EDISON, N.J. (August 21, 2012) - It’s not easy to repeat as Met Open champion. In fact, only seven players have gone back-to-back in the history of the championship, and it hasn’t been done since PGA Tour winner Johnson Wagner did it back in 2001 and 2002. But after opening up this year’s championship at Plainfield Country Club with a 6-under 66, Tyler Hall of Packanack will give it his best shot.

“The scrambling worked,” he said after his round. “When I hit bad shots, I hit them in the right spots. I started out slow and steady, and then once I made a birdie on 12, that to me was kind of the last of the real treachery out there. After that I kind of just freewheeled it."

Hall, who admitted he had no expectations when he captured the title last year at Sleepy Hollow, said he went into this tournament with a similar mindset. “It’s nice [being defending champ], I was just excited to go out and put together a good round. I took it very light-heartedly and let my game did the talking.”

Right after winning in 2011, Hall put the sticks away for four months to give his bad shoulder a rest it desperately needed. When he began to regain strength, he took a trip out to Las Vegas to put in some work with his coach and to work on some new swing motions. Although it hasn’t been a highly successful season for Hall, he sees improvements.

“I struggled a little bit to start the year, and just realized you know what, I’ve hit so many balls the way I hit them, I’m just going to go with what I've got. But I’ve had a great couple months leading into this.”

So Hall will try to do what few players in MGA history have accomplished. And if scrambling around to a 66 is on his agenda, he just might get there after all.