Senior Match Play Preview

Senior Match Play puts a cap on PAGA 2025 season

Scoring

Several of the top senior and super senior players during the 2025 Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) season will provide some intriguing matchups when the final event on the calendar, the Men and Women’s Senior Amateur Match Play Championships take place, Monday-Tuesday, September 29-30. Presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods, the 5^th annual women’s and 18^th annual men’s state titles will be decided at Chambersburg Country Club.

A three-time PAGA winner this year, Connoquenessing Country Club’s Rick Stimmel will head a very solid senior men’s group competing for the top spot. The top five players in the current Player of the Year ratings are in the field. While Stimmel, by virtue of his three victories and other high finishes, has wrapped up his third-straight player of the year award, many of the other 15 players in the bracket have had recent success as well.

Arnie Cutrell (Greensburg Country Club) has enjoyed much success for several years in PAGA and Western Pennsylvania Golf Association (WPGA) events. This season he has three WPGA titles in his pocket in addition to a tie for second in the Pa. Senior Open and a tie for third in the PAGA four-ball with Bill Rosemeyer another of the competitors in this field. Cutrell was also the highest senior finisher in the recent Pennsylvania Mid-Amateur championship finishing in a tie for 6^th place.

Brian Groff (Lancaster Country Club), the reigning Pennsylvania Senior Amateur champion, Rob Stoops (Butler Country Club), who teamed with Bob Crnjarich to win the Pa. Four-Ball title, finished third in the state senior amateur and Jeff Frazier (Carlisle Country Club) are also in this week’s match play bracket. Frazier enjoyed an outstanding year to date which included winning the championship in the recent Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) Senior Amateur and was the runner-up in the Pa. Senior Amateur.

In the men’s super-senior division, the winner of the latest PAGA event, Glenn Smeraglio (LuLu Country Club) headlines that division. Smeraglio won the Art Wall, Jr. Memorial title at Old York Road Country Club three weeks ago against a solid field. The past PAGA and GAP senior amateur titlist won that event by three strokes over Wyoming Valley Country Club’s Joe Weiscarger.

The duo was among the top finishers in other state events as Weiscarger won the season-opening Georger Dresslar Memorial tournament and he and Smeraglio were among the leaders in the Pa. Amateur. Smeraglio tied for third while Weiscarger finished 8^th. The state amateur runner-up in the super senior division, Brain Rothaus (Five Ponds Golf Club) will compete at Chambersburg as well. Rothaus won the PAGA player of the Year honors the last three years in a row. However, the 2025 title will go to Smeraglio or Weiscarger depending on the outcome this week.

A small but very talented field will compete for the women’s senior title. Suzi Spotleson (RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve) reached the quarterfinals of this year’s US Women’s Senior Amateur Championships and has past PAGA titles to her name.  She, along with Nicoll Keeny (Wilmington Country Club) and reigning super-senior Player of the Year Barb Pagana (Huntsville Golf Club) are high in this season’s player of the year ratings again. Another competitor with past victories, Louise Gebhart (Hanover Country Club) is also a player of the year possibility in the senior division. Keeny and Gebhart tied for second in this summer’s PAGA Senior Amateur, while Pagana was the super senior runner-up.