Brown joins exclusive club as BMW Philadelphia Amateur win gives him GAP's career grand slam

    The BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship is usually a young man’s game.

   There’s 36 holes of qualifying for match play to open the week, then you have to win two matches the next day to reach the quarterfinals and two more matches the day after that to get to the final. You get a couple of days to rest up after that, but the final, you guessed it, is a scheduled 36-hole test.

   You’d think that for LuLu Country Club’s Michael R. Brown Jr., who is 49, it might be too much golf. But Brown isn’t getting older, he’s getting better.

   Saturday at Philadelphia Country Club, Brown became the third oldest player to have his name inscribed on the J. Wood Platt Trophy as he claimed a 4 and 3 victory over fellow LuLu member Jeff Cunningham, who has been a standout on the Drexel golf team.

   Only Golf Association of Philadelphia legends William Hyndman III and Andy Thompson were older when they won in 1965 and 1998, respectively, and only by a matter of months as both were also 49 when they claimed Philly Amateur crowns.

   The victory also enabled Brown to join Jeff Osberg and Chris Lange as the only players to win all four legs of the GAP career grand slam as he added a victory in the Philadelphia Amateur to his wins in the Middle-Amateur Championship (2009), the Philadelphia Open (2010) and the Joseph H. Patterson Cup (2018).

   The Maple Shade, N.J. resident has been a regular on GAP leaderboards over the years, but the Patterson Cup victory at Gulph Mills Golf Club seemed to give him a second wind. He captured the 2020 Pennsylvania Amateur at Lookaway Golf Club, where he had once been a member, and he followed that up with state amateur titles in New Jersey and Delaware in 2021.

   It’s no big mystery to Brown, though. He knows he can rely on the experience he has gained competing in the big amateur events in the region over the years when there is a championship on the line.

   “Age is an asset,” Brown told the GAP website. “This game is so great that way. The lessons learned are what wins you golf tournaments. You get punished for years and years. And eventually you learn how to avoid it and play regular, smart golf.

   “You learn you don’t need to do anything outrageous to win. I thought this day would come. I can still play the game fairly well. I’m getting smarter as the years go by. I know to lean on that a little bit more. I still have a lot of belief in my game.”

   There are no losers in a Philly Am final. Cunningham, who came to Drexel from West Palm Beach, Fla., became the first African-American finalist in the 122 history of the Philadelphia Amateur. Not sure where Cunningham is headed in this game, but at 23 he made a huge statement at Philadelphia Country Club this week.

   The match was even through 12 holes as nerves and gusty winds combined to make for a sketchy start for both players.

   Brown, though, took control of the match in the final holes of the morning 18 and never let Cunningham get back in the match.

   Brown made a six-footer for par to complete and up-and-down from the back bunker at the 324-yard, par-4 13^th hole to take a 1-up lead.

   Brown then won the last two holes of the morning round to take a 3-up lead to the break in the match. Brown won at the 472-yard, par-4 17^th hole with a bogey as both players three-putted. Brown then added a win at the 18^th hole with a par.

   The 19^th hole, the 325-yard, par-4 opener at Philly Country, also proved pivotal.

   Cunningham drove the green, but settled for a three-putt par. Brown laid back off the tee, hit a 60-degree wedge to six feet and made the birdie putt to increase his advantage to 4-up.

   Brown smashed a 3-wood from 245 yards away onto the green at the 527-yard, par-5 sixth hole and drained a 35-foot bomb for eagle to go 5-up.

   Cunningham wasn’t going down without a fight as he won the next two holes, the 26^th and 26^th of the match, to cut his deficit to 3-down. Brown, though, countered by winning the 28^th hole to give him a 4-up lead with just eight holes to go.

   Cunningham picked up a win on the 30^th hole to cut his deficit to 3-down, but he was running out of holes. When Brown two-putted for par after hitting a 3-iron to 20 feet at Philly Country’s 15^th hole, the 33^rd of the match, he had his Philly Amateur crown.

   Not bad playing for an old guy.