Melissa Beck displays her trophy. (Tony Jones photos) | ZOOM |

        It was a match befitting two former champions.

        Melissa Beck and Katie Rakel battled back and forth, neither leading for more than one hole throughout the championship match of the 85th annual Greater Cincinnati Women's Golf Association Amateur Championship Friday. The lead switched hands four times. The two players were even 11 times.

        Finally, on the 19th hole, Beck became the first multiple Met winner since '96, making birdie on the par-4 No.1 at Wetherington Golf and Country Club.

        “I felt like I couldn't get ahead,” said Beck, who also won in '97. “Even when I was up one, I felt like I couldn't get ahead.”

Katie Rakel nearly chips in for a birdie on No. 18. | ZOOM |

        Before winning the sudden-death playoff, Beck last led on No. 11. She drew even with Rakel, last year's winner, for the final time on the 17th, and both players parred the 18th.

        Beck's second shot in the playoff sewed up the win. Both players' tee shots landed in the fairway, about 120 yards short of the green. Beck's approach landed solid about six feet from the pin; Rakel's second shot flew over the green, stopping on the edge of the far bunker. Rakel chipped on with her third shot, rolling about 20 feet past the hole, then missed the long putt and conceded the match.

        “It was a lot of fun,” Rakel said. “Her mom came up to me and said "Nobody lost that match.' ... We both got under par for the round (1-under 71). She beat me with a birdie on the 19th hole. You can't get a lot better than that. ... This is the best I've played, maybe ever.”

        Said Beck: “I think it was probably the best tournament I've had since I won it the last time.”

Rakel can't bear to watch Beck's putt for birdie on 18. | ZOOM |

        Rakel made four putts of more than 15 feet, including a downhill 40-footer on No.6 that gave her the lead.

        “It was unbelievable,” Beck said. “Every time she had a 20-footer, she was making it.”

        On the 15th, Beck's birdie evened the score. She put the ball on the green with her tee shot on the par-3 and sank a putt from about 20 feet.

        Beck is no stranger to comebacks. She never led in her semifinal victory over Patty Kuehner until she sank a 10-foot putt on No.18 to win.

        The farthest Rakel had to go in match play before Friday was the 16th hole.

        “(Thursday), I saw all the ending holes,” Beck said. “So it might make a small difference.”

Beck just missed her birdie putt on 18. | ZOOM |

        Both players wore their school colors, Beck in a Xavier shirt and cap, her caddie carrying her Xavier club bag. Rakel wore a University of Cincinnati visor and her caddie, brother Steve, wore red and black.

        “I didn't think about it at all,” Rakel said of the local rivalry.

        “It added a some fun to it,” Beck said.

        Beck graduated from Xavier in December. Rakel will be a senior next school year.

        Sixteen-year-old Ashley Williams, the only junior player in the tournament, won the Met's third flight, defeating Sue Stanley 4 and 2. Williams attends Lakota West and plans to play in the Junior Met also.

        “I was happy that I made it this far,” she said. “I'm just happy to get the experience. It was also nice to win.”

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