55th Senior Amateur Championship: Final Round

Frazier completes the GAP Senior Slam

READING, Pa. – Jeff Frazier was angry. He was tired of answering the “why haven’t you won” interrogations.

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His resume had a hole the size of the distance from his home club, Carlisle Country Club to the core GAP territory. The cause? The GAP Senior Amateur. 

Numerous Top 5s graced his resume but no hardware. Runner-up finishes in the last two editions. The ghost of GAP Senior Amateur’s past.

“I fell on my face a lot,” Frazier said. “A lot of people don’t like failing. They don’t want to go back to it whereas I was the opposite. I get so pissed and I work so hard to get back into the hunt again. You have to keep coming and learn how to deal with the pressure. Every shot has its own process. You have to want the ball in your hands when the pressure is the highest. You have to want to be the one hitting the shot. Losing does hurt.”

Frazier, aided by his tenacity and tough-minded resolve, claimed his missing legacy piece. He is the 55th GAP Senior Amateur Champion after a flawless bogey-free 66 Wednesday at Berkshire Country Club (par 71, 6,334 yards).

He also claimed his third consecutive Senior Silver Cross with a four-round total of 6-under-par 280. He was the only person under par for the four rounds. The Senior Silver Cross includes the Warner Cup, Chapman Cup, and the two rounds of the Senior Amateur.

Tom Gramigna of Tavistock Country Club, the 2010 Middle-Amateur champion, took runner-up honors at 3 under.

Frazier’s two-day total of 8 under is a new tournament record. The previous mark (5 under) was set by LedgeRock Golf Club’s Chip Lutz in 2023 at Overbrook Golf Club and in 2021 at the Country Club of Scranton.

“I have been chasing this tournament for a while,” Frazier, 60, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., said. “So much relief was felt when I made the birdie putt to officially win,” Frazier said. “It is hard to win when you expect to win. It is a relief to play a flawless round of golf when you need to. Especially at a tournament you haven’t won before. To beat the guys I did, winning this is extremely satisfying.”

Frazier’s victory vaults him into elite company. Frazier joins Lutz and Overbrook’s Ray Thompson as the only players to complete the GAP Senior Slam. It includes the Warner Cup, Chapman Cup, Brewer Cup and Senior Amateur.

“It is very rewarding to be a part of the legacy of GAP,” Frazier said. “I think GAP is phenomenal and so are the events. To be a part of this organization is amazing. I am going to keep coming. I haven’t figured out how to beat the kids yet but I feel like I can hang if my game is in the right position.”

The steely southpaw never stopped punching the proverbial punching bag. His nearest competitor after Round 1 was four-time champion Chris Fieger, Sr. of Heidelberg Country Club. 

Riding in the same cart, standing face to face. These two GAP senior legends are the heavyweights of their class. Similar to Rocky Balboa and Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. One of them will win. You will just have to wait and see who deliver the most blows.

“Chris Fieger to me is the standard out here,” Frazier said. “To be able to beat him head to head, that is all I need. I just played a really solid round of golf. I made every 5-footer I needed to and didn’t make any mistakes.”

Frazier’s championship chase began with a 2-under-par front nine. He took a three-shot lead after a birdie on No. 10 (par 4, 421 yards). He speared a pitching wedge from 120 yards to 15 feet.

Frazier’s final blow came on the 15th (par 4, 452 yards), the hardest hole in the final round. It played to a stroke average of 4.85. Frazier, sitting in the left rough, faced a treacherous approach to the back-right hole location on the triple-tiered green. 

He feathered a 6-iron from 180 yards that landed on the front fringe. He planned the concrete bounce perfectly and it rolled into the back fringe. Facing the 18-foot downhill right-to-left gripper, Frazier poured it in on its last roll. With it, taking the last breath away from the competition. A knockout.

“Trying to win a tournament is nerve racking,” Frazier said. “When I started the round, I was nervous but what I have learned through all these tournaments is you don’t think about the situation. You focus on the shot you are playing. I have little thoughts about the shot I am hitting to keep focus. My hands were shaking marking my ball. Focusing on the little things makes a big difference and it allows you to play to your ability when the pressure is enormous.”

The belt-high bomber is always worried about what is next. He wants to win a national event. He wants more consistency. But for now, he said he’s satisfied with finally winning his “what if” tournament. The final bell stops most. Not Frazier.

“Pressure makes even the most skilled players look stupid,” Frazier said. “You have to crash and burn a few times until you get what it takes to handle it or you keep crashing and burning. A lot of my buddies remember all of my wins. What I remember are my shortcomings and second-place finishes. Losing builds competitive character. There’s nothing better than coming up the last having to hit the shot and hitting it where you want it. Not missing a shot coming in is what I feel great and the most proud about.”

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.