By Colleen Kane
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Some of the characters may be different, but the storyline is the same. Yet another group of young players dominated the opening round of the Met Tuesday at Triple Crown and Oasis.

The four low scores of the two-day qualifier came from Ohio State senior Kevin Hall, Xavier senior Miles Maillet, recent Xavier graduate Bryan Harger and 2002 DePauw graduate and defending champ David Allan.

Leader Hall added a 1-under 71 at the more difficult Triple Crown to his first-round Oasis score of 66.

"Anytime you finish in the top five out of a field of (260), you should be pleased, so yeah, I am," Hall said. "Here you had to make sure you hit it straight or you're not going to score. I chose accuracy over distance."

Hall will face Ed Steiber at 7:30 a.m. in today's first round of match play.

Harger finished at 140 and Maillet at 141 after their day at Triple Crown, and they and Hall said they'd be happy to return to Oasis.

"Where I can swing freely," Harger said.

Harger advanced to match play for the first time in three tries. Maillet, a 21-year-old from California, is in his first Met. Allan tied Scott Ross for fourth at 142.

College players also had last year's four lowest qualifying scores. Former Cincinnati seniors Chris Larbes and Neil Lykins have moved on, and Hall was the only one to repeat his performance, though Xavier sophomore Justin Fender qualified again this year at 150.

"The trend has just been younger," said John Lavelle, a Met organizer, who cited the influence of Tiger Woods. "College golf has become really popular."

Lavelle said the trend started six years ago when Miami golfer Kyle Voska won the Met in 1997 and '98. Four of the last six Met winners have been under 25 years old.

"In the past, all I'd heard about is (Robert) Gerwin and (Jim) Ebel and (Jim) Volpenhein. It seems recently all the Cincinnati tournaments are young kids," Harger said. "Hopefully, it's because the golf programs are getting better."

Of the veterans Harger mentioned, only Ebel qualified, but Ross and several low scorers have plenty of experience.

Experience is something Hall, who has been playing golf since he was 9, is not afraid of.

"I don't care if you're the winner of the U.S. Open, I'm still going to play my own game and give it my all," Hall said. "If you get intimidated, you shouldn't play."

