​  
Cameron Phillips can do special things with a golf club.
The 2024 OHSAA Division III State Champion and Valley High School graduate, who just completed his freshman season at the University of Kentucky by finishing in a tie for 42nd overall in the 2026 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Regional Championships and helped the Wildcats finish 10th regionally in the NCAA Division I team breakdown, finished in a tie for fifth overall in the 31-player field at the 104th Miami Valley Golf (MVG) Metropolitan Championship, which was held at Beavercreek Golf Club in Beavercreek, Ohio.

Phillips, who shot rounds of 69, 74 and 72 during the three-day NCAA Division I Championships at Winston-Salem, N.C. to finish with a two-over 215 in May en route to his 42nd place finish nationally as a true freshman, continued his electric play early on during the Metropolitan Championship, shooting a 68 in the opening round and a 67 over the second 18-hole jaunt to sit with a nine-under 135 after the first two rounds.
Phillips was tied for second at this point. The upcoming sophomore birdied seven holes in the second round alone.
Phillips shot a 72 and a 74 in the final two rounds, but still finished in a tie for fifth, posting a seven-under 281 for the tournament.
Timmy Hollenbeck, an upcoming senior who played at Wright State and will be transferring to Cincinnati for his senior season, won the event with a 12-under 276.

Hollenbeck led Wright State to the 2026 Horizon League Championship and a spot in the NCAA Regionals. Logan Sutto, a junior who plays at NCAA Division I Butler (Ind.), finished second with an 11-under 277, while Rylan Wotherspoon, who recently finished his career at Cincinnati, finished third with a 10-under 278.
According to Ohio Golf, Hollenbeck earned exemptions into the Ohio Amateur Championship that will be played from July 20 through July 24 at The Virtues Golf Club in Nashport, Ohio as well as U.S. Amateur Championship at Merion Golf Club from Aug. 10 through Aug. 16 in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Hollenbeck, Sutto, and Wotherspoon all automatically qualified for and earned exemptions into the 2027 U.S. Amateur Championship as a result of their finishes.
The U.S. Amateur Championship is the premier golf tournament in the country for amateur golfers. World-renown and legendary golfers such as Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Phil Mickelson all have competed in the event, with Woods winning the U.S. Amateur three consecutive times in 1994, 1995, and 1996.
Nicklaus won the event twice (1959 and 1961), while Palmer (1954) and Mickelson (1990) each won the event once.
All four players went on to win majors while Woods, Nicklaus and Palmer each won the U.S. Open en route to becoming legendary figures in the sport.
      ​Read More