Two surefire notes concerning Week One of the BMW GAP Team Matches.
| BMW GAP Team Matches portal | Brotherly battle in Week One |
The weather. Nuisance rain. Chilly temperatures. Cloudy skies. A given.
The Division AA baseline. Reigning Playoff participants pick up right where they left off.
The event’s 124th playing proved no exception. Each team — The 1912 Club, Huntingdon Valley Country Club, LuLu Country Club 1 and Philadelphia Cricket Club 1 — issued convincing victories.
Start with defending champion Huntingdon Valley (1–0); It dispatched Fieldstone Golf Club (0–1), 42–12. In Section 1, LuLu Country Club 1 (1–0) thwarted Little Mill Country Club, 44–10. The 1912 Club (1–0) and Philadelphia Cricket 1 (1–0) posted 40 points apiece. The 1912 Club did so against Llanerch Country Club (0–1), Philadelphia Cricket Club 1 against Saucon Valley Country Club (0–1).
Division AA is the top tier of the BMW GAP Team Matches.
Huntingdon Valley captured its record 35th title a year ago. It amassed 61 points to defeat Philadelphia Cricket Club 1 (56.5 points), The 1912 Club (54 points) and LuLu Country Club 1 (44.5 points) a year ago.
Business as usual Sunday.
“Anytime you win by that much, it’s more a reflection of how well your team performed,” Andrew Mason, Huntingdon Valley’s captain, said. “Fieldstone is a great club with a great group of guys. But for us to put up 25 points at home was big. We have a strong team from top to bottom.”
Huntingdon Valley tallied 13.5 better-ball points in Week One. That depth will be relied upon when it opposes four-time Team Matches Champion (2004-06, 2008) Tavistock Country Club (0–1) in Week Two.
“We will put our best foot forward as we can. We all have to play hard,” Mason, 37, of Wyncote, Pa., said.
Depth is a flagship for LuLu Country Club 1 as well. The additions of Keller Mulhern and Roberto Nieves, who combined for four singles points, strengthens that trait.
“We had six guys travel and get a lot of points in some not so great weather conditions,” P.J. Acierno, LuLu’s captain, said. “It’s nice to know we have a team strong enough to win on the road and to protect LuLu with our guys as well.”
LuLu will oppose Greate Bay Country Club (0–1) in Week Two.
“It will be a matter of figuring out who’s familiar with the course, who’s willing to travel. It’s about getting our home and away lineups together,” Acierno said. “We’ll plug and play with the pieces we have to figure out our lineup. Our team is deep enough and strong enough. Our guys who play in tournaments, we can play wherever and feel pretty confident.”
Philadelphia Cricket Club 1 and The 1912 Club 1 may share such a philosophy. Both exhibit rosters rife with tournament experience. Both cite depth as a strength. And both picked up the Playoff pieces in Week One, posting 40 points apiece.
“Good resilience from the guys,” Conrad Von Borsig, Philadelphia Cricket Club 1 captain, said. “We had that typical Team Matches weather with the Nor’easter cold. I was glad to see we grinded it out.”
“After a long, cold winter and some challenging conditions, just really happy to get a win to start the season,” Gerard Rosato, The 1912 Club captain, said. “We won all of the better-ball matches. We seem to have found some good pairings for our group that work. Division AA is a tough division. I don’t think there’s ever an expectation to get to the Final, but it’s certainly a goal.”
Philadelphia Cricket Club 1 will clash with seven-time (1948-50, 1981, 1986, 1988, 2014) Team Matches Champion Overbrook Golf Club (1–0) in Week Two.
“They’ve completely revamped their lineup. Gone are the days of the Thompsons, the Langes, the McFaddens, the Kanias. This is a very different team,” Von Borsig, 39, of Fort Washington, Pa., said. “They’re the prototypical up-and-coming team to look out for. The message to the team this morning was it’s all hands on deck. This is going to be a huge match.”
The 1912 Club opposes North Hills Country Club (0–1) in Week Two.
“North Hills has a strong team. Our outlook is to continue to play well and hopefully come away with another win,” Rosato, 56, of Jeffersonville, Pa., said.
BMW GAP Team Matches
The BMW GAP Team Matches is the genesis of GAP’s founding in 1897. It started with the four founding Member Clubs — Belmont Golf Association (Aronimink Golf Club today), Merion Cricket Club, Philadelphia Country Club and Philadelphia Cricket — fielding a first and second team with six players per side. First known as the Interclub Team Matches, the event changed to the Suburban League Matches in 1915 before adopting its current moniker in 1997. BMW has served as the event’s presenting sponsor since 2015. The BMW GAP Team Matches has been contested annually since 1897, save World War II (1943-45), a severe ice storm (1994) and the COVID-19 pandemic (2020).
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 140,000 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.