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E-mail ckane@enquirer.com

GCGA Metropolitan Amateur

Multiple Round Scores

Oasis GC & Triple Crown CC

Player Name		Rd 1	Rd 2	Total
Kevin Hall	Glenview	66	71	137
Bryan Harger	Avon Fields	68	72	140
Miles Maillet	Avon Fields	71	70	141
David Allan	Terrace Park	70	72	142
Scott Ross	Kings Island	69	73	142
Don Hunsche	Traditions	72	74	146
Bill Piliaris	Sharon Woods	73	73	146
Jim Ebel	Four Bridges	69	78	147
Shawn McCaskey	Four Bridges	77	71	148
John Hoh	Legendary Run	69	79	148
David Mathews	Deer Run	76	72	148
Ross Goodson	Western Hills	78	71	149
Chris Dayton	Maketewah	76	73	149
David Meiering	Grand Oak	75	74	149
Kyle Ward	Hamilton Elks	75	75	150
Robert De Rojas	Beckett Ridge	75	75	150
Robert Davidge	Indian Ridge	74	76	150
Justin Fender	Vineyard	74	76	150
Billy Williamson	Legendary Run	75	75	150
Chris Straley	Reeves	69	81	150
Jason Ritzert	Vineyard	76	74	150
Terry Papp	Oasis	79	72	151
Jeff Parnell	Kings Island	78	73	151
Brad Marsh	Maketewah	78	73	151
Doug Danner	Reeves	77	74	151
Jim Muething	Wyoming	73	78	151
Todd Simmons	Hillsboro Elks	71	80	151
Kevin Higby	Harmon	79	73	152
Rob Clarke	Triple Crown	79	73	152
Edward Steiber	Brown's Run	72	80	152
Pete Ebel	Four Bridges	76	76	152
Dennis Kendall	Elks Run	72	80	152
Tim Sorrows	Walden Ponds	73	79	152
Mitch Mahoney	Wetherington	71	81	152
Wes Homan	Coldstream	80	73	153
Brian Keating	Cincinnati	79	74	153
Jim Menkhaus	Traditions	78	75	153
Brian Sweeney	California	78	75	153
John Clodfelder	Deer Run	81	72	153
Tyler Hassler	Fairfield Greens South Trace	75	78	153
Jim Volpenhein	Traditions	74	79	153
Kyle Landrum	Devou Park	75	78	153
Daniel Devore	Brown's Run	73	80	153
Michael Marchese III	Glenview	79	75	154
Sean Duggan	Reeves	79	75	154
Jay Tilton	Glenview	78	76	154
Jeffrey Floyd	Triple Crown	81	73	154
Andrew Stephens	Traditions	75	79	154
Michael Beausejour	Heritage	76	78	154
Tim Schiller	Western Hills	78	76	154
Chris Donabedian	Oasis	68	86	154
Carl Tuke, Jr.	Coldstream	78	77	155
Tim Dixon	Hamilton Elks	78	77	155
Brad Wilder	Miami Whitewater	72	83	155
Tim Murphy	Oasis	77	78	155
J.R. Taylor	Blue Ash	71	84	155
Greg Sullivan	California	77	78	155
Mike Ward	Traditions	79	77	156
Sy Mandle	Triple Crown	79	77	156
Mark Erlewine II	Triple Crown	78	78	156
Greg Turcotte	Summit Hills	82	74	156
Nathan Boatman	Hillsboro Elks	76	80	156
Charles Nieman	Traditions	81	75	156
Bob Kirkham	Coldstream	80	76	156
Kyle Owens	Legendary Run	80	76	156
Domanic Catacora	Twin Oaks	74	82	156
Robert Gerwin II	Camargo Club	75	81	156
Patrick Heekin	Hyde Park	78	78	156
David Heinrich	Rare Eagle	76	80	156
Ryan Nightingale	Four Bridges	75	81	156
Taylor Metcalfe	Wyoming	79	78	157
Mike Noggler	Miami View	82	75	157
Tom Reinhold	O'Bannon Creek	82	75	157
John Scholtz	Maketewah	81	76	157
Kevin Shepherd	Oasis	80	77	157
Forrest Daily	Ashton Oaks	75	82	157
Steve Oberschlake	Friendly Meadows	71	86	157
Brad Short	Four Bridges	82	76	158
Joseph Camp	Reeves	75	83	158
Alan Koster	Oasis	76	82	158
Jeff Milinovich	Hyde Park	76	82	158
Peter Betzold	Sharon Woods	77	81	158
Philip Russo	Elk's Run	76	82	158
Chresten Armstrong	California	83	76	159
Jeff Engler	Pleasant Hill	82	77	159
Matt Rodenkirch	Oasis	75	84	159
Geoff Newman	Miami Whitewater	78	81	159
Bill Toerner	Maketewah	77	82	159
Ben Stewart	Kings Island	77	82	159
Blake Cummins	Indian Ridge	80	80	160
Josh Hamilton	Reeves	82	78	160
Joseph Chandler	California	76	84	160
John Craynon	Neumann	73	87	160
Patrick Dammert	Fort Mitchell	74	86	160
Jeff Sullivan	Fairfield Greens South Trace	75	85	160
Mike Sears	Kings Island	79	81	160
Allen Castle	Fairfield Greens South Trace	81	80	161
Kevin Pong	Vineyard	81	80	161
Paul Smith, Jr.	Harmon	77	84	161
Gordon Warner	Camargo Club	80	81	161
Tyler Hausfeld	Clovernook	76	85	161
Scott Fearn	Clovernook	83	79	162
Matthew Murphy	Elks Run	83	79	162
Gordon Willins	Harmon	81	81	162
Matt Dehart	Weatherwax	80	82	162
Alex Rechtin	Summit Hills	81	81	162
Brian Staarmann	Brown's Run	80	82	162
Ronnie Roush	Hilltop	80	82	162
Eric Zahn	Blue Ash	84	79	163
Jon Key	Traditions	83	81	164
Christopher Ragonesi	Legendary Run	77	87	164
Casey Parks	Hamilton Elks	80	84	164
Dean Staber	Beckett Ridge	81	83	164
Tony Bosken	Fairfield Greens South Trace	84	81	165
Kevin Crawford	Vineyard	82	83	165
Mike McCann	Blue Ash	82	83	165
Tim Suess	Four Bridges	81	84	165
Mark Maundrell	Reeves	81	84	165
Tony Townsend	Four Bridges	81	84	165
Brent Walker	River's Bend	79	86	165
Brian Gooch	Fort Mitchell	81	85	166
Bobby Santerre	Mill Course	77	89	166
Keith Brakenridge	Glenview	80	87	167
Joseph Bunnell	Four Bridges	78	89	167
Steve Noll	Summit Hills	79	89	168
Ben Tilton	Mill	84	85	169
Willie DeTemple	Kenwood	81	88	169
Dennis Sweeney	Royal Oak	84	86	170
Bret Wilcox	Summit Hills	79	91	170
Tom Shiner	Miami Whitewater	84	90	174
Bill Grannen	Legendary Run	78	96	174
Terry Abrams	Maketewah	83	95	178

Match Play Pairings

Round of 32

Today

7:30 am Kevin Hall (1) vs. Edward Steiber (32)
7:40 am Robert De Rojas (16) vs. Robert Davidge (17)
7:50 am Jim Ebel (8) vs. Doug Danner (25)
8:00 am Shawn McCaskey (9) vs. Brad Marsh (24)
8:10 am David Allan (4) vs. Tim Sorrows (29)
8:20 am Chris Dayton (13) vs. Chris Straley (20)
8:30 am Scott Ross (5) vs. Mitch Mahoney (28)
8:40 am Ross Goodson (12) vs. Jason Ritzert (21)
8:50 am Bryan Harger (2) vs. Pete Ebel (31)
9:00 am Kyle Ward (15) vs. Justin Fender (18)
9:10 am Bill Piliaris (7) vs. Jim Muething (26)
9:20 am David Mathews (10) vs. Jeff Parnell (23)
9:30 am Miles Maillet (3) vs. Kevin Higby (30)
9:40 am David Meiering (14) vs. Billy Williamson (19)
9:50 am Don Hunsche (6) vs.Todd Simmons (27)
10:00 am John Hoh (11) vs. Terry Papp (22)