ALLENTOWN, Pennsylvania (May 30, 2024) – The 120th playing of the Inter-City Matches for the Griscom Cup came to a close Thursday afternoon as Team Mass Golf finished in third behind the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia and the Women’s Metropolitan Golf Association.
The cup will be passed from former host site to current host city as the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia finished in first place with 51.5 points. The Women’s Metropolitan Golf Association was second with 34 points, while the Mass Golf team ended in third with 22.5 points.
The team is made up of eight amateur players and captain.
Lillian Guleserian (Blue Hill Country Club)
Emma Abramson (The Ridge Club)
Christine Mandile (Winchester Country Club)
Mackenzie Whitney (Oak Hill Country Club)
Grace Farland (Marlborough Country Club)
Piper Jordan (Boston Golf Club)
Maddison Smith (Mount Pleasant Golf Club)
Jaelyn Deboise (Springfield Country Club)
Captain: Chelsea Curtis (The Country Club)
The first round was a three-way, Nassau-style match-play competition. Two players from each team played foursomes (alternate shot) and were awarded one point for winning the front nine, one point for the back nine, and one point for the 18-hole round. Half-points were awarded in the event of halved matches.
Team WGAP had a dominant finish, securing 20 of its total points in the foursome matches on day 1 and 31.5 in the singles matches to secure the cup.
On day 1, the foursome of Maddie Smith and Mackenzie Whitney brought home 2.5 points against the WMGA while the duo of Lillian Gileserian and Emma Abramson brought home 2 against the WGAM and .5 against the WGAP.
In the singles matches on day 2, Christine Mandile brought home the most points at 5.5. 3 from the WGAM and 2.5 from the WGAP matches. Following closely behind was Lillian Guleserian who totaled 4 individual points with 1 from WMGA and 3 from the WGAP. Each match has 3 points on the line with a maximum of 6 points awarded per single player after the conclusion of the matches.
A special shout out and thank you to all players for representing the Mass Golf team proudly. Everyone’s collective efforts made for an amazing experience at the competition. With a new Griscom Cup teams comes a handful of new experiences. From the first year collegiate golfers to the handful of experiences Griscom cup players, it is always exciting to see a group come together to represent Mass Golf.
Team Mass Golf will look to make a comeback next year in hopes of securing the 121st Griscom Cup on home soil.
The history of the Griscom Cup began in 1898 when WGAP initiated an inter-city competition against a team from the all-women’s Morris Country Club in New Jersey. The WMGA was established in 1899 and assumed responsibility for selecting the New York team in 1900. Boston joined to make it a three-city competition in 1902. The competition has been held every year since except for the two World War periods, in 1984 due to weather, and in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
WMGA leads with 45 wins; the WGAP trails behind with 44 wins and three ties with the WMGA, and Mass Golf sits at 29 wins. Massachusetts’ most recent win came IN 2022 when the Mass Golf team defeated the WMGA and WGAP with a dominating score of 51 points. Mass Golf has had three other wins since the turn of the century, taking home the Cup in 2008, 2009, and 2016.
Mass Golf is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is dedicated to advancing golf in Massachusetts by building an engaged community around the sport.
With a community made up of over 120,000 golf enthusiasts and over 360 member clubs, Mass Golf is one of the largest state golf associations in the country. Members enjoy the benefits of handicapping, engaging golf content, course rating, and scoring services along with the opportunity to compete in an array of events for golfers of all ages and abilities.
At the forefront of junior development, Mass Golf is proud to offer programming to youth in the state through First Tee Massachusetts and subsidized rounds of golf by way of Youth on Course.
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