43rd Middle-Amateur Championship: Round One

Tall leads with 2-under 68

WEST NORRITON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – Patience yielded prosperity for property and player.

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For the first time in GAP’s 129-year history – and the first since a membership bylaw change 30 years ago opened the organization to any club – a public facility hosted a GAP Major Championship.

Jeffersonville Golf Club (par 70, 6,460 yards), a popular municipal Donald Ross design in West Norriton Township, Pa., served as the site of the 43rd Middle-Amateur Championship presented by Parx Casino Wednesday. It marked a long-awaited moment for public golf: a patient community finally getting its day on a major stage.

Ryan Tall, a frequent Jeffersonville visitor, understood a calmness was going to be needed to be successful at the other Ross gem in the neighborhood (Aronimink Golf Club hosted the PGA Championship last week). That steady demeanor, paired with a pair of clutch par saves down the stretch, helped the LuLu Country Club swinger card the day’s low round, a 2-under-par 68. He holds a one-shot lead on Anthony Saltarelli of Philmont Country Club. Tall and Saltarelli were the only two players to break par.

The cut line for the low 48 players fell at 6 over. Day 2 consists of 36 holes. Players begin the second round at 7:30 a.m. with the third and final 18 holes starting at 12:15 p.m. There will be no repairing after the morning round. The Middle-Amateur Championship expanded from 36 to 54 holes in 2024 to be listed on the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and eligible for points.

The opening round finished under darkness. There was a 1:54 weather delay beginning at 5 p.m.

“I think patience and GAP go hand-in-hand,” said Tall, 26, of Manayunk, Pa. “[The courses] are [usually] set up very, very difficult. I thought even [par] would be a good score today. I was lucky enough to be on the better part of that, but I think that this course rewards patience. I was talking to the guys I was playing with coming up No. 18. If you can remain patient and not get too aggressive and stay on the right side of the hole, your score can reflect that.”

The reflection and reaction started early in Tall’s round.

He birdied No. 1 (par 4, 437 yards), No. 4 (par 3, 135 yards) and No. 5 (par 4, 390 yards): the first of the sequence coming on a 40-foot hoop from the front of the green. The second circle on the card was a bit more conventional with a 9-iron to two feet and the third birdie the result of a sand wedge from 100 yards to 10 feet.

An uncommitted greenside bunker play on No. 7 (par 4, 383 yards) resulted in a lone bogey blemish in the opening nine holes. Tall made the turn in 2 under.

The inward nine started a bit slower. He bogeyed No. 11 (par 4, 380 yards) after coming up short of the putting surface and No. 15 (par 3, 210 yards) when his 4-iron failed to hold the most severe green on the course and rolled 30-feet down the hill.

Tall is ready for a reprisal of his former self.

A younger Tall was the 2018 Junior Player of the Year. More recently, he tied for fifth in the 2024 Open Championship at Applebrook Golf Club and finished 10^th in the 2024 Joseph H. Patterson Cup presented by Provident Bank at Concord Country Club.

His game is trending upward.

He birdied No. 16 (par 4, 389 yards) after lofting a lob wedge to 15 feet to move back into red figures and then added a short two-footer for four on No. 18 (par 5, 545 yards) after facing a 20-yard chip.

He cited two pars saves on Nos. 9 and 10 with putts from 12 and 15 feet, respectively, as savers.

“I had to give myself 10 to 12 footers for par after being out of position, and, thankfully, made a few of them. That honestly helped keep the momentum throughout the round,” said Tall. “I felt like I was playing well, and I was hitting it well, but making some of those crucial putts kept the momentum up.”

Tall and Jeffersonville have a strong relationship, winning multiple Philadelphia Publinks Golf Association titles at the site in recent years.

In 2023, he and partner Ward McHenry captured The Donald Ross Better-Ball Championship. In 2025 and 2026, he was part of the LuLu unit to captured the POXONO CAPITAL Team Championship.

“I played here a number of times. I played here before the renovation and then post renovation,” said Tall. “I have to give a shout out to the Philly Publinks. I played in a bunch of their events here. It’s such a treat. It’s in good shape in March and then it’s in good shape in November. It’s a lot of fun to play.”

In 2000, Ron Prichard, a Ross restoration expert, developed a plan to modernize the course with a modern irrigation system, add more than 40 original bunkers, rebuild all tee boxes and re-route the finishing holes. Work was completed in 2001. Yearly course updates.

Saltarelli, 45, of Philmont Country Club and Philadelphia, Pa., is a new name to the GAP leaderboard. He is not without some past pedigree, though. Saltarelli won the 2007 Philadelphia Publinks Golf Association Philadelphia Open Amateur Championship.

Saltarelli said his game is one of accuracy and short-game skills.

“This course is kind of perfect for me,” said Saltarelli, who said he has played Jeffersonville in the past.

The Middle-Amateur Championship is open to individuals 25 years of age or older. 

A William Hyndman, III Player of the Year points event, the Middle-Amateur started in 1984, three years after the USGA created the U.S. Mid-Amateur as a formal championship for post-college amateurs. GAP followed suit with the USGA in creating a Middle-Amateur, but initially differed in its administration of the tournament in a couple of respects.

The most obvious difference was the age requirement. Prior to 2001, the GAP Middle-Amateur was only available to players 30 years of age or older.

The GAP Executive Committee reviewed and revised that age requirement in 2001 to match the USGA’s guidelines of 25 years of age or older for eligible individuals. It also, as previously mentioned, changed the format of the event to a two-day stroke play tournament with a cut to the low 70 players and ties after the first round. Furthermore, GAP lowered the handicap index requirement from 7.0 to 5.0 in 2023. The event was expanded to 54 holes in 2024 and is a WAGR ranked event.

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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 140,000 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.