Menon, Feld share lead after opening round of Pennsylvania Amateur at Aronimink

   Nate Menon came home to Pennsylvania this summer as an NCAA champion after contributing to Stanford’s run to the title this spring.

   The 2015 PIAA Class AA champion as a junior at Wyomissing, Menon wasn’t in the lineup for the Cardinal at their regional victory on their home course, the Stanford Golf Course, or for their final run to the title at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.

   But at Stanford you’re testing your game every day in practice and team qualifiers against some of the top amateur players in the world. It’s how a very good player gets even better.

   Menon, fresh off earning a trip to Pinehurst for the U.S. Amateur Championship in a qualifier last week at Bidermann Golf Club, fired a bogey-free, 4-under-par 66 at the Donald Ross gem that is Aronimink Golf Club Monday to grab a share of the lead following the opening round of the 106^th Pennsylvania Amateur Championship, presented by LECOM.

   It is the first time Aronimink, which will host next year’s KPMG PGA Women’s Championship and the 2026 PGA Championship, is staging the state amateur since 1941. The timing couldn’t be better for Menon, who couldn’t get a better place to tune up for one Donald Ross gem, the No. 2 Course at Pinehurst, than at another Ross masterpiece at Aronimink.

   ”I played pretty solid today and managed to keep the ball in the fairway and to hit greens regularly,” the 20-year-old Menon, playing out of LedgeRock Golf Club, told the Pennsylvania Golf Association (PAGA) website. “With the wind picking up, you want to kind of manage your misses and make sure you’re in the right spot around here.”

   Menon shared the lead with Ben Feld, the Drexel golf coach who plays out of Green Valley Golf Club.

   Menon’s round featured birdies at the sixth, ninth, 13^th and 16^th holes without a bogey on the card.

The 28-year-old Feld was in the first group off the 10^th tee Monday morning and quickly moved to the top of the leaderboard with birdies at the 11^th, 13^th and 16^th holes to get it to 3-under. He got it to 4-under with a birdie at the fourth hole before giving a shot back with the only blemish on his card, a bogey at the tough, par-3 eighth hole.

   But Feld holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-5 ninth hole to earn his share of the lead at 4-under.

The field will be cut to the low 40 and ties after Tuesday’s second round with the final round of the 54-hole championship scheduled for Wednesday.

   Feld’s top player at Drexel, senior Connor Schmidt, opened defense of the Pennsylvania Amateur title he won a year ago at Sunnehanna Country Club with a 1-over 71 that left him among the group tied for 23^rd place.

   For much of the day it looked like Kansas State junior Kyle Vance, a two-time District One Class AAA champion during his scholastic career at Methacton, would be atop the leaderboard at the end of the opening round before a double bogey at the 18^th hole dropped him back into a three-way tie for third at 3-under 67.

   Vance, a PAGA individual member, is seriously long off the tee, a distinct advantage at Aronimink.

Joining Vance at 3-under were Whitemarsh Valley Country Club’s Will Davenport, who captured the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Middle-Amateur Championship at Rolling Green Golf Club in May, and Northampton Country Club’s Zachary Juhasz.

   A couple of former Inter-Ac League rivals, Max Siegfried, a junior at Virginia and a former Haverford School standout, and Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Marty McGuckin, the 2015 Bert Linton Inter-Ac League champion as a senior at Malvern Prep, are tied for sixth at 2-under 68.

   Aronimink is Siegfried’s home course and he claimed the club championship Sunday.

   LuLu Country Club’s Michael Brown Jr., who will defend his title in the 117^th Joseph H. Patterson Cup, presented by Callaway, at Applebrook Golf Club next week, heads a group of six players tied for eighth place at 1-under 69.

   Also in the group is one of Menon’s old Berks County scholastic rivals, Delaware junior R.J. Wren, who finished in a tie for seventh in the 2015 PIAA Class AAA Championship as a senior at Twin Valley. Wren has been looping at Stonewall while recovering from an injury that cropped up following his spring campaign with the Blue Hens.

   Rounding out the group at 1-under are Sewickley Heights Golf Club’s Chris Tanabe, a junior at Bucknell and the 2016 PIAA Class AA champion as a senior at Quaker Valley, Mark Kocent, another member of Philadelphia Cricket Club’s deep stable of talent, the Country Club of Harrisburg’s Garrett Engle, a junior at Central Dauphin, and Nemacolin Country Club’s Brett Young.

   Menon’s 66, combined with Wren’s 69, gave LedgeRock a two-shot lead in the state amateur team championship with a 5-under 135 total.

   McGuckin’s 68, combined with Kocent’s 69, left the Cricket Club in second place behind LedgeRock at 3-under 137. The Cricket Club has a more-than-capable third player in 2018 BMW Philadelphia Amateur champion Gregor Orlando, whose 3-over 73 was a throw-out in the three-score-two format.

   Aronimink was another shot back in third place at 2-under 138 as Cory Siegfried, winner of the 2010 Pennsylvania Amateur at Waynesborough Country Club, added an even-par 70 to younger brother Max Siegfried’s 68.

   LuLu was in fourth place at 1-under 139 behind Brown’s 69 and an even-par 70 from Wren’s Delaware teammate Jack Melville, a former scholastic standout at Upper Dublin. LuLu was able to toss a 75 posted by Scott McLaughlin.