By Marc Hardin
NKyTribune contributor
Matthew Wetherill has a new putter. The former Northern Kentucky University golfer has been putting it to good use with some strong showings of late which puts him in a great position to defend his crown at next week’s 78th Northern Kentucky Amateur Championship.
The three-day, stroke-play tournament organized by the Greater Cincinnati Golf Association begins Monday and concludes Wednesday at Traditions Golf Club. The par-72 layout is situated on the rolling hills of Hebron with views of the natural woodlands and meadows surrounding the 7,100-yard course. With forgiving fairways and stellar greens, it plays right into Wetherill’s able hands. That’s where the new putter comes in.
Matthew Wetherill holds the winner’s trophy at last year’s Northern Kentucky Amateur Championship at Traditions Golf Club. (Photo provided by the Wetherill family)
Wetherill’s new stick makes its Northern Kentucky Amateur debut Monday morning and it has a lot to live up to. Using his old putter, the former Moeller High School standout set a Traditions tournament course record while winning last year’s event with a sizzling final-day score of 9-under-par 63. He needed to save every shot. Runner-up Austin Zapp, a former Ryle golfer at Hanover College, forced a one-hole playoff before succumbing.
Wetherill’s new club, utilizing descending loft technology, works to launch the golf ball at a consistent angle which designers say should lead to better distance control. For Wetherill, it’s whittled away on average nearly two feet of skipping distance as he makes his way to the hole. He’s hoping to take down a strong Amateur field by harnassing his shorter shots and getting on a roll.
“When I was playing with my old putter, I used to skip the ball anywhere from 22 to 26 inches before it would start rolling,” said Wetherill, a former top-10 conference finisher for the Norse. “But now it’s down to as little as four inches before it starts rolling and I’ve been more accurate.”
Wetherill, a 2017 NKU graduate playing out of Camargo Club, had two wins right out of the chute after making the switch, capturing a pair of local Golf Channel Amateur Tour events in June and early July at Four Bridges and Miami View. He shot 4-under-par at both tournaments. “I made 24 putts at Miami View,” he said. “It saved me. My golf game right now, I would say it’s solid.”
It’ll have to be next week if he wants to bag another Amateur championship. Zapp is back for another run at the crown on his home course. Bill Williamson, the 2016 Amateur champion, is in the field as is fellow former Metropolitan champ Brad Wilder. Two-time Amateur champion Eric Fuldner returns to keep Wetherill from accomplishing something that Fuldner was the last to do — win two in a row. Fulder won back-to-back in 2010-11. Twelve men, including PGA Tour member Steve Flesch and local legend Jim Volpenhein, have repeated at the Amateur since its inception in 1940.
“It’s definitely going to be a test like any tournament,” said Wetherill. “I’m pretty confident (at Traditions). I think I’ve shot under 75 every round there. The course sets up well for my eye. You need to be a better ball-striker than a long player and I’m not one to hit it very long. But I feel really good about my short game, and you have to have that at Traditions.”
The Northern Kentucky Senior Amateur Championship will be contested concurrently during the three days of action at Traditions. Last year’s top two, champion Ken Kinman and runner-up Phil Russo, are back to contend. Kinman carded 7-over 223 last summer for a four-shot margin over Russo.
Around the links in Northern Kentucky:
U.S. AMATEUR QUALIFIERS: Wetherill added his third win in two months by medaling at Tuesday’s U.S. Amateur qualifier on his home course at Camargo Club. It’s Wetherill’s second qualifying effort in three years. He also qualified in 2016. He carded a two-round score of 3-under par 137 on Tuesday, beating fellow qualifier Andrew Bailey by three shots. Wetherill had the best score in both rounds, leading with 67 after the first 18 holes. His second-round 70 was tied for best.
SQUIRES ADVANCES: Wetherill’s medal performance follows a second-place qualifying finish turned in Monday by former Ryle golfer Austin Squires, a University of Cincinnati standout. Squires earned the second of two qualifying spots with 5-under-par 137 at the U.S. Amateur qualifier at Coldstream Country Club. The one-time Northern Kentucky Amateur champion shot a blistering 64 in the opening round. It’s the second year in a row he has qualified for the U.S. Amateur at Coldstream. He did not advance past stroke-play last year in Los Angeles. The 2018 U.S. Amateur is Aug. 13-19 at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif.
BOONE LINKS: Ben Sweeten of Crestview Hills won the boys’ 16-under competition at Kentucky PGA Junior Tour Event 39 with a score of 7-over-par 79 on the Lakeview Course. Sweeten, a golfer for Covington Catholic, won by three strokes. Jason Reid, also from Crestview Hills, finished fourth. Union’s Dan Bailey placed third in boys’ 14-under. Matthew Marlette from Walton was fourth. Union’s Palmer McKelvey won in boys’ 12-under.
Lauren Abner from Villa Hills won the Event 39 girls’ 18-under competition. Walton’s Hannah Hall was third. Victoria Camacho from Dry Ridge was first and Park Hills’ Emma Meyer was second in girls’ 15-under. Union’s Macey Stanton won the girls’ 14-under event by two shots over Burlington’s Jalena Hardcorn. Jenny Hardcorn was fourth in 12-under, eight shots behind runner-up Kendall Brissey from Burlington.
SUMMIT HILLS: The club won the Greater Cincinnati Women’s Golf Association Spring Team Play Division III championship by 17.5 points over runner-up Cincinnati Country Club. Summit Hills had one first-place weekly finish and two runner-up weekly finishes. The club is in line to move up one class to Division II for next spring. Summit Hills is the lone Northern Kentucky entry in the 15-team GCWGA league covering three divisions. Team members include captain Terry Roeding, Sue Averdick, Shelli Bitter, Jenny Brallier, Chery Myers, Amy Pugliano, Becky Wesdorp and Lisa Witzgall.
TRIPLE CROWN: Members Brad Wilder (third), Austin Squires (fourth), Brad Marsh (tied for fifth) and Rob Petrey (10th) ranked in the top 10 of the GCGA Player of the Year points race, accounting for 40 percent of the elite. Squires totaled 125 points. Marsh had 110. Petrey had 80. The winner is determined in the fall.
NKU: The 2018-19 Northern Kentucky University men’s golf schedule has been announced. The Norse tee off the fall season Sept. 2-3 at the Turning Stone-Tiger Intercollegiate for the third year in a row at Turning Stone Resort in Verona, New York. Other highlights include the NKU Fall Classic to close out the month at Elks Run in Batavia, events at Marshall and Eastern Kentucky and Xavier University’s tournament Oct. 22-23.
NKU’s spring slate begins in March with the Motor City Cup Match Play at Mission Inn and Resort in Howey-In-The-Hills, Florida. NKU is led by reigning Horizon League champion and NCAA regional participant Jacob Poore, a Ryle graduate. Other top returnees include Ty DeBonis, Joseph Clark, Logan Gamm, Logan Griffin and Jacob Vrolijk.
Marc Hardin’s summer golf column has been featured in The Kentucky Post and Kentucky Enquirer for 15 years. He’s covered all the local amateur tournaments and several PGA and LPGA events since 2003. His feature for The Cincinnati Post about how Chi Chi Rodriguez got on the album cover of a Devo record was PGA Story Of The Day from the 2004 Kroger Classic at The Golf Center at Kings Island. Marc has written for the Greater Cincinnati Golf Association and Greater Cincinnati Women’s Golf Association. He welcomes comments, story tips, feature ideas and your league’s standings. You can contact him at marcwriterdude@yahoo.com.
