16th Marston Cup

McCall’s Loehrs captures Marston Cup

ELVERSON, Pa. — Fortune flows within golf’s fickleness as Jason Loehrs learned Monday.

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The McCall Golf Club member “played terribly” in Merion Golf Club’s Caddie Championship yesterday on the venue’s East Course. Less than 24 hours later, he performed exemplary at French Creek Golf Club (par 71, 6,251 yards).

Loehrs carded a 4-under-par 67 to capture the 16^th Marston Cup. It marked his first individual victory on the GAP circuit.

Llanerch Country Club’s Joe Kerrigan finished second at even-par 71. The Marston Cup is an 18-hole stroke play championship for individuals 40-54 years of age.

“I didn’t play well at all yesterday. I didn’t come into today feeling great,” Loehrs, 40, of Havertown, Pa., said. “My game’s OK. It’s still a little inconsistent. Merion is extremely tough. It can embarrass you quickly.”

Loehrs made the field blush at French Creek. He posted the day’s lone subpar score amid sublime August temperatures. The field scoring average, for reference, was 79.5.

So, what caused such a turnaround from Loehrs’ Merion malfunction?

“[French Creek is] a much more forgiving place,” Loehrs said. “As long as you keep it inside the hay here, you can score. The course is set up where you can get it. There are some spots that can cause trouble, the long grass and penalty areas. But if you keep it inside the long grass, you can beat it up a little bit.”

Loehrs set upon the red-figure speedbag on No. 4 (par 5, 486 yards). With an assist from a prevailing wind, he skied a wedge from 155 yards onto the left fringe. Two putts from 30 feet translated into a birdie. A driver-4-wood combination on No. 6 (par 5, 530 yards) positioned Loehrs 50 yards from the hole location. He knocked a wedge to 10 feet for birdie. His lone blemish occurred on the next hole (par 4, 361 yards), where a “bad drive” steered Loehrs into a bogey.  

“As long as you keep it inside the hay here, you can score.”

“I hit it on the cart path. I think I probably should have played it off the cart path instead of taking relief, which was to the right and in the long grass. It looked OK there, but it was in an ugly spot. I hit it [from 60 yards] over the green and couldn’t get it up-and-down [for par]. That was definitely my sloppiest hole, for sure.”

Like Loehrs’ golf game, let’s flip the script and learn about his most glamorous hole (No. 15, par 4, 260 yards). Playing partner Kevin Turner of Llanerch Country Club, with honors on the tee, tracked a 4-hybrid at the hole location, but it ran deep. Loehrs factored the occurrence into his tee strategy. He chose 3-iron and slightly lessened swing power. It settled six feet from the hole. He converted the ensuing eagle putt.

“That was the best shot of the day by far,” Loehrs, who started this year as a full-time caddie at Merion, said of the 3-iron.

Loehrs’ inward tour also included a birdie on the downhill par 3, 157-yard 10^th hole. He sent an 8-iron to 20 feet above the flagstick and sunk a left-to-right curler. He almost closed with consecutive birdies as well. Loehrs’ putt over a false front on No. 17 (par 3, 193 yards) stopped a revolution shy. His 35-footer on No. 18 (par 4, 413 yards) snapped left at the hole.

A 3-under-par 33 on French Creek’s back nine is again an about-face. In his previous appearance at the Gil Hanse design, a 2020 GAP Players Series event, inked a 3-over-par 39 to miss the rewards package (exemptions into three GAP Majors) by two strokes. That stretch, furthermore, included a double bogey on French Creek’s 15^th hole.

No hard feelings after Monday.

“This is a good course for me I guess,” Loehrs, who won the Philadelphia Publinks Golf Association Championship three weeks ago, said.

The Marston Cup honors Max Marston, who for four months in the summer of 1923, emerged as America’s best amateur golfer. Between mid-May and mid-September, Marston was virtually unstoppable through a series of club, state, national and international events.

It began with the Walker Cup Matches, where Marston won two matches as the Americans successfully retained the Cup. Marston returned home to capture the Joseph H. Patterson Cup and Amateur Championship in successive weeks and, in doing so, earned the Silver Cross Award. In July, he took the Pennsylvania Amateur title and finished as low amateur in the GAP Open. In September, Marston traveled to Floosmoor Country Club outside Chicago, Ill. for the U.S. Amateur. He rallied in the second round to defeat tournament favorite Bob Jones, 2&1, before knocking off Francis Ouimet in the semifinals. He stopped defending champion Jess Sweetser in the final on the 38^th hole. In that four-month span, he also captured the Merion Cricket Club championship and Pine Valley Golf Club’s Crump Cup.

GAP
Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, 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 300 Member Clubs and 80,000 individual members are spread across the Eastern half of Pennsylvania and parts of Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.