In as dominant of a performance as you will find in the amateur game, Dylan Menante established a Northeast Amateur scoring record at 19-under 257 to win by nine strokes on Saturday at Wannamoisett Country Club in Rumford, Rhode Island.
Menante, who surprised many by transferring from Pepperdine to North Carolina earlier this month, opened with a sizzling 7-under 62 and wouldn’t come remotely close to relinquishing his lead. He built a six-stroke advantage through 36 holes and a stunning 11-stroke margin through 54 holes before cruising to the title.
It took 42 holes for Menante to make a bogey, and the tournament essentially was wrapped up by the time he did.
“This week was all about grit and determination,” Menante told tournament officials. “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.”
Several tournament records were rewritten with Menante’s historically strong performance. The previous best winner’s score in relation to par was 15-under (Peter Uihlein in 2011 and Justin Suh in 2018), which Menante reached easily. He also earned 36-hole and 54-hole scoring records, and he became only the second player to record a 67 or better for all four rounds on the par-69 Donald Ross layout.
The Carlsbad, California, resident also matched the largest margin of victory in Northeast history, tying John Cook’s nine-stroke triumph in 1979. Fittingly, Cook spoke to players at the Tuesday night dinner.
“When you hear someone talk about something they accomplished that is possible for you, it helps you relate to the situation,” Menante said. “I thought, if he could do it, so could I.”
Menante also became the first player since Luke Donald (2000-01) to repeat as the Northeast Am champion. He’s just the fifth contestant to successfully defend his title, with Cook (1978-79) and Jay Sigel (1984-85) also on the list.
“Last year when I came here for the first time, I was quite nervous,” Menante said. “I wasn’t sure I was going to stack up. I have high expectations and am hard on myself, but I want to keep getting better.”
It’s been a standout college career for Menante, No. 11 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking coming into the past week. He won a team national championship with Pepperdine in 2021, captured two significant individual titles during the past semester and earned West Coast Conference player-of-the-year honors in back-to-back seasons.
He is now heading to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in the fall to play for Andrew DiBitetto’s stacked Tar Heels team. Before that, Menante is going to Switzerland this week to play for the American side in the Palmer Cup and then will get ready for his first PGA Tour event next month at the 3M Open. He also plans to compete in the Western Amateur and U.S. Amateur before his senior year.
Sean Fairholm