Aug. 3, 2018
The scene? The 116th Joseph H. Patterson Cup.
The stage? Glorious Gulph Mills Golf Club.
The stakes? The Silver Cross Award, a Golf Association of Philadelphia Major and headway in a heated William Hyndman, III Player of the Year race.
Gulph Mills will host the Association’s premier stroke play event for the fourth time (1975, 1977, 1991). The 112-year-old venue isn’t a stranger to significant championships, most recently welcoming the 2017 Pennsylvania Golf Association Open Championship.
Fond of and familiar with the property is Merion Golf Club’s Peter Bradbeer, the defending Patterson Cup Champion and Silver Cross Award winner.
“I played in the [2015] Christman Cup [at Gulph Mills]. I love the course. It’s a great test of golf,” he said. “There are definitely some birdies to be made out there, but there are definitely some holes where you can make a big number. I’m looking forward to navigating the course and having a lot of fun.”
Perhaps fun — and a fine Patterson finish — will alleviate a difficult 2018 tournament season for Bradbeer, 20, of Rosemont, Pa. He fell in an 11-for-8 sudden-death playoff for the remaining match play spots in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club. A visibly emotional Bradbeer missed the Open Championship cut by two strokes at St. Davids Golf Club last month.
“It’s been a hard year for me on the golf course,” Bradbeer, a rising junior at Bucknell University, said. “With an amazing win like the Patterson Cup, there comes a little extra added pressure. You want to continue to be the best. You want to be on top. For me, battling that added pressure has been difficult. My game hasn’t been sharp, but I’m looking forward to getting out there, competing and trying to defend my title. I think that’s going to give me that extra edge: playing for that title defense like [two-time reigning U.S. Open Champion] Brooks Koepka.”
Bradbeer is looking to become the first back-to-back Patterson victor since Brandon Matthews (2012-13). In his triumph a year ago at Wilmington Country Club, Bradbeer played in the final group alongside former Patterson Cup titleholder (2015) and current professional Christopher Crawford and Yardley Country Club’s Chris Ault, the 2013 Pennsylvania Golf Association Amateur Champion. Ault, who finished tied for third at Wilmington, found success the last time a GAP Major graced Gulph Mills; he earned runner-up honors in the 2014 Middle-Amateur.
“Gulph Mills is obviously a place I like a lot. It fits my eye,” Ault, 32, of Yardley, Pa., said. “I’m in a little different place coming into this event than I was last year. I came off a state amateur where I was playing well and finished tied for second. At that time, I had been practicing a lot. This summer, quite frankly I really haven’t done anything. I’ve had about two hours of practice since the (GAP) Middle-Amateur in May, so my expectations aren’t through the roof. I do have this quiet confidence about Gulph Mills. I’m going to try and play a couple of times this week and see if I can get in a little rhythm.”
Other former titleholders hoping to recapture a Patterson rhythm include Jeff Osberg of Huntingdon Valley Country Club (2016, 2010), Cole Berman of Philadelphia Cricket Club (2014), Andrew Mason of Huntingdon Valley (2011), James Kania, Jr. of Overbrook Golf Club (2009), Michael McDermott of Merion Golf Club (2007) Jamie Slonis of Tavistock Country Club (2001), Greg O’Connor of Bellewood Country Club (2000), and Brad McFadden of Overbrook (1992).
The second oldest Championship in the Golf Association of Philadelphia, the Joseph H. Patterson Cup memorializes a man who fostered the game in its infancy. Joseph Henry Patterson, a Philadelphia Cricket Club member, competed in the first out-of-town match played by a team of Philadelphians. Friends of Patterson donated the Cup, designed by J.E. Caldwell & Co., to the Association in 1900.
The Joseph H. Patterson Cup also serves as the final two rounds of the Silver Cross Award. That honor is presented to the player with the lowest aggregate score in the qualifying rounds of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship and the Patterson Cup. Hartefeld National’s Ryan Rucinski leads DuPont Country Club’s Matthew Finger by two strokes entering Gulph Mills. Bradbeer sits eight shots back. Since its inception in 1902, only 12 individuals have earned the Silver Cross Award in consecutive years.
As always, both the public and media are welcome to attend.
Aside from offering live scoring on its website, the Association will provide Joseph H. Patterson Cup updates via its social media outlets. Follow @GAofPhilly on Twitter and Instagram. Use the #PatCup hashtag when posting.
Golf Association of Philadelphia
Founded in 1897, the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The Association’s 260 Full Member Clubs and 75,000 individual members are spread across Eastern Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey and Delaware. As Philadelphia’s Most Trusted Source of Golf Information, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.
