It's the year of LuLu after it adds victory in Team Championship to its BMW Team Matches crown

    They made it official with a victory in the Golf Association on Philadelphia’s 101^st Team Championship last week at LedgeRock Golf Club in Berks County: 2021 is the year of LuLu.

   In the spring, a talented bunch from LuLu Country Club captured the title in GAP’s BMW Team Matches for the first time in the history of a club that dates back to 1912.

   Last week at LedgeRock, LuLu became the 15^th team to sweep both the BMW Team Matches and the Team Championship in the same year, finishing three-and-a-half points ahead of host LedgeRock.

   There was a renewed emphasis on golf at LuLu, the Donald Ross design in the Glenside section of Upper Dublin Township, as it rose from the ashes of the 2015 fire that destroyed its clubhouse. As a result, LuLu has drawn some of the region’s top players to the club.

   Chief among them has been Michael R. Brown Jr., who, for a brief time this summer, was the amateur champion of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware all at once. He won the titles in Jersey, where he resides, and in Delaware this summer after capturing the Pennsylvania Amateur last year at Lookaway Golf Club. He was unable to repeat as the Pennsylvania Amateur champion this summer at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course, but he put up a decent defense before finishing in a tie for 14^th place.

   LuLu was joined by LedgeRock, Philadelphia Cricket Club, which has a pretty talented stable of players itself, and Huntingdon Valley Country Club at LedgeRock Sept. 30. The qualifying process had been interrupted by weather and started over a little late with a new qualifying site at Philmont Country Club. Teams played alternate-shot matches in the morning followed by singles matches in the afternoon at LedgeRock.

   Brown teamed with Jack Melville, who starred scholastically at Upper Dublin and collegiately at Delaware, to sweep three points during the morning alternate-shot matches. The duo of Matthew Crescenzo and John Simone, LuLu rookies, also swept three points in the alternate-shot matches, but LuLu still trailed LedgeRock, 17.5-15, when the morning session was completed.

   Brown, though, again swept three points in the single matches in the afternoon and P.J. Acierno, a La Salle guy through and through, starring scholastically at La Salle College High School and collegiately at La Salle University, also swept his three opponents.

   LuLu finished with 24.5 points with LedgeRock setting for second place with 21 points. The always tough Cricket Club contingent took third place with 17.5 points with Huntingdon Valley finishing fourth with nine points. LuLu had won the Team Championship in 2017.

   Jon Rusk was part of the group that purchased LuLu in 2012 and became the head pro. These days he manages the club and is a reinstated amateur. He envisioned a day when LuLu would have enough talent to compete for GAP’s biggest team prizes, although I’m not sure he saw himself being one of the players on those teams.

   But Rusk, one of greatest scholastic players in District One history at Council Rock back in the day, was part of the winning team last week at LedgeRock as he had been when LuLu prevailed in the BMW Team Matches Playoff in the spring.

   Rounding out the LuLu lineup at LedgeRock were a couple of GAP veterans in Jim Sullivan Jr. and Glenn Smeraglio.