MOHNTON, Pa. — Jeff Frazier became the first individual to win three Senior Division titles in the Brewer Cup Wednesday at a stunning at LedgeRock Golf Club (par 72, 6,698 yards).
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The Carlisle Country Club member defeated Brian Groff, 1-up, in the Final of the event’s 18th edition. Frazier’s prior victories came in 2020 at LedgeRock and 2021 at Huntingdon Valley Country Club.
“This is the most satisfaction I get from any of the tournaments just because it’s such a grind. It’s just brutal,” Frazier, 60, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., said. “It feels awesome.”
“I took the champion to the 18th hole. Jeff and I both said that match could’ve gone either way,” Groff, 59, of Lancaster, Pa., said. “We both played pretty solid. We could’ve done this again and maybe next time I’d be 1-up. Who knows? He’s a good player. He’s just relentless. I tried to just hang around and hope something good happened at the end. I fell a little short.”
Frazier now holds a striking 12–2 match play record in the Brewer Cup. His first appearance, the start of what’s amounted to a successful GAP career, came at LedgeRock. Good karma oozed through the vents once Frazier’s car tires rumbled along the entrance’s wooden bridge.
“I should be an out of town member,” Frazier, a two-time GAP Senior Player of the Year (2022, 2024), said. “I like the place. It suits me well. Firm and fast, which is great for my ball flight.”
A lethal lefty, Frazier leans into the low lasers. As one writer framed it, “a well-controlled chest-high ball that reminds you more of a line drive in baseball than a modern-era golf drive.” Frazier, after all, did play Division III baseball at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pa.
The final against Groff unfolded like a pitcher’s duel. The two traded scoreless innings on LedgeRock’s first nine, tying only three holes.
Groff gained a 1-up advantage on No. 10 (par 3, 190 yards) by hitting an 8-iron to five feet for birdie. But an unfazed Frazier responded with a conversion of his own on the next hole (par 4, 416 yards), where he drilled a 6-iron 170 yards to 18 feet below the hole location. His left-to-right curler dropped. Groff missed a seven-footer to match. His putting problems persisted on the par 5, 554-yard 13th hole. Groff pushed a 16-footer for birdie and missed a six-foot comebacker, thereby affording Frazier a 1-up lead.
The deficit entered double jeopardy on No. 15 (par 4, 457 yards). Facing a 205-yard shot out of the right rough, Groff selected hybrid.
“I knew that was risky out of that lie,” Groff, now retired following a 31-year career at Trout CPA, said. “I’m thinking I might be able to hit a tumbling type of shot. I couldn’t elevate it. I was trying to hit a knuckleball and chase it on. I just got on top of the ball.”
Now in the right fairway bunker, Groff sent an 8-iron from 153 yards to 17 feet. He made the par putt to tie Frazier.
“I’m thinking this is it. I’m going to 2-up with three to go. I’m not going to make a bogey,” Frazier, who registered 16 greens in regulation, said. “It could’ve very easily gone the other way. That shows you how tight the match was. A putt falls here, a putt falls there, and the next thing you know it’s a different game.”
The 17th hole (par 4, 409 yards) nearly reversed the final fortunes. It instead showcased why Frazier is a Brewer Cup behemoth, an unforgiving warrior who whittles opponents with composure and consistency.
With a yardage of 180, Frazier, aiming for air space above the hole location, mistakenly slung a low hook into the right rough. His ball now caked in mud and below his feet, Frazier seemed destined for a loss of hole.
Appearances can be deceiving. Frazier executed a brilliant flop shot to four feet. He buried the par putt. Groff left his 15-footer for birdie in the heart.
“I knew I had to land it on the front of the slope, which would kick it left. When I hit it, it was perfect,” Frazier said. “To hit the shot when the pressure is like that, hitting all of these shots with your [rear] puckered … it’s great. I’ve got what looks like death. He’s got 15 feet for birdie. And we walk away tied.”
“That was one heck of a shot out of the rough. He had to hit it to an elevated green, which is going away from him,” Groff, a Lancaster Country Club member, said. “But you’re playing against great players. They’re going to hit those shots. It’s not like I didn’t expect it.”
