Jamie Slonis, a director of Marketing at Callaway Golf, presents the Marston Cup trophy to champion P. Chet Walsh. Slonis, a Tavistock Country Club member, shared runner-up honors.

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Marston Cup mojo: Philadelphia CC’s Walsh wins second title

  WEST TRENTON, N.J. — A moment on the 18th green at Trenton Country Club (par 70, 6,306 yards) triggered an emotional rush for P. Chet Walsh Monday. The longtime Philadelphia Country Club member faced an 18-inch par putt to secure an even score in the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Marston Cup presented by Callaway Golf. That mark would put Walsh three strokes clear of the clubhouse lead.

  The putt missed its intended target but hit Walsh’s heartstrings. With thoughts of his father William, who died in December 2013, ever-present and racing, Walsh carded a 1-over-par 71 to claim his second Marston Cup title. He won two years ago in a playoff at White Manor Country Club.

  Overbrook Golf Club’s Oscar Mestre and Tavistock Country Club’s Jamie Slonis shared runner-up honors at 73. Mestre is a GAP Executive Committee member. Slonis is a director of marketing at Callaway Golf.

  “To be perfectly honestly with you, I was thinking about my dad [on the 18th hole],” an emotional Walsh, 49, of Wayne, Pa., said. “I was hoping to play well for him this year. I said to myself, ‘I haven’t played well. I haven’t really thought about it. I know he’s looking down on me.’”

  The Walsh’s are fixtures in GAP annals. P. Chet and William won four Father & Son titles. The elder Walsh served on the Association’s Executive Committee for 13 years, including three as president. He is the 2008 Distinguished Service Award recipient. P. Chet is a longtime competitor and a two-time Tournament of Champions victor.

  Divine intervention from one family member, and a swing tip from another, shaded P. Chet’s effort Monday. His brother Brendan, head professional at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., visited over the weekend for a mini-family reunion (there are 15 children and 29 grandchildren in the immediate Walsh family). He and P. Chet played eight holes at Philadelphia Country Club on Saturday, with the former offering a bit of lasting advice.

  “It really helped my ball striking. I really felt confident with that,” P. Chet said. “I think [the round Monday] was a little of everything. There were moments were I struck it really well. There were moments were I had to scramble. There were moments when I got lucky. I got close [to playing well] last week at the Patterson Cup. I played 32 holes in 1 under and four holes in 10 over. For me with how I’ve played this year, I actually thought I was getting close.”

  The hardware attained at Trenton suggests that Walsh’s game is there. His title quest opened in an inauspicious manner, though. Walsh blocked a drive right on the gettable No. 1 (par 4, 296 yards) and skied a wedge onto the green. His golf ball released to the back of the sizeable green — some 50 feet from the flagstick. Walsh failed to get up-and-down. The next hole (par 4, 443 yards) reassured the spirited swinger. He drilled a downwind 8-iron 180 yards to six feet. Walsh missed the birdie putt, but gained confidence in his command of the conditions.

  “The golf course was so firm and fast, which I loved,” Walsh said. “It allowed for some of what I’ll call creativity. I was able to hit some low punch shots that only needed to get going in the fairways.”

  Walsh fired two birdies on the day. He whacked a wedge 60 yards to three feet on No. 6 (par 4, 315 yards). Walsh relinquished that stroke on the next hole (par 4, 451 yards) with a bogey after an uphill chip jumped out of a lie and ran 20 feet past the jar. A swirling wind caught a well-executed 9-iron on the par 3, 147-yard 13th hole, placing Walsh 50 feet from a back middle hole location. From four paces on, he converted the birdie try to move to even.

  Consider the par 4, 349-yard 16th hole one of the aforementioned scrambling moments. Walsh flipped a wedge to a foot to amend for a decelerated wedge the shot prior. The par 5, 533-yard 17th hole can count for one of the lucky moments. His second shot seemed destined for a tree-lined grave on the left, but Walsh found his golf ball nestled comfortably between three roots. He bristled a wedge to seven feet and two-putted.

  “With how poor of a year I’ve had, to win anything, I’m thrilled with,” Walsh said. “Anytime you win a GAP event that’s a scratch event, it’s a good win. I guess you could say this is the Major for the 40 to 54 year olds.”

  Walsh is the second player in the event’s 10-year history to win multiple titles. Glenn Smeraglio did so in 2006 and 2009. By virtue of his Marston Cup victory, Walsh receives exemptions for the 2015 Amateur and Middle-Amateur Championships, as well as the Joseph H. Patterson Cup.

  The Marston Cup honors Max Marston. For four months in the summer of 1923, Marston was America’s best amateur golfer. Between mid-May and mid-September, Marston was virtually unstoppable through a series of club, state, national and international events.

  It began with the Walker Cup Matches, where Marston won two matches as the Americans successfully retained the Cup. Marston returned home to capture the Patterson Cup and Amateur Championship in successive weeks and, in doing so, earned the Silver Cross Award. In July, he took the Pennsylvania Amateur title and finished as low amateur in the Golf Association of Philadelphia Open.   In September, Marston traveled to Floosmoor Country Club outside Chicago, Ill. for the U.S. Amateur. He rallied in the second round to defeat tournament favorite Bob Jones, 2&1, before knocking off Francis Ouimet in the semifinals. He stopped defending champion Jess Sweetser in the final on the 38th hole. In that four month span, he also captured the Merion Cricket Club championship and Pine Valley Golf Club’s Crump Cup.

  The tournament is limited to players 40 to 54 years of age with a 10.0 handicap index or lower.

Golf Association of Philadelphia
  Founded in 1897, the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) is the oldest regional golf association in the United States and serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. Its 150 Member Clubs and 57,000 individual members are spread across parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. As Philadelphia’s Most Trusted Source of Golf Information, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.