West Windsor-Plainsboro High North senior Ben Perrine shot a 2-under par 70 to capture the individual champion´ship at the Mercer County Tournament on Tuesday at Mercer Oaks East.
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
For Ben Perrine, a steady round turned out to be a championship round.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro High North senior shot a 2-under par 70 at Mercer Oaks East on Tuesday to capture the individual title at the Mercer County Tournament. Perrine finished two strokes ahead of James Bao to become the third Knight golfer to claim an MCT title.
“I just tried to focus in on one shot at a time,” Perrine said. “The thought of winning never really crossed my mind until maybe the 16th hole. I tried to play one shot at a time. Going into the day I didn’t think about what I would shoot. I just tried to keep my mind blank and enjoy the day. We were playing on our home course and that helped. When you feel comfortable with the course you are almost on auto pilot.
“I have played again these guys in the tournament growing up so I knew it would be tough. Peddie has good players and so does (WW-P) South and Hopewell. It was definitely good competition and the fact the MCT is our local big tournament it feels good to win.”
Perrine helped WW-P North to a second-place team finish, just nine shots behind Peddie, which won its fifth straight title. The Hun School finished sixth, Princeton was seventh, WW-P South finished eighth, and Princeton Day School was ninth.
Individually for the Packet-area teams, Byron Chin of South was seventh, Chris Chiminsky of Hun was 10th, Joseph Phelan of Princeton was 11th, and Nick McLean of PDS was 12th.
“I felt really good for Ben,” WW-P North coach Mike Courtney said. “He has played really well all season and it was nice for him to take home that top spot as the individual winner. He has worked hard and has been such a strong asset to our team for a number of years.
“He has been playing since he was a freshman and he was pretty much right around 38 every round last year. He has dropped it a little bit this year but it is tough to drop once you get that low. He is very consistent and when his putter is on he is pretty unstoppable.”
Perrine was the only player to break par on a day when wet conditions made it tough to play.
“The course wasn’t too bad,” Perrine said. “The greens were a little slow and you expect that going in because it rained the last couple days. I thought I played consistent and was not doing anything out of ordinary.”
Perrine was happy to get to play the tournament at Mercer Oaks East, which is the Knights’ home course and is also similar to his own home course at Forsgate Country Club.
“On the weekends I play Forsgate and the course there is a lot like Mercer Oaks East,” Perrine said. “It’s long and open so I am used to it. The longer and wider course fits my game well. I like hitting the longer irons into the greens and I like to be aggressive with the ball.”
The Knights put four players in the top 25, but couldn’t quite score low enough to dethrone Peddie for the team title.
“Peddie is always tough to beat,” Perrine said. “They consistently have good guys in the 70s. I thought it was a good showing for us to finish in second place.”
Added Courtney: “Peddie appears to be at a different level. But I feel the last two years we have shown we have a really strong program and we can compete with everyone.
“The conditions were pretty poor with the rain and kids held together well. The kids after Ben could tell you a few shots they could have saved but that happens with everyone. I was happy with their scores.”
