ELMSFORD, N.Y. (September 21, 2015) – The fourth MGA Senior Masters Tournament is set for Thursday, September 24 at Echo Lake Country Club in Westfield, N.J. The MGA’s youngest championship features 63 amateurs aged 65 and over with handicaps of 10.0 or less competing over 18 holes of stroke play.

Related: Pairings | Senior Masters Tournament History

All three of the championship’s previous winners will watch one another closely to see if the first two-time winner will be crowned, as Bob Howe of Winged Foot (2012), Marty Winkelman of Glen Head (2013) and reigning champ Ron Vannelli of Forsgate headline the field and are grouped together off the first tee. After finishing as the runner-up to Winkelman in 2013, Vannelli flipped the script last year at Rockaway Hunting Club and claimed the title by two strokes. It was the third career MGA title claimed by Vannelli, who was the 2005 MGA Player of the Year.

John Marchetti of Whippoorwill and Tom Graham Jr. from Country Club of Fairfield look to build on their 2014 performances, where they finished tied for third. Meanwhile, Echo Lake’s Bruce Nelson and Roger Taylor aim to use their home knowledge in their first appearance in the championship.

Another player looking to deny a repeat winner is Steve Rose, a three-time MGA Senior Amateur winner who has logged top-five finishes in each of the last two playings. Gary Cymrot and Richard Schmidt matched Rose last season in a tie for fifth and are in the field once again this year.

Two executive directors are also in the field, as the Long Island Golf Association’s Doug Vergith of St. George’s and the MGA’s very own Jay Mottola of Tuxedo will hit the course as competitors instead of administrators.

The groups of three will tee off at 1 p.m. in a shotgun format, and the MGA will have several checkpoints on the course for scoring updates.

Echo Lake will play host to its first MGA event since the 1934 Met Open. Its course features holes designed by a trio of architects, after undergoing several improvements in its earliest years. Donald Ross designed the original layout which opened in 1913, while Bob White guided a renovation concentrated on the back nine in 1919. Willard Wilkinson then had his hand in developing three holes in 1928.

Complete coverage of the championship may be found on mgagolf.org, in addition to the MGA’s official Twitter, @MGA1897.