By Marc Hardin
NKyTribune contributor
Austin Squires’ runner-up finish Sunday following the match-play final at the weeklong 109th Tony Blom Metropolitan Amateur Championship was undeniably bittersweet. But it came with so many positives that it completely annihilated the doldrums he found himself in at the end of his University of Cincinnati junior golf season.
“I didn’t really like the way I played this year, and this is a good confidence boost,” Squires said of his best-ever Metropolitan finish. “I’ve been working on my short game with our coach (Doug Martin) and it’s good to see (some positive results).”
Austin Squires holds the Metropolitan Amateur Championship runner-up plaque at Triple Crown Country Club. (Photo courtesy of Squires family)
Squires, a former standout at Ryle High School, faced Ohio State golfer and fifth seed Will Grimmer in the Sunday morning final. He took the former Mariemont star to the last hole before Grimmer prevailed 1-up not long after the noon hour. The hard-charging Squires trailed by three holes at the turn on the 7,147-yard course but birdied four of the next six to get back into it. A bogey 5 on 18 sealed his fate against an old golf friend.
“It definitely hurts to be runner-up, but I can take a lot of pride in it,” said Squires, who won the Northern Kentucky Amateur Championship as a 16-year-old. “I medaled for the second time. I beat a lot of good players and I fought hard to get to the final against a great competitor. We were all-square after 17. Being a member at Triple Crown, I really wanted to defend my home course but he’s a great champion.”
Squires captured his historic Northern Kentucky win in 2013 while still a student at Ryle. He was hoping to get on the short list of golfers who’ve won both the Met and Northern Kentucky championships. His best previous Met finish was advancement to the quarterfinals.
“It was a lot of fun,” Squires said. “Usually, when I play in amateur tournaments, I will only run into guys like Will Grimmer, Daniel Wetterich and Brad Wilder. So being back home playing among so many friends was nice and I got to sleep in my own bed.”
He’s still dreaming of his first Cincinnati crown.
“I’m playing better than I was. I had a disappointing junior year and I missed the postseason. So I went to work on my putting,” said Squires, the 2017 American Athletic Conference Player of the Year. “Now, it’s so much better. I had two really good finishes before the Met. You have to have a really good short game to win at Triple Crown. I was making putts and getting up and down like I wasn’t doing during my college season.”
Squires set a UC record with a 71.92 stroke average in 38 rounds as a sophomore and became just the fifth player in school history to participate in the NCAA Tournament. He tied for 21st at the regional, the highest finish in school history.
Next up for Squires, who has aspirations of turning pro sometime after his college career, is next week’s Trans-Mississippi Championship in Columbus. He placed 28th out of 140 golfers in the 2017 event in Kansas. He also has his eye on the local U.S. Amateur qualifier at Coldstream, the Southern Amateur in Bowling Green and the Western Amateur near Chicago before embarking on his final college season getting underway in September.
It’s the first Met title on the first try for Grimmer two weeks after his appearance at the U.S. Open. The 2017 Big 10 individual runner-up won the Greater Cincinnati Golf Association’s marquee event with a three-foot putt for par on No. 18 completing a score of 68. That ended eight grueling rounds of golf for both finalists, including five rounds over the last three days, two each on Friday and Saturday.
A true test of endurance, the Met annually chews up top-caliber college players and former champions alike and leaves them by the wayside. But Squires prevailed over the long haul after tightening the screws on his short game. As Northern Kentucky’s top finisher, he outlasted some of the area’s heaviest hitters including Bearcats teammate Paul Huber from Summit Hills, seven-time Met champion Jim Volpenhein from Traditions, one-time Met champion Brad Wilder from Summit Hills and fellow Triple Crown members Lance Lucas, a three-time Northern Kentucky Amateur champion, and former Ryle teammates-turned-college players Jacob Poore (Northern Kentucky) and Ryan Clements (Dayton).
