14th Father & Son (Middle)

A Bradbeer baptism: Merion members victorious

GLENSIDE, Pa. — A slight nudge worked whenever Brad Bradbeer needed to wake his son, Peter.

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It also worked when he wanted to participate in the 14^th Father & Son (Middle) at LuLu Country Club (par 71, 6,097 yards). Brad figured, “Why not?” He nudged Peter, who also figured, “Why not?”

The Rosemont, Pa. residents made quite the debut Wednesday. Brad and Peter Bradbeer carded a 4-under-par 67 to triumph. Talamore Country Club’s John and Ben Wiseman, co-champions in the 2015 Father & Son (Younger), placed second with a 3-under-par 68. The event’s format is greensomes (selective drive/alternate shot).

“We love GAP,” Brad, 59, said. “GAP has been great to the family. I’ve got four boys, and we’ve never played in a GAP Father & Son event. LuLu’s great to host, and GAP’s great to put it on. It’s always a treat to be able to come out, be together and compete. It was terrific.”

“We always love playing golf together. It’s nice to be out here and play before I kind of move on and do my thing,” Peter, 23, added.

Peter’s thing being a venture into professional golf. No final decision yet, but a good summer on the amateur circuit may validate his thinking.

Wednesday’s victory is a start.

“I think we’re a pretty good ham-and-egg team. He loves playing my tee shots,” Peter, who graduated from Bucknell University in 2020, said. “We had a lot of fun.”

The Merion Golf Club members settled on a sound — and fun — strategy early. Let Brad, who nets fairways with regularity, establish safety off the tee. Let Peter pull driver as often as possible and launch.

“We kind of went with that mentality all day. I pulled an iron [on No. 2], and he was like, ‘What are you doing?’ I was just bombing it down there as far as I could,” Peter, the 2017 Joseph H. Patterson Cup champion, said.

With three birdies on LuLu’s front nine, the Bradbeers figuratively exploded onto the Father & Son scene. Peter drained an uphill 15-footer on No. 4 (par 3, 95 yards) following Brad’s crisp 52-degree wedge. Peter nearly aced the par 3, 170-yard No. 6 with a choke 7-iron. Brad deposited a five-footer for birdie. On No. 9 (par 4, 305 yards), Peter drove the green, affording a 12-foot eagle opportunity. Brad left it in the heart.

The Bradbeer team’s lone bogey — the time Peter “got mad at him once” — occurred on the next hole (par 5, 491 yards).

“I hit my tee shot out of bounds, so we played his. I was playing the second shot, and we unfortunately got a pretty tough lie in the rough,” Peter said. “I thought maybe we should lay up. He agreed, and then I took a 3-iron and hit it into the water. And I got mad at him for no reason. But it was on me.”

The Bradbeers, who hold three Father & Son titles at Merion (2017-19), did what they always do in that situation. Shrug it off and move on.

In this case, move on and finish with back-to-back birdies. A 30-yard flip wedge from Peter on No. 17 (par 5, 490 yards) gave Brad an “easy leave” at six feet. Bombs away on LuLu’s closer (par 4, 385 yards). Peter pulverized a drive that nestled on an upslope just outside the left fairway bunker. Brad’s 62-degree wedge from 52 yards checked onto the putting surface some 15 feet below the hole location. Peter poured in the uphill birdie putt.

“The golf course was terrific. The setup was terrific. The team was terrific, and we had a very nice pairing [in North Hills Country Club’s Christopher and Jason Teefy],” Brad said. “And we played in four hours. We’re grateful for that. Not many organizations can get groups around in four hours.”

Not many teams win on their first try, either.

NOTES
Davis Mitchell, 23, of Wilmington, Del., aced No. 15 (par 3, 135 yards) with a 52-degree wedge. It marked the second ace of his career. Mitchell, a Wilmington Country Club member, captured the Father & Son (Middle) a year ago alongside his dad Randy … Joseph Templin, 59, of Mohnton, Pa., aced No. 12 (par 3, 174 yards) with a 7-iron. It marked the second ace of his career. Templin, a LedgeRock Golf Club member, played alongside his son Jake in the morning. His hole-in-one occurred in the afternoon round alongside son Drew … The Father & Son (Middle) tournament is for those father and son teams with sons 19 to 29 years old. The event was conceived in 2008 because of the high demand for participation in both the Father & Son (Younger) and Father & Son (Older).

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 Association’s 300 Member Clubs and 80,000 individual members are spread across the Eastern half of Pennsylvania and parts of Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.