2025 Sigel Match Play Preview

Pairings

The legacy of the late Jay Sigel is in his treasure chest of victories, but according to six-time R. Jay Sigel Match Play champion Nathan Smith, it is much more than that. 

“He is one of best amateurs ever and one of the best people you’d ever meet in golf,” said Smith, a four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion and the captain of the 2025 USA Walker Cup Team. “He was a friend and a mentor to many people in the game of golf. He became a close friend and a mentor, whether it was life, business, or amateur golf.”

 The 22nd edition of The R. Jay Sigel Match Play, named in honor of arguably the finest U.S. amateur player since Bobby Jones, will be contested at Rolling Green Golf Club in Springfield, July 7-9. 

Sigel passed away in April after a long fight with cancer. He won five U.S. Championships (two U.S. Amateurs and three U.S. Mid-Amateurs) as well as countless events in the Commonwealth.  The players in this year’s championship will be given purple ribbons to wear in remembrance of Mr. Sigel.

 “No player has meant more to men’s amateur championship golf in Pennsylvania than Jay Sigel,” said Jason Barkley, the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Golf Association. “In 2004, Mr. Sigel agreed to allow the Pennsylvania Golf Association to honor him with its then newly created Match-Play Championship. It has been great to see Mr. Sigel attend many of those championships over the years. We all feel the loss that Mr. Sigel will not be with us to present the winner’s trophy this year. What has been great to see is how the younger players, players who never met Mr. Sigel, embrace this championship and value this championship as one of the most important championships in amateur golf in Pennsylvania.” 

Smith doesn’t remember exactly when he met Sigel, but the impact was lasting, and over the last 10-15 years the pair had been in each other’s company through numerous events in golf. Smith, a perennial competitor who will not play this year because of his Walker Cup duties, rarely missed playing – because of Sigel.

 “I really wanted to play in this event because his name was associated with it,” Smith said. “I wanted to support Jay for everything he’s done for me.”

 The 2024 winner, Patrick Sheehan, is not eligible as he has turned professional and hopes to play in Canada on the PGA Tour Americas. Sheehan also won the Pennsylvania Amateur in 2024. However, the 24-year-old Sheehan understands what Sigel meant to Pennsylvania and national golf.

 “In my first Sigel, I started to understand how important he was to the game and the impact that he had and, honestly, just how good of a golfer he was,” Sheehan said.

 Sheehan, who was also the runner-up in 2021, did not meet Sigel but proudly said: “To win his event in his name is pretty cool.”

 A 2024 Penn State graduate who also completed his MBA, Sheehan believes the format gives an advantage to the collegiate players.

 “There’s a lot of guys who can contend,” he said. “It does favor college golfers because not everyone is used to those 36-hole days. You have to go out there firing.”

 He called the 36 holes of stroke play on Day One “a tournament within itself” and he added that “aggressive creativity” was the key in his dominant run in match play that included four victories -- 5 and 4 over Colin Smith, 7 and 6 over Chuck Tragesser, 3 and 2 over Turowski, and 4 and 3 in the championship match against Peyton Mussina.

 Rolling Green G.C. is a William Flynn-design and opened in 1926 and has hosted the 1976 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur.

 Past champions in the field include Karl Frisk of Outdoor C.C. (2023), Brian Isztwan of Huntingdon Valley C.C. (2022) and Eric Williams of Glenmaura National G.C. (2014). 

Also among the 72 players are two recent runners-up – Ben Cooley of Huntingdon Valley C.C. (2022), and Rick Stimmel of Connoquenessing C.C. (2020), who won the 2025 Pennsylvania Senior Open, as well as 2024 medalist Amani D’Ambrosio of Longue Vue G.C., who advanced to the semifinals last year, and another semifinalist Nick Turowski of Hannastown G.C..

 The Sigel starts with 36 holes of stroke play on July 7, with the low 16 scorers advancing to match play. The Round of 16 and quarterfinal matches are set for July 8,  and the semifinals and championship match are on July 9.

 DICK’S Sporting Goods is the title sponsor of the Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Championships.