56th Senior Amateur Championship: Round 1

Slonis leads, eyes New Jersey and GAP Senior double down

BLUE BELL, Pa. – Jamie Slonis’ last month on the senior circuit has been one of envy by any competitive golfer’s standards.

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He is coming off a victory in the New Jersey Senior Amateur at SunEagles Golf Club and a match play appearance in the U.S. Senior Amateur at Baltimore Country Club.

“It was nice to gear up for the U.S. Senior Amateur with the New Jersey Senior Amateur and having those events lead up to this,” Slonis, 57, of Sewell, N.J., said. “My game has just been average this year. But recently I have put in a lot of work and it has paid off. Something clicked, I am not sure what did, but I am happy that it did. When your game feels good, it is easy to keep a positive mindset.”

Slonis, the 2001 Joseph H. Patterson Cup Champion, looks to add his first GAP title in 25 years to his rota. After an opening round of 69 Tuesday at Blue Bell Country Club (par 71, 6,424 yards), he leads defending champion Jeff Frazier of Carlisle Country Club and Jack Carrigan of Chesapeake Bay Golf Club by one.

“It was nice to gear up for the U.S. Senior Amateur with the New Jersey Senior Amateur,” Slonis, 57, of Sewell, N.J., said. “My game has just been average this year. But recently I have put in a lot of work and it has paid off. Something clicked, I am not sure what did, but I am happy that it did. When your game feels good, it is easy to keep a positive mindset.”

The lanky Tavistock Country Club flusher took the top spot on the leaderboard thanks to a flurry of five birdies. Four of which came from sweeping in a 15-footer on No. 1 (par 4, 332 yards), a 45-footer on No. 9 (par 5, 529 yards), a 30-footer on No. 16 (par 3, 152 yards) and a delightful closing 20-footer at the last (par 4, 410 yards). He relies on his broomstick putter to keep the scorecard clean.

“One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that to compete at the highest level, it sounds silly to say, is you don’t have to do as much as you think,” Slonis said. “Your game doesn’t have to be perfect. Just hit as many fairways and greens as you can and keep the ball in front of you. I played Blue Bell a decade ago in a GAP Match so I didn’t remember much of the golf course. I plodded my way around here conservatively today.”

Slonis has a plethora of chasers behind him including Frazier who’s worst finish in this event in the last three years is second. But the experienced veteran knows what it takes. The competition is what gets him up in the morning, and it is the pressure that pushes him to be his best self on the course. Just 18 holes remain in that historical determination.

If he wins Wednesday, he will be the first person to win the GAP Senior Amateur and New Jersey Senior.

“I’ll try to draw from my experience in the New Jersey Senior,” Slonis said. “There are a ton of great players behind me. Jeff Frazier has won everything in GAP. To have him close as well as many other great players, I will need to play a solid round of golf. If I can keep the ball in front of me and roll in a few putts, I think I can have a chance to win this thing.”

Senior Silver Cross
With one round remaining in the Senior Silver Cross race, Frazier leads by nine shots over LuLu Country Club’s Glenn Smeraglio. The Senior Silver Cross includes the Warner Cup, Chapman Cup, and the two rounds of the Senior Amateur. Frazier won the Senior Silver Cross in 2023-25.

Note: Kennett Square Golf & Country Club’s Michael Sanfrancesco aced No. 10 (par 3, 137 yards), his first hole of the day, with a 9-iron.

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.