Dylan Menante of Carlsbad was in a class by himself in the 60th Northeast Amateur Invitational.
The 21-year-old Menante won the tournament for the second year in a row, but this time he did it by a whopping nine strokes over Karl Vilips of and Australia and Stanford at Wannamoisett Country Club in Rumford, R.I.
Menante posted a score of 62-62-64-67—257, 19-under-par, and broke by four shots the 72-hole tournament record set by Peter Uihlein of Jupiter, Fla., in 2011 and equaled by Justin Suh of San Jose and USC in 2018.
“It is cool to be able to win here again,” said Menante, who recently transferred from Pepperdine to North Carolina for his senior year. “I am not sure if the redesign of the golf course will yield lower scores in the future. Only time will tell but breaking the tournament record means a lot. This week as all about grit and determination.
“I don’t hit it as solid as a lot of the players here, but my short game made up for it. My putter was far better than any other club in my bag. It is tough to keep your mind in it when you have a big lead. You feel like you can give shots away and don’t have to grind for par. But that isn’t a great attitude to have. I was trying to keep going low.
“The coaches at Pepperdine did a great job helping me with my attitude and keeping me calm. My golf game is notorious for making a lot of birdies or making a lot of bogeys. If I can stay level, that is better long-term for me. Since my short game is good, that helps me not fret over bad shots.
“I am not sure if I will be able to go for a three-peat. It is a definite possibility, but I am not sure. We will see how it pans out.”
Menante became the fifth player in the history of the Northeast Amateur to successfully defend his title, joining Ronnie Quinn (1964-65), John Cook (1978-79), Jay Sigel (1984-85) and Luke Donald (2000-01). His nine-stroke victory matched Cook’s tournament record set in 1979.
Vilips, who joined the great Bobby Jones as the youngest winners of the Men’s Southern Amateur at the age of 15 in 2017, was second at 71-66-66-63—266, followed by Caleb Surratt of Indian Trails, N.C., at 68-65-68-67—268.
Bryce Lewis of Hendersonville, Tenn., shot 67-70-67-66—270 to tie for fourth with Gordon Sargent of Mountain Brook, Ala., who finished at 65-71-65-69—270, while Preston Summerhays of Scottsdale, Ariz., totaled 70-66-69-66—271 to tie for sixth with Michael Brennan of Leesburg, Va., who wound up at 73-68-64-66—271.
Andrew Goodman of Palm City, Fla., carded a score of 71-71-66-64—272 to tie for eighth with Kelly Chinn of Great Falls, Va., who finished at 66-66-70-70—272, while Connor Howe of Ogden, Utah, shot 65-72-71-65—273 to tie for 10th with Frankie Capan of North Oaks, Minn., who wound up at 68-73-66-66—273, Patrick Welch of Providence, R.I., who totaled 70-67-68-68—273, and Ethan Ng of New York City, who came in at 67-71-66-69—273.
Brian Stark of Kingsburg, Calif., tied for 19th at 70-71-68-67—276, while Ryan Burnett of Lafayette, Calif., tied for 23rd at 67-70-74-66—277, and Luke Potter of Encinitas, Calif., tied for 31st at 71-70-69-68—278.
Other previous winners of the Northeastern Amateur include Ben Crenshaw, Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Luke Donald, Scott Hoch, John Cook, Hal Sutton, and David Duval.
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