Ray Thompson carded a 3-under-par 69 to lead the Golf Association of Philadelphia team.

Association captures 27^th Senior Challenge Matches at Cripple Creek

  On a cool October day, the Golf Association of Philadelphia came to play by the bay. The organization captured the 27th Senior Challenge Matches contested, coincidentally, on Oct. 27 at Cripple Creek Golf & Country Club in Dagsboro, Del. It posted a 447 total to trump the Maryland State Golf Association, the event’s reigning champion, by nine strokes.

  The Senior Challenge Matches features eight seniors from four associations — Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Philadelphia — competing in 18 holes of stroke play. The top six scores of each team count toward the team total.

  Overbrook Golf Club’s Ray Thompson earned individual medalist honors with a 3-under-par 69. He carded four birdies — three of which occurred in a four-hole stretch — against a bogey. Thompson, 64, of Drexel Hill, Pa., is a seven-time Senior Challenge Matches participant and the 2007 GAP Senior Player of the Year.

  Good friends Thomas Bartolacci, Jr. of Saucon Valley Country Club and Bert Kosup of The Ridge at Back Brook posted respective 74s. White Manor Country Club’s Don Donatoni, the three-time reigning GAP Super-Senior Player of the Year, added a 3-over-par 75.   Damage caused by Hurricane Joaquin postponed the Senior Challenge Matches, initially scheduled for Oct. 7. With its triumph Tuesday, the Golf Association of Philadelphia now holds 14 titles.

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.