Chester Valley to host 113th Joseph H. Patterson Cup Aug. 6-7The annual trend of the William Hyndman, III Player of the Year race being decided by the Joseph H. Patterson Cup will be no different in 2015. In fact, that current trend will only be amplified in the 113th playing of the season’s final Major, scheduled for Aug. 6-7 at Chester Valley Golf Club.
Bala Golf Club’s Scott McNeil will arrive with 310 points and as the leader in the Player of the Year standings. The Patterson Cup will, as per usual, grant a crucial 250 POY points to its winner. “Winning the POY award would mean turning my great start to the season into a really good season overall. I have never been in contention to take home the title, so I can't say what kind of pressure it will be,” said McNeil, the winner of this year’s GAP Middle-Amateur Championship held at St. Davids Golf Club. On McNeil’s competitive playing résumé, one will find successful Chester Valley experience. He finished T10 there in the 2012 GAP Mid.-Am., and secured another Top 10 finish at Chester Valley in the 2014 Pennsylvania Golf Association Four-Ball Championship. “I’m going to attempt to go into the Patterson with a solid week of practice and a game plan set up for Chester Valley,” said McNeil, 29, of Philadelphia, Pa. “Having experience here gives me confidence, unlike the GAP Open at the Philadelphia Cricket Club. I know that it is a real difficult course, with beautiful greens that can test everyone. Knowing the course and what it demands will allow me to prepare properly, like I did for the GAP Mid.-Am. at St. Davids.” A mere 10 points is all that separates McNeil in the POTY standings from Cole Berman, the reigning Patterson Cup champion. “If things go right in the Patterson, I can grab that top [POY] spot. It would definitely be a little unexpected,” said Berman, 19, of Rosemont, Pa. “Winning POY would be a crazy ending to my first year as an Amateur.” The three-time Junior Player of the Year won last year’s Cup after firing rounds of 68 and 72, good for a 4-under total of 140 at Tavistock Country Club. The last Patterson Cup champion to win back-to-back titles was Blue Bell Country Club’s Brandon Matthews, who did so in 2012 and 2013. “It’ll be the first time I’ve ever defended a Major title. I’m really not trying to add any pressure, because I know that can happen when you’re trying to defend,” said Berman, a rising sophomore at Georgetown University. “I’m going to go in with a mindset that this is any other golf tournament. I’ll try to play two good rounds and see what happens.” To further amplify what’s at stake, the two Patterson scores also represent the final rounds in the Silver Cross Award — a 150-point prize. The Silver Cross is awarded to the player with the lowest aggregate score in the qualifying rounds of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship and the Patterson Cup. Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Jeff Osberg enters the week as the current Silver Cross leader. Osberg won medalist honors in this year’s Amateur Stroke-Play Qualifying thanks to a pair of 68s, which came first at Llanerch Country Club and then Rolling Green Golf Club. Berman, the 2015 BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion, trails him by just three strokes (139). “Jeff is like a role model and mentor to me. I really enjoy playing with him so I don’t think we’ll be too tense out there,” Berman, 19, of Rosemont, Pa., said. “It’ll be some good competition and we’ll go out and see what happens after Friday.” Berman and Osberg, along with Overbrook Golf Club’s Chris Lange, Jr., will tee off No. 1 at 9 a.m. on Thursday. A field of 132 players will compete in the two-day, 36-hole affair. Chester Valley, located in Malvern, Pa., previously hosted the Patterson Cup in 1989, when Chris Lange of Overbrook Golf Club edged P. Chet Walsh, Art Kania and Frank Corrado in an 18-hole playoff. The playoff format was changed in 2009 to a four-hole aggregate playoff. There will be eight former champions in the field. Those include Berman (2014), Osberg (2010) Merion Golf Club’s Michael McDermott (2007), Overbrook Golf Club’s Brad McFadden (1992), Mercer Oaks Golf Course’s Glenn Smeraglio (1998, 2008), Tavistock’s Jamie Slonis (2001), Huntingdon Valley’s Greg O’Connor (2000) and Llanerch’s James Robertson (1977). As always, the media and the public are welcome to attend. The second oldest Championship in the Golf Association of Philadelphia, the Joseph H. Patterson Cup, which is the Association’s premier stroke-play championship, memorializes a man who fostered the game in its infancy. Joseph Henry Patterson, a Philadelphia Cricket Club member, competed in the first out-of-town match played by a team of Philadelphians. Friends of Patterson donated the Cup, designed by J.E. Caldwell & Co., to the GAP in 1900.
Golf Association of Philadelphia
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A Walk Through Time
GAP is the oldest state or regional golf association in the country. It started courtesy of a friendly competition – the Team Matches – and has grown into the preeminent golf association in the country. Along the way, golf history has been made.
