Llanerch reaches playoffs in Team Matches in Division AA again

   After qualifying for match play in the BMW Philadelphia Amateur on his home course, Llanerch Country Club, last summer, Brian McDermott discussed Llanerch’s strong showing in the Golf Association of Philadelphia BMW Team Matches earlier in the year.

   Llanerch’s team had reached the playoffs in Division AA, the top tier of a competition that includes clubs from all over the Delaware Valley, before finishing second to Philadelphia Cricket Club’s top team.

   McDermott just wanted to make the point that a lot of the top players at Llanerch can’t always get time off from work to compete in some of the big GAP events, but they can fit the weekend Team Matches into their spring schedules and it’s a chance to prove that hey, these Llanerch guys can play.

   Well, don’t look now, but the Llanerch guys are back in the playoffs again, which tees off Saturday. Defending champion Philadelphia Cricket Club, formidable again and probably the favorite, is back, along with Little Mill Country Club and Huntingdon Valley Country Club. Huntingdon Valley has won the Team Matches a record 32 times, but has not been as much of a factor in recent years.

   Philadelphia Cricket Club piled up 127 points in sweeping its three matches and Llanerch also swept three matches while earning 106 points. Huntingdon Valley went 2.5-.5 with 101.5 points and Little Mill went 2-1 with 96.5. points.

   Each club will have three players teeing it up at each of the four courses to determine the champion.

   “It’s great to be back in the final,” Tom Spano, Llanerch’s captain, told the GAP website. “Last year was a great experience. It created a buzz around the club. We have 12 guys who take this pretty seriously and to finish second last year was a great thing for us.”

   Llanerch completed its sweep with a 36-18 victory over Commonwealth National in Sunday’s challenging conditions – cold with occasional rain.  Sean Coyle and Mark Fuessinger returned to the lineup and contributed five singles points to lead the way.

   Little Mill needed a win and a convincing one over perennial contender Overbrook Golf Club and got it, piling up 40.5 points that enabled it to nail down the final playoff berth.

   Huntingdon Valley needed a win over Aronimink Golf Club, a finalist a year ago, to make the playoffs. Huntingdon Valley got the win, but the match was so close that Huntingdon Valley captain Daniel Pinciotti congratulated Aronimink’s Michael Davis, thinking Aronimink had won the match. Davis let him know that congratulations were in order, but they were being delivered by Davis to Pinciotti and Huntingdon Valley.