Matt, a recent Saint Joseph's graduate, soars into BMW Philadelphia Amateur quarterfinals at Sunnybrook

 

   Christian Matt was a steady presence in the lineup at Saint Joseph’s as a senior during the wraparound 2025-2026 season.

   A two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier during a standout scholastic career at Wissahickon, Matt suddenly found himself as an elder statesman among a young group of Hawks.

   Playing out of LuLu Country Club, Matt won a pair of matches Tuesday at Sunnybrook Golf Club to earn himself a spot in the quarterfinals in the 126^th BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship.

   Matt capped a second straight long day of golf with a 2-up victory over Noah Wallace of Chesapeake Bay Golf Club, the runnerup in the Golf Association of Philadelphia Junior Boys’ Championship two years ago at The Ridge at Back Brook, in the round of 16.

   Wallace, a scholastic standout at North East High in Elkton, Md., just wrapped up his sophomore season at Wilmington University.

   The match started off the 10^th tee and Matt had Wallace dormie, 3-down with three to play, after winning the sixth hole. Matt made a bit of a mess of the seventh hole and then Wallace added a win at eight to cut his deficit to 1-down.

   But Matt pulled out a win at the ninth hole to move into the quarterfinals.

   Earlier in the day, Matt claimed a 2 and 1 victory over The 1912 Club’s Scott McNeil, a two-time winner of the GAP Middle Amateur Championship.

   Matt was 2-down to McNeil through nine holes when he took the 11^th hole and then ripped off consecutive wins at 14, 15 and 16 to take control of the match.

   Matt closed out his career on Hawk Hill by finishing in a tie for 24^th place in the Atlantic Ten Championship with a 5-over 221 total at the Evermore Resort’s Cypress Course in Orlando, Fla. St. Joe’s finished in ninth place with a 30-over 894 total.

   In a little touch of irony, Wallace earned his date with Matt in the round of 16 by outlasting John Stevenson of Laurel Creek Country Club in 20 holes, Wallace avenging his loss to Stevenson, a scholastic standout at La Salle and a junior on the Drexel golf team, in that GAP Junior Boys’ final two years ago at The Ridge.

   Matt’s quarterfinal opponent will be former Temple standout John Barone, who is playing out of The 1912 Club. Barone earned a 2 and 1 victory over Briarwood Golf Club’s Caleb Itzoe, a junior at Delaware who was a scholastic standout at Calvert Hall in Maryland.

   Barone had opened his Philly Am bid with a 3 and 2 victory over McCall Golf Club’s Seiji Sako, a recent Lower Merion graduate who capped an outstanding scholastic career with his third straight trip to the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall.

   There was a seismic shift in the Philly Am match-play bracket early Tuesday when defending champion Drue Nicholas, who had claimed medalist honors in qualifying a day earlier, was stunned, 3 and 2, in the opening round by LuLu’s Jack Melville, who starred scholastically at Upper Darby and collegiately at Delaware.

   Melville got the jump on Nicholas, a year removed from an outstanding career at Drexel and playing out of Merion Golf Club, by winning the first hole. Melville then ripped off four straight wins at the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth holes to take a commanding 5-up lead.

   Nicholas, GAP’s reigning William Hyndman III Player of the Year, battled back, as you would expect.

   Nicholas won the 10^th, 13^th and 14^th holes to cut his deficit to 2-down, but Melville took the 15^th and closed it out on the next hole.

   Melville, however, couldn’t maintain the momentum from his big victory and suffered a 2 and 1 setback at the hands of Saucon Valley Country Club’s Jake Haberstumpf in the round of 16.

   Haberstumpf had several stops on his college journey, including Temple and Drexel.

   Haberstumpf’s quarterfinal opponent will be Chester Valley Golf Club’s John Curran, who rolled to a 3 and 2 victory over Saucon Valley’s Evan Eichenlaub, a scholastic standout at Moravian Academy who is coming off his junior season on the George Washington golf team.

   Curran finished in a tie for second place in the PIAA Class AA Championship as a senior at Devon Prep in the fall of 2024. Looks like he took a gap year, went to Florida and made some big strides in his golf game. He will join the program at Penn State later this summer.

   Earlier in the day, Curran knocked out Jeremy Wall of Manasquan River Golf Club, back-to-back winner of the BMW Philadelphia Amateur crown in 2018 and 2019, with a 4 and 2 decision.

   The door may be wide open for the region’s top mid-am, Little Mill Country Club’s Troy Vannucci, to add a Philly Am crown to his two GAP Middle-Amateur titles and a Patterson Cup win.

   Vannucci reached the quarterfinals with a 4 and 3 decision over Philadelphia Country Club’s James Gradisek, who can occasionally be seen hanging out at Stonewall, where he hosted his Appalachian State teammates the last few summers to tune up for the upcoming season.

   Vannucci survived on the 19^th hole in his opening-round match with Huntingdon Valley Country Club’s Stephen Cerbara, the PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Holy Ghost Prep in 2015 who finished his college career at Drexel.

   Vannuccci will get a tough customer in the quarterfinals in Huntsville Golf Club’s Cael Ropietski, the runnerup to Nicholas in Monday’s 36 holes of qualifying.

   Ropietski, who finished in a tie for second place in the PIAA Class AA Championship in 2023 as a senior at Lake Lehman, recently wrapped up his sophomore season at Marshall. Ropietski pulled out a 2-up decision over Scott Kalamar of Green Pond Country Club in Tuesday afternoon’s round of 16.

   Earlier in the day, Ropietski ousted Green Valley Country Club’s Ben Feld, who stepped down after a successful stint as the head coach at Drexel at the end of the 2024-’25 season, with a 2 and 1 verdict.

   The biggest thriller of the round of 16 saw Lehigh Country Club’s Dane Mohap, who finished in a tie for ninth place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship last fall as a sophomore at Nazareth, prevail on the 20^th hole over Philadelphia Cricket Club veteran Mark Miller.

   Looks like Mohap might try to speed up his development by attending the IMG Academy in Florida.

   Earlier in the day Tuesday, Mohap claimed a 2 and 1 decision over Medford Lakes Country Club’s Jack Irons, the runnerup to Conor McGrath in the 2021 Philly Am at Cedarbrook Country Club.

   Miller took out Huntingdon Valley’s Patrick Isztwan, the Philly Am runnerup in two of the previous three playings, with a hard-fought 1-up decision in Tuesday morning’s opening round.

   Mohap’s quarterfinal opponent will be Briarwood’s Eli Spaulding, who recently wrapped up a solid sophomore season at Loyola of Maryland. He is following in the footsteps of former Greyhound Mike Crowley, who captured the Philly Am crown in 2023 while representing Briarwood by defeating Isztwan in the final on Isztwan’s home course at Huntingdon Valley.

   Spaulding reached the quarterfinals by pulling out a 1-up victory over Kennett Square Golf & Country Club’s Grant Burkhart, who wrapped up his scholastic career at Salesianum with a runnerup finish in the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association Championship at Baywood Greens last month.

   Spaulding rolled into the round of 16 with an 8 and 6 victory over Green Pond’s John Meyers.

   Only two players will be left standing after a quarterfinal round Wednesday morning followed by the semifinals in the afternoon.

   The semifinal winners will square off in a scheduled 36-hole final Saturday at Sunnybrook with the winner putting his name on the J. Wood Platt Trophy.