The lifespan of the world’s oldest person matches the playing of the BMW GAP Team Matches: 117.
“Golf is a wonderful individual game that takes on tremendous emotion and pride when it becomes a team competition,” Mark Peterson, GAP Executive Director, said. “The thrill of playing for your club in the BMW GAP Team Matches is an amazing way to jumpstart the golf season. This year is our largest in BMW GAP Team Matches history and promises to be unforgettable.”
A record 336 teams and 139 Member Clubs will compete in 2017. That equates to more than 5,500 golfers and 12,400 rounds of golf. Four clubs will compete in the BMW GAP Team Matches for the first time: Cobbs Creek Golf Club, Gilbertsville Golf Club, Manasquan River Golf Club and Ramblewood Country Club. Golden Oaks Golf Club returns to the competition following a one-year hiatus.
Philadelphia Cricket Club will field six teams, an event record. Two of the club’s six teams, for the second straight year, will compete in Division AA, the BMW GAP Team Matches top tier. Philadelphia Cricket 1, a two-time champion (2013, 2015), fell to Little Mill Country Club by four points in last year’s Playoff. Little Mill holds three titles (2011-12, 2016) and occupies Section III alongside Applebrook Golf Club, LedgeRock Golf Club and Makefield Highlands Golf Club.
“Having six teams says a lot about the club, from the commitment the membership has made to the BMW GAP Team Matches historically to our excitement about hosting and participating,” Andrew Clayton, Philadelphia Cricket’s golf chairman of three years, said. “I think it says a lot about our membership and how much they enjoy the BMW GAP Team Matches, and also the great job GAP does in putting them on. We have more and more people signing up and raising their hands.”
Teams new to Division AA in 2017 include DuPont Country Club and Philmont Country Club. Both will face reigning Playoff participants in Huntingdon Valley Country Club and Llanerch Country Club, respectively, come Week One.
Until then, any and all BMW GAP Team Matches information — from past results to scouting reports to rules and regulations — can be accessed on the event’s microsite.
Since 1897, the BMW GAP Team Matches has been contested annually, save World War II (1943-45) and the severe ice storm of 1994. It started with the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s four founding clubs — Belmont Golf Association (now Aronimink Golf Club), Merion Cricket Club, Philadelphia Country Club and Philadelphia Cricket Club — each fielding two teams with six players per side. First known as the Interclub Team Matches, the event changed its name to the Suburban League Matches in 1915 before adopting its current moniker in 1997. BMW is the presenting sponsor for the third straight year.
NOTES–Meadowlands Country Club recently changed its name to Bluestone Country Club.
Golf Association of Philadelphia
Founded in 1897, the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) is the oldest regional golf association in the United States and serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. Its 153 Full Member Clubs and 57,000 individual members are spread across parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. As Philadelphia’s Most Trusted Source of Golf Information, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.