How Frazier handled the 18th hole (par 5, 561 yards) with a 1-up lead is no surprise either. He lifted a wedge 82 yards to eight feet. Once Groff’s 16-footer for birdie curled over the cup’s top edge, Frazier knew the assignment. Change the target and lag to comfort. He did just that.
Is Frazier built for the Brewer Cup? Three titles in six years suggests so.
“It requires a competitive person. I’m as competitive as they come,” Frazier said. “I do not ever give up. That’s the way I approach everything I do. You don’t ever quit. You don’t ever give in. You don’t understand how much pressure you’re feeling out there, how intense it can get.”
The notion of pressure raises an eyebrow. After all, Frazier’s GAP record is robust. In addition to the Brewer Cup and aforementioned POY honors, Frazier is a two-time Frank H. Chapman Cup (2022, 2024) champion and former Francis B. Warner Cup winner (2024).
But pressure isn’t a byproduct of past accomplishment, he says. It is the natural pressure of trying to win that fuels Frazier’s fire.
“You’ve got to hit the shot when you’re nervous as hell. The shot I hit on the 18th hole, the third shot, I thought that was a great shot … to get it in there like that,” he said. “At this level, these guys are good. There are a lot of good seniors. I had a great time this week. I’m not as exhausted as I was yesterday, believe it or not. I don’t know what it is. And I beat [Neil Gordon], who beat me last year.”
And Frazier defeated Groff, whose lifelong friend and former James Madison University roommate is John Barry, also of Lancaster. In 2021, Frazier bested Barry, 2&1, in the Final.
“I should’ve told [Groff] that down the stretch. I own you Lancaster guys,” Frazier said jokingly.
Semifinals
Groff played LedgeRock’s second nine in 3 under, given usual match play concessions, to upend Ed Brown of Rehoboth Beach Country Club, 2&1. His 7-iron set up birdie conversions of eight and 12 feet, respectively, on Nos. 14 (par 3, 174 yards) and 15 (par 4, 457 yards). Groff extended his advantage to an insurmountable 3-up after Brown found the left fairway bunker on No. 16 (par 4, 343 yards) and failed to save par.
“I can play [in the Senior Division]. It’s the unknown. I didn’t show well in the first two senior events, but my game is in a good place right now,” Brown, 55, of Rehoboth Beach, Del., said. “I’m happy. I’m not happy with the result, but I played well this week. [Groff] was 3 under on the back nine. I think I got beat. It happens.”
In a renewal of the 2024 Brewer Cup Quarterfinals, Frazier flipped the script, defeating Neil Gordon of Doylestown Country Club, 5&3.
“Jeff played great, steady. That’s tough to beat,” Gordon, 57, of Warrington, Pa., said. “If you want to win something like this, you have to make putts. I was lucky to get up-and-down from a few spots just to stay in it for a little bit. I had a couple of good rounds here. It’s always good to see signs of life when you can. I’m happy to have made it this far.”
Frazier grabbed a 2-up lead following a two-putt birdie on No. 12 (par 4, 213 yards). He gained a firm grip on the contest by draining a 30-footer for birdie on No. 14.
Final
6. Jeff Frazier, Carlisle CC d. 8. Brian Groff, Lancaster CC, 1-up
Semifinals
8. Groff, Lancaster CC d. 5. Ed Brown, Rehoboth Beach CC, 2&1
6. Frazier, Carlisle CC d. 10. Neil Gordon, Doylestown CC, 5&3
The Brewer Cup is named in honor of O. Gordon Brewer, Jr., the former president of Pine Valley Golf Club. He is a two-time U.S. Senior Amateur Champion and veteran of 42 USGA Championships. He’s captured two Golf Association of Philadelphia Amateur Championship titles (1967, 1976), a GAP Senior Amateur Championship crown (1997) and a Senior Player of the Year (1997) as well as countless invitational titles. He is a recipient of the USGA’s Bob Jones Award and a member of the GAP Hall of Fame.
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 organization’s 345 Member Clubs and 130,000 individual members are spread across Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.
