Menante continues his march to a repeat at Northeast Amateur
Dylan Menante (Northeast Amateur photo)
Dylan Menante is human after all.
Menante overcame not one, but two bogeys to card a 5-under 64 in the third round of the Northeast Amateur being held at Wannamoisett Country Club in Rumford, RI, extending his lead to 11 shots over a heaveyweight field in the second Elite Amateur Series event of the season.
All kidding aside, Menante has turned the Wannamoisett Country Club into his own personal playground over the last three days as he marches confidently to a second consecutive Northeast Amateur title.
The former Pepperdine standout turned North Carolina Tar Heel sits at 17-under 190, which is a 54-hole scoring record, after three rounds at Wannamoisett and enjoys an 11-shot lead over NCAA individual champion
Gordon Sargent and Tennessee-bound
Caleb Surratt, who lead the "best of the rest" at 6-under 201.
Duke standout
Kelly Chinn is in fourth place at 5-under 202 while
Karl Vilips of Stanford and
Cole Bradley of Purdue are tied for fifth at 4-under 203.
“I am curious what golf course Dylan is playing,” said Sargent. “Dylan is a great kid. He has quite a track record so far here at Wannamoisett. Next week, we are playing together on the Palmer Cup team. I can assure you I will be pleased to be playing with him next week and not against him.”
Menante started his third round on Friday with four consecutive pars before making his first of seven birdies on the day on the par-4 fifth. And then the unthinkable happend.
Menante made a bogey on the sixth hole, ending a streak 66 holes without a bogey at Wannamoisett Country Club dating back to the third round of last year's event, which the Carlsbad, Calif. native won with a 9-under score of 267.
“I didn’t want the streak to end,” said Menante, 21, of Carlsbad, Calif. “I played great during that stretch. It’s so much fun because you know that if you miss a shot you will recover. I always had it in the back of my mind. It was a motivating factor for me.”
After making the turn in 33, picked up five birdies on his inward nine to finish with his second consecutive round of 64 on the par-69 Donald Ross gem.
“My game feels so good right now,” said Menante. “I wouldn’t say my game is video-game like right now. But on the back nine today, I hit every shot like I wanted aside from my approach on No. 16.”
Dalton Balthaser of the Northeast Amateur contributed to this report
ABOUT THE
Northeast Amateur
The Northeast Amateur has a historic list of winners,
including Ben Crenshaw, Dustin Johnson, Collin
Morikawa, Luke
Donald,
Scott Hoch, John Cook, Hal Sutton, and David Duval.
It
has been annually held at the Donald Ross-designed
Wannamoisett Country Club since 1962. The event
is
limited to 90 elite players; there is a cut after 54
holes
and the entire tournament is played in twosomes.
View Complete Tournament Information