PIQUA — The second annual Echo Hills Match Play tournament will begin this week, with a net format.

Top seed Brian Deal is back to defend his title after defeating Hank Poff in 19 holes in last year’s championship match.

In the upper bracket, opening round matches included Deal against 16 seed Brendan O’Leary, 8 seed Mike Bosse vs. 9 seed Tyler Claus in a rematch from last year, 4 seed Sabastian Karabinis against 13 seed Grant Ulrich and 5 seed Doug Harter against 12 seed JayDee Denson in a rematch from last year.

The Deal-O’Leary winner will play the Bosse-Klaus winner in the second round and the Karabinis-Ulrich winner will play the Harter-Denson winner.

In the lower bracket, 2 seed Ron Pearson Jr. will open against 15 seed Dan Weatherly, 7 seed Dennis Bradley will play 10 seed Jeff Jennings, 3 seed Ryan Pearson will play 14 seed Rob Kiser and 6 seed Chase Wilson will play 11 seed Patrick Kirkland.

The Pearson Jr-Weatherly winners will play the Bradley-Jennings winners in the second round, while the Pearson-Kiser winner will play the Wilson-Kirkland winner in the second round.

The championship match will be played July 28.