The title of best amateur golfer in Greater Cincinnati is up for grabs this week at the Tony Blom Metropolitan Amateur Championship. The 115th playing of the event begins with two-day qualifying at Elks Run Golf Club in Batavia, Ohio and Maketewah Country Club in Cincinnati. Monday and Tuesday’s 36-hole, individual stroke-play qualifier sets the field of 64 for the Metropolitan individual match-play bracket.
Golfers with local connections teeing it up this week include current Highlands High School senior golfer Hank Shick, the reigning KHSAA Region 8 champion. Also in the field are former Highlands standouts Luke Muller of Northern Kentucky University and Xavier’s Justin Gabbard. Shick and Muller represent Highland Country Club. Also in the field is NKU golfer Tyler Mitts and former NKU golfer Zach Adams from Ryle. There’s also University of Cincinnati golfer Rylan Wotherspoon and Thomas More’s Yuji Maruishi, both from Cooper, and Wright State’s Ian Asch from Covington Catholic.
The first day qualifying leader is Dayton, Ohio-area golfer Austin Byers with a score of 2-under-par 69 at Elks Run. Wotherspoon is Monday’s top scorer from Northern Kentucky with a 1-under score of 69 at Maketewah. He is in a tie for second. Muller is next among area players. He is in a tie for eighth with a score of even-par 71 at Elks Run. Gabbard is tied for 12th with 1-over 72 at Elks Run.
Defending champion Jeff Scohy receives the No. 1 seed in match play regardless of qualifying results, assuming he remains eligible for the event. Scohy is the golf coach at Bellbrook High School in Ohio. Scohy defeated Miami University of Ohio golfer Brett Podobinski in last year’s championship match at Clovernook Country Club after Podobinski beat Wright State’s Adam Horn in the semifinals. Horn, runner-up of last month’s Northern Kentucky Amateur Championship, is not in the Met field this year.
The grueling six-day tournament, a test of endurance as much as skill, wraps up Saturday. The winner gets to hoist the coveted Harold W. Nichols Trophy following the conclusion of the championship match.
Elsewhere around the links:
ST. HENRY’S WILL CARTER HEATING UP
St. Henry High School’s Will Carter placed third on Friday in the boys 16-18 competition at the Lexington Junior Open at Kearney Hill Golf Links. A rising senior for the Crusaders, he carded 2-under-par 142 with rounds of 72 the first day and 70 the second day. Carter’s two-day score was just three shots behind winner Barton Rutledge (139) from Allen County-Scottsville High School.
Earlier in June, Carter scored 155 at a qualifier at Shaker Run Golf Club in Ohio and just missed qualifying for the Junior World Championship. Carter’s two-day score was good for eighth place and trailed the second alternate by two shots. Carter placed seventh at last year’s KHSAA Region 7 tournament for St. Henry.
RYLE’S OKUDA FOURTH AT LEXINGTON JUNIOR
Anika Okuda, a rising junior at Ryle, placed fourth in the girls 16-18 competition at the Lexington Junior Open. Okuda, second at the KHSAA Region 7 tournament last year, finished at 11-over-par 155, 11 shots behind winner Channing Hagen of Lexington Catholic.
Okuda carded scores of 80 the first day and 75 the second day at Kearney Hill. Her best nine holes came on the first-day front nine when she scored 35, thanks to a pair of birdies. She birdied holes 5 and 9.
FAST START THEN 15TH FOR NEWCATH’S EAGLIN
Incoming Northern Kentucky University golfer Caleb Eaglin finished in a tie for 15th in the boys 16-18 competition at the Lexington Junior. Eaglin, a Newport Central Catholic High School graduate, carded a two-day score of five-over-par 149. He shot 75 the first day and 74 the second day and finished 10 shots behind the winner.
A three-time state qualifier and two-time All “A” Classic champ, Eaglin shot well to open first-day action. He scored 35 on the front nine. The 8th Region player of the year and second-team all-state standout carded three birdies before the turn. He was three-under after five holes. Eaglin, from Cold Spring, is a three-time Kentucky PGA Junior Tour winner.
LOCALS PREVAIL AT KENTON COUNTY SPRING JUNIOR
Bishop Brossart’s Emma Laker finished first in the girls 16-18 competition at the Kenton County Spring Junior. The event was held at the Golf Courses at Kenton County. Laker carded 86, good for a 10-shot cushion over runner-up Jenna Lynch from Little Miami in Ohio. Laker placed third at the KHSAA Region 8 tournament as a junior.
Highlands’ Alex Race and CovCath’s Jacob Thomas led four local prep golfers in boys 16-18. Race finished in a tie for fourth with Thomas. Both posted matching scores of 86, eight shots behind winner Carter McGahey from Mariemont, Ohio. Luke Bertsch from Bishop Brossart finished in a tie for eighth at 87. Bertsch placed eighth at the 2023 Region 8 tourney. St. Henry’s Jake Montgomery tied for 10th with 89.
In the Kenton County Spring Junior girls 13-15 event, a pair of Ryle golfers placed in the top five. They are fourth-place Lacey Wilson and fifth-place Elizabeth Dickson. In boys’ 13-15, Joseph Mangine from Diocese of Covington placed second and CovCath’s Will Buckner tied for sixth.
SHORT SHOTS
Natalie Lovell from Notre Dame Academy placed 16th at the 109th Metropolitan Women’s Amateur Championship. She put together a score of 86 at The Grizzly in Mason, Ohio. Lovell tied for third at the KHSAA Region 7 tournament as a sophomore.
CovCath’s Marcus Diiulio finished in a tie for fifth in boys age 13-15 at the California Junior Open. The event was held at California Golf Course in Cincinnati. He carded 79, two shots behind winner Casey Kopecky from Loveland.
Sofia Seals from Conner placed fourth in the California Junior girls age 13-15 competition. She shot 92, 13 shots behind winner Sophia Fink from Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy. Seals placed ninth at the 2023 KHSAA Region 7 tournament.