GAP Magazine - 2023 Winter
2023 GAP JUNIOR SPORTSPERSON OF THE YEAR Nathan Guertler
2024-01-04 11:33:27
Merion Golf Club
A SUDDEN-DEATH PLAYOFF stood between Nathan Guertler and a national championship berth. Five players, one spot left for the U.S. Junior Amateur.
During the wait at RiverCrest Golf Club & Preserve, Guertler didn’t bury his eyes in an iPhone. He didn’t isolate on the driving range or practice green. He didn’t deliver sideway glances at those he needed to conquer by day’s end.
He chatted with the group instead. Camaraderie above all else.
A calling card of the 2023 GAP Junior Sportsperson of the Year presented by NJM Insurance Group.
“Just hanging around on the patio after the round with a bunch of guys who were about to play in the playoff, a bunch of guys who made [the U.S. Junior Amateur] and a bunch of guys that I knew was fun,” Guertler, 18, of Merchantville, N.J., said. “I ended up losing in a playoff to get into the event, but I definitely played my best round of the season. It was fun to play well; it was also fun to be in a playoff and hang out with some of the guys I knew afterwards.”
Guertler carded a 2-under-par 69 that day at RiverCrest, his best round of the tournament season. Ten days earlier, the Merion Golf Club member missed the cut in the 109th Junior Boys’ Championship at LuLu Country Club with a 10-over-par 81.
The ebbs and flows of golf never dilute Guertler’s attitude.
“When I’m on the golf course, I try to let go of the actual golf and try to not let the golf I’m playing affect my emotions. I try to focus more on just having fun and laughing, talking to people, getting to know people,” he said. “In the end, I feel like that helps my golf game because it distracts me from what’s going on. I’m out there to have a good time.”
“When Nathan steps on the first tee at a GAP event, I’m always reassured in the fact that he will play the game the right way. He shows great respect for the course, our staff and the volunteers,” GAP Tournament Director Chris Roselle added.
“When Nathan steps on the first tee at a GAP event, I’m always reassured in the fact that he will play the game the right way. He shows great respect for the course, our staff and the volunteers.”
Guertler started on the GAP circuit in 2014. His first event: the Pre-Junior at Philadelphia Cricket Club (St. Martins).
“I remember making my first birdie that day. When I got home, my dad [David] was pretty fired up for me. He was proud of me,” Guertler, the 2022 Junior Boys’ Championship runner-up, said. “I’m always trying to make my dad proud because I’m trying to repay him for getting me into this sport in the first place. Golf has given me so much. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have started.”
Nathan also cites David as a role model in the sportsmanship realm. Sure, results matter. But they should never overshadow the relationships golf offers within. For Nathan, that adage applies to a lifelong friendship.
In 2016, Guertler met Matthew Normand during the Francis X. Hussey Memorial at Rolling Green Golf Club. Fast forward seven years. The two fell in a sudden-death playoff for the Junior Division title in the aforementioned event (Guertler birdied the team’s final three holes in regulation). After the curtain closed on their respective Junior golf careers, Guertler and Normand arrived at Drexel University together.
Roommates and teammates. “When getting recruited I spent time with the team. I really like the environment that Coach [Ben] Feld has created here,” Guertler, a Haddon Heights High School graduate, said. “It’s a great team, and Drexel is close to home. I can have dinner with my mom [Natalie].”
With a meal comes conversation. Camaraderie above chicken parmesan. Maybe. – Tony Regina
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