Dylan Menante was still reeling from his Pepperdine team’s NCAA Championship victory last month. Now add a Northeast Am title.
Dylan Menante talks about one sensation more than any other in reliving his Pepperdine team’s recent national-title run: heart rate.
“I was so hyped – even after I lost my match I was so hyped to go watch all the guys,” Menante said of an NCAA high. “My heart was beating just like I was playing and it just meant so much in the time and the present.”
It can take awhile to come down from a supreme high like that, but Menante is already out of the clouds and with his feet firmly planted in…Rhode Island. The Carlsbad, California native had never been to the Ocean State before this week, but he’ll leave with some extra baggage. Menante won the prestigious Northeast Amateur on Sunday with a 9-under total that left him two shots ahead of Illinois player Jerry Ji.
Scores: Northeast Amateur
“I was really comfortable today,” Menante said after a final-round 67 that kept him safely ahead of the field. “A lot of the other times I was playing, I was a little bit on edge or something like that, a little anxious. Today I felt pretty comfortable, knew where my game was.”
Menante, 20, isn’t sure he fully grasps all that Pepperdine’s national-championship win means just yet – the potential, the legacy. He’s trying not to get too far ahead of himself.
“I think I’m starting to get over it now,” he said after his Northeast win. “This win helped me keep my confidence at an all-time high.”
Menante isn’t a particularly long hitter and Wannamoisett Country Club in Rumford, Rhode Island, fit him nicely in that regard. Many of the bunkers – and the rough – didn’t particularly come into play.
“That was super nice,” he said. “I could do my own thing and not have to worry about it.”
His strength is in his short irons and short game. Menante also switched to a 33-inch Ping Tyne 4 putter a few weeks ago and is using a wrist-lock putting stroke. Another comfort at the Northeast? Having his dad Dean on the bag.
“In college we get our coaches, but nothing like having your dad – he’s my swing coach – on the bag,” Menante said.
In the second half of the college season, Menante knocked at the door plenty of times, finishing fourth at the Prestige, seventh at the Valspar Collegiate and second at the Augusta Haskins Invitational before winning the individual title at the West Coast Conference Championship.
Menante admits to feeling a bit of intimidation in the fall of 2019 when he joined the Pepperdine roster as a freshman. Looking around, he was surrounded by nothing but talent – not the least of which was Sahith Theegala, one of the best players in college golf who would eventually win the Haskins Award, college golf’s Heisman.
“All those guys on one team definitely pushes you to get better and I’m really competitive so it just driving my competitive nature to get better and want to be in the lineup,” he said.
Menante played seven times his freshman season, but often as an individual. As a sophomore, he played nearly double that and was Pepperdine’s low finisher four times. Menante finished 17th individually at the NCAA Championship, then tied his quarterfinal match, won his semifinal match and lost his final match (against Oklahoma powerhouse fifth-year Jonathan Brightwell) to end a dream week.
Two years ago, Menante roomed with fellow incoming freshman William Mouw at Pepperdine. In May, Mouw took a turn on the U.S. Walker Cup team, scoring two points for the victorious Americans. The next iteration of those matches happens in 2023 at the Old Course at St. Andrews. The Northeast is a handful of must-plays for U.S. team hopefuls.
Consider Menante one of those men.
“I’ve wanted to play in the Walker Cup because it’s such a defining honor to represent the United States,” he said. “…It’s always a goal I’ve wanted to achieve so hopefully I’m in their consideration.”
Consider this year’s win, while still months away from the next Cup, a leg up.
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