1-up decision over Samaha.
Drexel golf coach Ben Feld, playing out of Green Valley
Country Club, teamed with Marty McGuckin, a BMW Philadelphia Amateur
semifinalist this summer out of the RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve, to
claim a 3 and 2 four-ball decision over Michael Tobiason Jr. of Deerfield
Country Club and Overbrook Golf Club assistant pro Trevor Bensel.
Feld added a 5 and 4 win over Bensel in their singles match
while Tobiason salvaged a point for the Philly Section PGA pros with a 1-up
decision over McGuckin.
The Philly Section PGA pros got their strongest showing from
the team of Overbrook assistant pro Ashley Grier and Kevin Nicholson. Grier
earned the Philadelphia Section’s final spot to next spring’s PGA Professional
Championship in a playoff in last month’s Philadelphia PGA Professional
Championship at Concord Country Club. She is establishing herself as one of the
top female club pros in the country.
Grier and Nicholson claimed a 4 and 3 decision over another
LuLu representative, Michael Moffat, and Matthew Finger of DuPont Country Club.
Grier cruised to a 5 and 4 decision over Moffat and Nicholson made it a clean
sweep for the Philly Section PGA pros in the foursome with a 2 and 1 victory over
Finger.
There wasn’t much separating either team as Little Mill
Country Club’s Blaine Lafferty, who completed a solid college career at
Delaware in the spring, and Adam Armagost, the Pine Valley caddy who won a
match in the U.S. Senior Amateur in Eugene last month, earned a half-point in
their four-ball match with Tony Perla and veteran Burlington Country Club head pro Michael Mack.
Perla edged Lafferty, 1-up, in their singles match, but
Armogast, who plays out of RiverWinds Golf & Tennis Club, gained a valuable
point for Team GAP with a 5 and 4 victory over Mack.
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