PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. – Loyola University Maryland junior-to-be Eli Spaulding won seen out of 10 holes in Saturday's second 18 to close out the championship match and win the 126th BMW Philadelphia Amateur at Sunnybrook Golf Club.
 
Spaulding, an All-Patriot League First Team honoree in 2026, defeated Jake Haberstumpf, 9&8, to become the third Loyola player or alumnus to win the title.
 
He joins 2023 champion and former teammate Mike Crowley, '24, M'25, and Jeremy Wall, '18, who won in 2018 and 2019.
 
Spaulding led Haberstumpf by a hole after nine after winning the final hole on the front nine at Sunnybrook, and he took a 2-up lead through 11 with a birdie on the 11th.
 
Haberstumpf, however, won the next two holes to even the 36-hole match after 13, but that would be the last time the match was level.
 
Spaulding won the 14th and 15th holes to lead 2-up, and he then birdied the par-3 17th before halving the 18th to go 3-up through 18.
 
He increased his lead quickly in the second nine of the day, winning the first, second, third and fourth holes to go 7-up through 22 holes. The pair halved the next two, but Spaulding won the seventh and eighth to lead 9-up after 26 holes.
 
Haberstumpf came back to win the 27th hole, but Spaulding closed out the match with a birdie on the par-5 10th hole, the 28th of the championship match.
 
Spaulding tied for 11th in the two-day stroke play, and he then won his Round of 32 match, 8&6, against John Myers. He edged Grant Burkhart, 1-up, in the Round of 16, to reach the quarterfinals where he was a 2-up winner against Dane Mohap. In the semifinal round, he came from behind to win two of the last three holes for a 1-up victory over Tony Vanucci.
 
Last summer, Spaulding won his home state Maine Amateur Championship for the second year in a row, and he also took the trophy at the New England Amateur.