LedgeRock’s Menon nabs Junior-Junior Boys’ No. 1 seed

  PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. — If you visit LedgeRock Golf Club in the rolling hillsides of Berks County, then you’re bound to see Nate Menon roving its practice facility. The Wyomissing, Pa. resident spends 10-12 hours a day at his home club, diligently crafting his game.

  It’s time well-spent, based on Menon’s performance Monday in the 64th Junior-Junior Boys’ Championship at Phoenixville Country Club (par 35, 2,688 yards). He carded a 2-over-par 37 to earn medalist honors. Menon will occupy the No. 1 seed in the Championship Flight when match play begins at 8 a.m. tomorrow.

   “I work on my game every day,” Menon, 13, said. “I’m out there morning to dark. I want to become the best player I can be.”

  Menon certainly seems on the fast track toward that goal. Only two errors proved detrimental to his scorecard. He missed the No. 3 (par 4, 332 yards) green left with a wedge from 100 yards and failed to get up-and-down for par. After planting a 3-wood in the left greenside bunker on the challenging No. 7 (par 3, 204 yards), Menon splashed out to seven feet, but missed his par putt.

   “I was hitting the ball all over the place, and I managed to make some putts,” Menon said.

  Menon points to No. 5 (par 5, 452 yards) as a round-saver. Facing a jaded lie out of a divot, he lifted a 9-iron 120 yards to three feet. Although he didn’t finish off the birdie try, Menon walked off the green feeling settled.

  In last year’s semifinals at Moorestown Field Club, Menon, an incoming eighth grader at Wyomissing High School, fell to eventual Junior-Junior Champion, R.J. Wren of Honeybrook Golf Club, 1-up.

  “I was really disappointed in how I played in my match play loss, but I was able to build off it,” Menon said.

  Lukas Clark of Jericho National Golf Club finished second with a 41. The cut line for the Championship Flight fell to 45.

  Now in its 64th year, the Junior-Junior Boys’ Championship is open to players from Member Clubs who are 10 to 13 years of age. Phoenixville Country Club last hosted the event in 2003.

  Founded in 1897, the Golf Association of Philadelphia (GAP) is the oldest regional golf association in the United States and serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. Its 145 Member Clubs and 57,000 individual members are spread across parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. As Philadelphia’s Most Trusted Source of Golf Information, the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.