By Colleen Kane
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Four former Met champions, including defending champion Cathy Almquist, will start their quests for another title today when they tee off at Coldstream Country Club for the 89th running of the Women's Metropolitan Amateur Championship.

Stroke play begins today at 8:30 a.m., after which the golfers will be ranked and put into flights for match play the rest of the week. The championship flight will consist of the low 16 golfers. The finals will be held Friday.

Almquist, who won on her home course of Four Bridges in just her second Met last year, said her golfing has been "hot and cold" lately but that there's "always a chance" that she could repeat her win.

"My goal is to play my best and not to beat myself," the 36-year-old Almquist said. "(Last year) was pretty exciting."

The Met moves this year to Coldstream, at 400 Asbury Road in Cincinnati. Long-time Met competitors and Coldstream members Janie Klare and Bernice Gallagher, among others, will have this year's home-course advantage.

"It's a very traditional, older course," said Cheryl Kemp, Met competitor and Greater Cincinnati Women's Golf Association publicist. "Water comes into play on several holes, which always makes match play more exciting. It's always in beautiful condition. The head pro is awesome. ... It's just an awesome course."

Sixty-nine golfers are signed up this year, but Kemp said those numbers are "down a little" from previous years.

"I don't know if the cicadas were a factor or not," Kemp said. "But I actually had people asking me if we were having it even with the cicadas."

The bugs won't keep most of the usual suspects away. Two-time champions Klare, Katie Rakel and Lynn Thompson will all compete and will be joined by a number of high school and college competitors, including last year's runner-up Jennifer Taylor, who just finished her junior season at Western Kentucky.

Other participating college golfers include Ana Brown, of Ohio University, Allison Couch, of UC, and Kim Scott, a former Met semifinalist who placed 16th in the NCAA Division II National Championships for Northern Kentucky this year.

The GCWGA will pair for the first time with the Greater Cincinnati Golf Association to host the Met. They will also cooperate to host the Senior Women's Championship and the Women's Mid-Am as part of a trial period to see how the groups work together.

"They contacted us about bringing together golf in Cincinnati under one big organization," Kemp said. "We'll get the benefit of both organizations."

Men's Met

The Greater Cincinnati Golf Association is conducting a qualifier for the 95th annual Metropolitan Amateur Championship today and Tuesday at Maketewah Country Club and Four Bridges Country Club. Past champions entered include six-time champion Jim Volpenhein; two-time champion Don Niehaus; 2002 champion David Allen; and 2003 champion Kevin Hall. Hall, the Big Ten medalist from Ohio State, will defend his title before turning professional. More than 220 hopefuls, with a USGA Handicap index of 5.1 or better, are ready to try for one of 64 spots. Today half of the field will play at Maketewah Country Club, the other half at Four Bridges Country Club. On Tuesday, the field will switch courses and starting times. The lowest 64 from the two-day qualifier will advance to match play, which will begin June 21 at Triple Crown Country Club.

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E-mail ckane@enquirer.com