Huber qualified second, three strokes behind Squires. Wilder qualified fifth. Both were stars at Covington Catholic before heading to UC. Clements qualified seventh but lost to Volpenhein in the first round of match play. Volpenhein bowed out in the second round. Huber was ousted in round one as 62nd seed Ryan Schrand, a golfer from Holy Cross representing Devou Park, pulled one of the biggest upsets in recent memory. Schrand lost in the next round.
Poore advanced to the quarterfinals but ran into Grimmer. Triple Crown’s Brad Marsh had a great run as the 43rd seed, upsetting his way to the semifinals where he was eliminated 5 and 3 by Squires. Lucas was Squires’ victim in the round of 16, which also claimed Wilder, denied a spot in the final eight with a 19-hole loss to Marsh.
Around the links in Northern Kentucky:
A.J. JOLLY: The team of Gary Koch and Ken Armstrong lead the Campbell County Senior League with a record of 19.5-1.5. Dick Edgar and Tom Williams are in second place with a 15-6 mark. Holding down third are Joe Schwegmann and Larry Sheanshang at 13-7.
SUMMIT HILLS: The club placed 10th at the 2018 Bill Long Mega Pro-Am with a total net of 127, four off the winning pace set by scorecard playoff winner Wildwood Country Club #2 (123). The Summit Hills team included Tom Walters, Jay Johnson, George Sharp and Jeremie Imbus. Walters led the way with a score of 72.
TRADITIONS: Member James Volpenhein of Union is tied for seventh with Fort Wright’s Dave Macke in the KGA Player of the Year points standings for the Tom Musselman Award, given to Kentucky’s top senior amateur ages 50-59. Thanks to their win at the KGA Four-Ball Championship, Volpenhein and Macke both have 180 points, 64 behind the leader.
KENTUCKY JUNIOR AMATEUR: Union’s Madison Smith was runner-up at the two-day Kentucky Junior Amateur Championship at Cherry Blossom Golf Course in Georgetown. She finished Thursday’s final round with a score of 4-under-par 140, two strokes behind winner Rylea Marcum (138) of Georgetown. Sisters Olivia and Brooklynn DiPaolo of Union tied for 15th overall with scores of 153 in the 74-player field. They tied for 12th in girls’ 18-under. Sophia DiPaolo finished 47th overall, 17th in girls’ 15-under. The overall champion and runner-up both receive an invitation to participate in the Northern Junior Amateur and Hope Valley Junior Invitational in August.
Hebron’s Evan Stewart tied for 37th in the 164-player boys’ Junior Amateur at Bardstown Country Club-Maywood. Stewart shot 9-over-par 153 which tied for 19th in 16-under. He shot 74 the last day. He entered the second round tied for 50th.
NKWGA: Northern Kentucky Women’s Golf Association Team Play standings: 1. Kenton County 242.5, 2. Northern Kentucky Golf Club 236, 3. Twin Oaks 231.5, 4. Twin Bridges 231, 5. Fort Mitchell 222.5, 6. Summit Hills 207.5, 7. Boone Links 204, 8. Eagle Creek 192, 9. A. J. Jolly 191, 10. Devou 184.5.
GCGA 1905 JUNIOR TOUR: Traditions’ Ian Petersime began last week as the Junior Player of the Year points race leader in the boys’ 18-under division with 535. He slipped to second this week, 20 points behind new leader Tabor Tesmer (555) of Western Brown High School. Petersime, who attends Conner, put together a win in his first five appearances. He’s one of three local prep golfers, including two from St. Henry, ranked in the division’s top 10. Eagle Creek’s Mason Butler was fourth with 430 points. Butler, a rising sophomore at St. Henry, was tied for third the previous week. Ryan Bowman, representing Boone Links and Lassing Pointe, was sixth with 340 points. Bowman, a St. Henry senior, was previously fifth.
Highland Country Club’s Luke Muller was third in the boys’ 15-under points race with 475. Muller, who attends Highlands, placed fifth at last month’s 77th Metropolitan Junior Amateur with a two-day score of 155 at City of Mason Golf Club.
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.
