Preview: 32nd Senior Challenge Matches

Team GAP set for Senior Challenge Matches

The 32^nd Senior Challenge Matches heads to Gulph Mills Golf Club on Oct. 6.

| Scoring portal | History | Year-by-year |

Canceled a year ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event pits GAP (Golf Association of Philadelphia) against its neighbors in the Delaware State Golf Association, Maryland State Golf Association and New Jersey State Golf Association. Eight senior golfers (55 years of age or older) representing each organization compete in 18 holes of stroke play. The top six scores count toward the team total.

GAP holds a record 16 titles overall. Maryland edged GAP by two strokes in 2019 at Peninsula Golf & Country Club in Millsboro, Del. 

Below is a look at this year’s GAP team:

Michael Anderson
Philadelphia Cricket Club
(First appearance)

• Finished fourth in the 51^st Senior Amateur Championship at Country Club of Scranton.
• Tied for fifth in the 87^th Francis B. Warner Cup (Gross) at The Springhaven Club.
• Ranked ninth in the Senior Player of the Year standings.

Chris Fieger, Sr.
Philadelphia Publinks GA
First appearance

• Runner-up in the 51^st Senior Amateur Championship.
• Qualified as the No. 8 seed in the U.S. Senior Amateur at Country Club of Detroit in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.; lost to Jim Scorse of Churchville, N.Y., 2&1, in the Round of 32.
• Won the 62^nd Senior Four-Ball Stroke Play alongside Lebanon Country Club’s Craig Kliewer at Concord Country Club.
• Tied for fourth in the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Inaugural Senior Open Championship at Lehigh Country Club.
• Ranked fourth in the Senior Player of the Year standings.

Craig Kliewer
Lebanon Country Club
Second appearance (2016)

• Won the 87^th Francis B. Warner Cup (Gross) in a sudden-death playoff.
• Won the 62^nd Senior Four-Ball Stroke Play alongside Chris Fieger, Sr.
• Placed seventh in the Senior Silver Cross Award standings.
• Ranked seventh in the Senior Player of the Year standings.

Chip Lutz
LedgeRock Golf Club
Third appearance (2016, 2018)

• Won the 51^st Senior Amateur Championship.
• Quarterfinalist in the U.S. Senior Amateur; lost to Craig Davis of Chula Vista, Calif., 3&2.
• Ranked third in the Senior Player of the Year standings.

Oscar Mestre
Overbrook Golf Club
Fourth appearance (2015, 2018-19)

• Placed second in the Senior Silver Cross Award standings.
• Semifinalist in the 14^th Brewer Cup presented by Callaway Golf at Huntingdon Valley Country Club; lost to Carlisle Country Club’s Jeff Frazier in 25 holes.
• Tied for seventh in the 51^st Senior Amateur Championship.
• Tied for third in the 87^th Francis B. Warner Cup (Gross).
• Tied for third in the 16^th Frank H. Chapman Memorial Cup (Gross) at Lehigh Country Club.
• Runner-up in the PAGA Senior Open Championship.
• Tied for 11^th in the 38^th Middle-Amateur Championship at Lookaway Golf Club.
• Ranked first in the Senior Player of the Year standings.

Brian Rothaus
Five Ponds Golf Club
Third appearance (2013, 2018)

• Tied for second in the 51^st Senior Amateur Championship (Super-Senior Division).
• Won the Super-Senior Silver Cross Award.
• Won the 14^th Brewer Cup presented by Callaway Golf; defeated Overbrook Golf Club’s Chris Lange, 4&2, in the Super-Senior Final.
• Runner-up in the 62^nd PAGA Senior Amateur Championship (Super-Senior Division) at Country Club of York.
• Tied for fifth in the 16^th Frank H. Chapman Memorial Cup (Gross) (Super-Senior Division).
• Ranked first in the Super-Senior Player of the Year standings.

Michael Tash
Stone Harbor Golf Club
Second appearance (2017)

• Placed fourth in the Senior Silver Cross Award standings.
• Tied for sixth in the 16^th Frank H. Chapman Memorial Cup (Gross).
• Tied for 13^th in the 51^st Senior Amateur Championship.
• Advanced to the Round of 16 in the 14^th Brewer Cup presented by Callaway Golf; lost to Oscar Mestre, 5&4.
• Ranked eighth in the Senior Player of the Year standings.

P. Chet Walsh
Philadelphia Country Club
First appearance

• Placed sixth in the Senior Silver Cross Award standings.
• Tied for fifth in the 87^th Francis B. Warner Cup (Gross).
• Tied for sixth in the 16^th Frank H. Chapman Memorial Cup (Gross).
• Finished third in the PAGA Senior Amateur Championship.
• Tied for 10^th in the Senior Player of the Year standings.

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.