UC's Howard survives to win Met golf championship
Marc Hardin, 4:36 p.m. EDT June 28, 2014


Jered Howard, the No. 33 seed representing Traditions Golf Club, earned his first Met crown.(Photo: Mark D. Motz/The Community Press)

Jared Howard wasn't content being a record-setting golfer. The four-year high school state tournament qualifier and University of Cincinnati single-season scoring champion needed a win.

On Saturday, in the match-play final of the 105th Tony Blom Metropolitan Amateur Championship, he ended an eight-year wait after surviving a gauntlet of extra holes with a string of upsets.

In a match pitting youth against experience, Howard, a rising UC senior, defeated reigning Greater Cincinnati Golf Association senior player of the year Ed Steiber in 19 holes at Stillmeadow Country Club.

"It's been a while, and it feels awesome," said Howard, a former prep standout at Dublin Jerome. "Ed played great. He made a late charge on the back nine, and it could have gone either way after he tied it up. I'm lucky to win it."

Howard, the No. 33 seed representing Traditions Golf Club, earned his first Met crown on the second try after playing more golf than anybody at the six-day event. The 22-year-old's victory over Steiber, 55, was his third extra-hole win in three days. He needed 19 holes to win Thursday's round of 16 match, and 23 to upset Xavier University's Matt Wetterich, the No. 8 seed, in Friday's quarterfinal.

Howard upset former Moeller and University of Dayton golfer and one-time U.S. Amateur Open qualifier, No. 5 Rob Chappell, 1 up in the semifinals.

He put away No. 15 Steiber, from Miami View Golf Club, with an 8-foot putt for par on No. 1 after Steiber missed just left with a 25-foot putt for par. When the ball dropped on his 145th hole, Howard threw his ballcap to the ground and raised his arms above his head. He shook hands with Steiber, and hugged his father, who told him to call his mother and tell her the good news.

A Met second-round loser last year, Howard had not won a tournament since 2006 when he captured a junior event at age 14. "It's just what I needed," he said. "To get this far and actually win is a testament to my patience and hard work."

Howard set the UC scoring record as a junior with a stroke average of 72.8 while also setting new standards for most rounds of par or better with 17 and most birdies in a season with 113. His strength is length and accuracy off the tee, skills that were not necessary requirements to tame the 6,438-yard, par 70 Stillmeadow course. He used his driver once Saturday, on No. 5.

"You have to trust your short game here," said Howard, who plays next at the Ohio Amateur at Coldstream. "I've worked really hard on my short game with my coach (Doug Martin), using shorter irons, which led me to making more putts because I was closer to the hole. A couple years ago, it wasn't like this, so I'm happy to enjoy the fruits of my labor."

Steiber, a 2014 British Senior Amateur qualifier, was looking for his fourth GCGA tournament championship in six years. A back-to-back Metropolitan Senior Amateur champion in 2010-11, he's played the Met a dozen times. The 33-year difference between the two golfers is thought to be the greatest age disparity in a Met final. Steiber is one of the oldest participants to advance that far.

"It's disappointing, but I'm proud of the way I rallied back," said Steiber, who golfed at La Salle but didn't play in college. "One shot can do it all, and I thought I had that putt on the last hole. It looked very good halfway home, but it went to the left."

Steiber was confident as he stood over his final shot. He sank an 80-foot putt on his last shot to win the 2009 Metropolitan Mid-Amateur. But it wasn't to be on Saturday after rallying from a two-hole deficit with a birdie-2 on 14 and par on 16. They halved both 17 and 18, sending it to No. 1 for the tournament's eighth match requiring extra holes.

Steiber put his second shot on No. 1 just right of the fairway and into a mulch bed surrounding two trees, about 100 feet behind Howard's second shot that landed just past the green into the rough. Steiber chipped from the rough onto the green with his third shot. So did Howard, setting the stage for the final putts.

"It was a great week," Howard said. "I'll have to play it by ear, but I'd like to come back next year and defend my title because this was a lot of fun."

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/c.../11635461/

nice but his pants are huge mistake....