126th BMW Philadelphia Amateur: Day One Recap

Defending Amateur Champion Nicholas medals

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PLYTMOUTH MEETING, Pa. – The Amateur Championship and Drue Nicholas share a complicated history. His last three starts produced a missed cut in 2023, a missed cut in 2024 and, last year, a scintillating Amateur Championship victory. On Monday, Nicholas added another extreme result to the ledger, earning BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship Stroke-Play Qualifying medalist honors at Sunnybrook Golf Club (par 72, 6,991 yards) and The 1912 Club (par 70, 6,873 yards). Nicholas carded a pair of 69s to finish at 4-under-par 138 for the 36 holes and earn the No. 1 seed for match play. The low 32 players advanced.

The cutline fell at 4 over, with a 10-for-nine playoff to determine seeds Nos. 24-32.

First-round matches begin at 7:30 a.m. off Nos. 1 and 10. Round-of-16 matches follow, also off Nos. 1 and 10. The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for 7:30 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. Wednesday, respectively. The 36-hole Amateur Final begins at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, with the second 18 holes starting at noon.

“I think I got a little too nervous in years past,” said Nicholas, 23, of Philadelphia. “I’m still nervous, but I have experience now. I didn’t push it very hard today. I kind of knew I just had to get it in. I will say I didn’t expect to be here.”

Nicholas didn’t expect it. Everyone else did.

Nicholas enters the championship fresh off a historic 2025 campaign that saw him earn the William Hyndman, III Player of the Year Award. Last season, he became only the second player to win the Amateur and Open championships in the same calendar year, joining the legendary R. Jay Sigel (1987). He was one stroke away from becoming the first player in GAP history to win the Amateur, Open and Patterson Cup in the same season. The three oldest individual championships in the Association. Nicholas fell to Hunter Stetson of Aronimink Golf Club in a three-hole playoff for the Patterson Cup.

“I don’t know how [my fellow competitors] view me,” said Nicholas, a junior advisor for the Alera Group, a wealth management firm. “Hopefully, they think I’m just a good guy, honestly.”

Nicholas started at Sunnybrook. He birdied Nos. 3 (par 5, 500 yards) and 7 (par 5, 557 yards) with a pair of six-foot putts but bogeyed No. 8 (par 3, 215 yards) after missing the green. He reclaimed that lost stroke on No. 10 (par 4, 363 yards) with a 9-iron from 145 yards to a foot for a tap-in three. A final red figure on No. 15 (par 4, 410 yards), courtesy of a 130-pitching wedge and subsequent six-foot birdie roll, capped the round.

At The 1912 Club, it was more of the same. He birdied No. 12 (par 5, 540 yards) after finding the green with a driver, 4-iron and two putting from 50 feet. Nicholas then added another on No. 17 (par 4, 477 yards) with a 7-iron from 160 yards to five feet.

A pair of short par putt misses on Nos. 1 (par 4, 490 yards) and 2 (par 3, 201 yards) stunted his run, before a closing birdie on No. 9 (par 4, 407 yards) with a 56-degree wedge from 100 yards ended five feet from the hole.

“I plotted my well around [the course] pretty solidly today,” said Nicholas. “I had some really big misses but got away with them. [The score] wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It’s a big right miss. I’m trying to figure it out.”

Cael Ropietski of Huntsville Golf Club birdied three of his final four holes to finish 3 under. He is the No. 2 seed.

Two-time BMW Philadelphia Amateur Champion Jeremy Wall of Manasquan River Golf Club advanced and is seeded No. 24. He faces No. 9 seed John Curran of Chester Valley Golf Club. Troy Vannucci, the 2023 William Hyndman, III Player of Year, and two-time Amateur medalist (2022-23), is the No. 7 seed and faces Stephen Cerbara of Huntingdon Valley Country Club, the No. 26 seed.

BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship
Originating in 1897, the Amateur Championship is GAP’s premier individual event. Albert H. Smith of Philadelphia Cricket Club won the first Amateur Championship, then known as the GAP Individual Championship, by defeating J.D. Winsor, Jr. of Merion Cricket Club in 37 holes. The event’s format switched to medal play in 1938. J. Wood Platt went on to win two consecutive Amateur titles under that format. His brother William “Zimmer” Platt earned the 1940 title at Philadelphia Cricket Club by being the only competitor to finish all 72 holes. The event’s format reverted to match play in 1941. The Amateur Championship wasn’t contested from 1943-45 because of World War II. Overall, 34 courses have hosted the Amateur. GAP Magazine Editor-in-Chief Martin D. Emeno, Jr. and Senior Writer Tony Regina chronicled the event’s history in the Summer 2017 edition of the publication.

GAP
Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The organization’s 345 Member Clubs and 130,000 individual members are spread across Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.