LedgeRock Golf Club (2-0, 62.5 points) and Merion Golf Club (2-0, 73.5 points) starred in this BMW GAP Team Matches movie before.
| Week One recap | BMW GAP Team Matches portal |
They want to rewrite the script.
LedgeRock and Merion stand among the Week Two victors in the 124th BMW GAP Team Matches. The former squeezed past Llanerch Country Club (0-2, 39.5 points), 28.5–25.5. The latter defeated Little Mill Country Club (0-2, 26.5 points).
Both now on the Playoff precipice in Division AA, the top tier of the BMW GAP Team Matches. Familiar ground.
In 2025, both LedgeRock and Merion stood on the Playoff doorstep. Unblemished through two weeks, needing a Week Three win. Neither delivered. LedgeRock fell to Philadelphia Cricket Club 1, 31.5–22.5. Merion lost to eventual champion Huntingdon Valley Country Club, 37–17.
Championship mettle awaits yet again. Merion will clash with fellow unbeaten and two-time (2021, 2024) titleholder LuLu Country Club (2-0, 88 points) in Week Three.
“Obviously Huntingdon Valley last year was a great squad. You have to tip your cap to them for the year they put up,” Patrick Knott, Merion’s captain, said. “It’s the same thing this year with LuLu. Their team, top to bottom, is incredible. They are all great tournament golfers. Our team is going to need to do what they did this week. When you get down, bounce back. Keep it close and hopefully the 9th and 18th holes fall our way.”
The team’s tenacity, Knott said, illuminated its Week Two victory against Little Mill. Merion amassed six singles points across 12 matches on the front nine; it jumped to nine singles points on the back nine. Playing in the No. 1 spot at Merion, Jack Hamilton tied three-time GAP Major Champion Troy Vannucci — “a big boost for our team,” Knott called it.
Furthermore, through two weeks, Hamilton and Peter Garno boast six better-ball points as the leadoff duo at Merion. That rate of return will be necessary to push Merion to its first Playoff appearance since 2023.
“Those two kids aren’t afraid of anybody,” Knott, 40, of Haverford, Pa., said. “They’re just going to go out and play their own game. They don’t care if Tiger Woods is on the other side. They’re just going to battle.”
LedgeRock is battletested in Division AA. It survived four years’ worth of Challenges (2018-19; 2021-22) prior to Week Three roadblocks. In 2024, LedgeRock needed a Week Three win against LuLu Country Club 1 to clinch a Playoff berth. It fell, 38.5–15.5.
Now LedgeRock faces another test in fellow unbeaten The 1912 Club (2-0, 74.5 points), which is a year removed from its first Playoff appearance.
“We put ourselves in a position we have found ourselves in the past couple years. Hopefully, we can have a different result this time, but it’s obviously going to be a tough one,” Brock Kovach, LedgeRock’s captain, said. “I like to keep it simple. We’ve got to play our best golf. The 1912 Club has a really good team. They’re strong from top to bottom. They have no weaknesses. We’ve got to go out, play our best golf and make a bunch of birdies.”
In its Week Two win, LedgeRock posted 17.5 points at home — only 1.5 clear of Llanerch. It sat on figurative pins and needles, waiting for the away team to finish. Playing in the No. 5 and 6 spots, Zach Dilcher and Nicholas Fioravante issued the necessary 2.5 better-ball points to put LedgeRock over the top.
Onto the next mountain in The 1912 Club. The past two years aside, there is positive history on LedgeRock’s side; it defeated The 1912 Club, 31.5–22.5, in 2024.
“We lean on the experience,” Kovach, 30, of Wyomissing, Pa., said. “We had two tough opponents with LuLu and Cricket. You’ve got to remember it to lean on the experience. We’ve been there. Go out and try to feel no pressure. Play your game. That’s what you have to do.”
Week Two saw a slight shakeup in Section 4. Tavistock Country Club (1-1, 52.5 points) upset defending champion Huntingdon Valley (1-1, 68 points), 28–26. Meanwhile, LuLu Country Club 2 (2-0, 66.5 points) defeated Fieldstone Golf Club (0-2, 29 points), 37–17, to remain undefeated. It can secure a Playoff berth with a Week Three win over Huntingdon Valley. A loss puts a points tiebreaker in play; LuLu Country Club 2 leads Huntingdon Valley by a scant two.
“They’re the defending champions. I’m sure they’re going to be hurt that they lost to Tavistock,” Glenn Smeraglio, LuLu Country Club 2’s captain, said. “They’re going to try to take it out on us. We’re going to try and make sure they don’t.”
LuLu Country Club 2 previously made the Playoff in 2024. It marked only the second time in BMW GAP Team Matches history that a club fielded two teams in the Playoff (Philadelphia Cricket Club, 2018).
The team knows the task now at hand.
“When you’re playing against Huntingdon Valley, it comes down to people who know how to play Huntingdon Valley,” Smeraglio, 66, of Oreland, Pa., said. “That’s what Tavistock must have done. They sent guys who played there and can handle themselves at that course. Experience helped them a lot. We’ll be looking for the same.”
A Playoff appearance appears highly probable for Philadelphia Cricket Club 1 (2 –0, 74.5 points). It prevailed over Overbrook Golf Club (1-1, 55 points) in Week Two.
Through two weeks, Philadelphia Cricket Club 1 totes 25.5 better-ball points. Among the standouts against Overbrook is the team of Tyler Stahle and Michael Carr. Playing in the Nos. 1 and 2 spots on the road, Stahle and Carr swept the singles and better-ball matches, respectively.
“If you take care of the better-ball match, most of the rest of the singles matches and scorecards will take care of itself,” Conrad Von Borsig, Philadelphia Cricket’s captain, 39, of Fort Washington, Pa., said. “It breeds camaraderie, teamwork. Be selfless. We try to anchor each group with a veteran. We try to get guys who want to play together, first and foremost. I’m glad it’s working.”
Philadelphia Cricket Club 1 will look to keep the pairings functional, the production optimal in Week Three against Applebrook Golf Club (0-2, 40 points).
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.
