WEST WINDSOR: Big day propels Charan

North junior wins CV golf

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   Simran Charan was in the midst of a great round of golf at the Cherry Valley Invitational on Tuesday.
   The West Windsor-Plainsboro North junior knew that much, but then some players in the group behind his caught up. They went one better and told him it looked liked he’d win the whole thing.
   It could have been a jinx on par with talking to a pitcher in the middle of his no-hitter, but Charan recovered with a roller-coaster finish to win the individual title by one stroke with a 3-over 75 in soggy conditions.
   ”It was big,” said Charan, who led the Knights to third place in the team standings. “This tournament, I was playing against the top of the top kids. It was a field of great, great players. Winning this tournament, that makes it a lot better, winning against guys playing at a high level.”
   Montgomery High School finished eighth with 251, Fraser Graham’s 81 helped Princeton High School tie for 10th at 258, and Hun, Princeton Day School and WW-P South finished 16th, 17th and 18th respectively. PDS got an 82 from John Inman.
   John Hengerer shot 76 to lead Hillsborough to the team title on a tiebreaker over North Hunterdon, but no one could match Charan, who finished at least 14 strokes better than he had at last year’s Cherry Valley Invitational. Starting on hole 9 in the shotgun start, he carded a 1-over 37 on his first nine holes.
   ”On the front nine is where it got kind of interesting,” Charan said. “On the front nine, I made bogey on 2. That made me 2-over. Then I bogeyed 4, which makes me 3-over. Then I bogeyed 5 and I’m 4-over. On the fifth hole, that’s when they started talking about the score. This is when all the anxiety started kicking in.”
   That’s when Charan showed some mettle. He chipped in for birdie on the sixth hole, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet.
   ”Having that birdie feeling, I hit a good drive and good iron shot, then I three-putt for bogey and I’m back to 4-over,” he said. “I was kind of kicking myself heading into the last hole in regulation. It was kind of downhill and the pin was in the back. I hit it to 14-feet, and it was a left-to-right breaker, and I made the best stroke of my golf career and it went in. That’s what got me the 38. The 8th hole was my last hole. It was the biggest birdie of my life.”
   Charan certainly has a flair for the dramatic. Not only did his birdie complete an incredible round of golf, it crowned him an improbable tournament champion.
   ”I didn’t have a good round last year,” he said. “I think I shot 89 or 90. I didn’t have a great year, but I got some experience off the course. Last year, my swing was so much more complicated. I had so many more thoughts going through my mind. I cut it to one thought and I just keep repeating it.
   ”I’ve been working hard in the offseason with my dad just trying to get better. It’s paid off. It’s a pretty big turnaround. It’s not something I would have expected. I knew if I could play my best, I could be one of those top-10 kids. (Tuesday) was one of those days where I played really well. I got lucky and I won.”
   The win continues a jump in Charan’s progress. He has improved through each of the last two years which he spent on the Knights varsity.
   ”He gets very frustrated when he doesn’t perform the way he should perform,” said Knights coach Trevor Warner. “It’s visible. He’s done a very good job of trying to contain that. It’s not a coincidence that his scores are better this year because of that growth. He’s always been a very capable golfer. That’s the biggest improvement, along with his length off the tee.”
   Added Charan: “I’m driving it better. I’m just having a great time.”
   It started early in the season with a 9-hole score of 35 in North’s win over WW-P South. Charan and the Knights followed up their impressive Cherry Valley showing by posting a season-low 191 at Mercer Oaks in a win over Hightstown on Wednesday. Charan shot 38 despite a double bogey. Freshman Charles Cai, who was the Knights second scorer at the Cherry Valley Invitational with an 82, shot a 34. The win keeps WW-P North unbeaten on the heels of a confidence boosting Cherry Valley Invitational.
   ”From the beginning, making the state tournament as a team has been our No. 1 goal,” Warner said. “It just gives us a little more belief in what that goal is. It’s a reasonable goal. We have difficult matches with Princeton, with Allentown and Hopewell Valley approaching and Notre Dame. All of those are before the state cutoff. Those are real pivotal matches.
   ”There’s room for improvement. They’re going to improve. We’re going to improve. This is the best team we’ve had top to bottom in the three years I’ve been coaching.”
   Charan has been there all three years. He thinks the third year could be the charm.
   ”Our team is looking really good this year,” he said. “I’m excited to be a part of this team.”
   He’s a big part of the Knights. He’s an example of how much a golfer can improve in just two years.
   ”He’s not scrambling as much,” Warner said. “He doesn’t have to make great shots. He’s a year older mentally. He’s a junior. He made a comment there that he just wanted to play one shot at a time. He wasn’t thinking about what his final score was going to be, what score was going to win, what shot would put him in the running.”
   At least not until a group started to plant the idea in his head.
   ”That’s when all the nerves kicked in,” Charan said. “When I start thinking about the hole ahead of me and what I have to do, that’s when I screw up. I have to stay in the moment.”
   There haven’t been any bigger moments for Simran Charan than after he birdied his final hole to finish as Cherry Valley champion.