107th Iowa Amateur Championship

July 27-29, 2009 - Sunnyside Country Club

 

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Enter the Iowa Amateur

 

Qualifying Sites

 

East - Tuesday, July 14

Hunters Ridge GC, Marion

 

West - Friday, July 17

Majestic Hills GC, Denison

 

Central - Monday, July 20

Indianola CC, Indianola

 

Brief History of Sunnyside CC

from the Sunnyside website

On November 12th, 1919, Sunnyside applied for a Corporation charter. The incorporators were George E. Lichty, S.C. Bell, Alfred Longley, S.C. Kimm, George B. Miller, John T. Swift, K.L. Bragdon, F.J. Fowler, Jr. and Fred D. Adams. These gentlemen made up Sunnyside's first Board of Governors. The first clubhouse, located on Newell Street, was furnished with a coal stove due to the large cost of gas connections in 1920.

 

A stock share in the club was $100.00 and for years the dues were only $75.00. Land was purchased for $200.00 an acre and from population of 36,000 in 1920 we drew in 200 members in the first year. In 1921 Sunnyside had 284 members, some of which were involved in the process of moving Sunnyside to our current location.

 

In 1967 the Board of Governors announced the go-ahead for a new clubhouse (designed by Thomas H. Flinn of Flinn and Saito Architects), an Olympic size pool, two hard surfaced tennis courts and the 18-hole championship golf course located at 1600 Olympic Drive. The course was designed to be a par 72. The original length of the course was 7,140 yards from the championship tees, 6,610 yards from the regular tees and nearly 6,000 yards from the ladies tees. Today the length of the course is 6,756 from the championship tees, 6,451 from the regular tees and 5,284 from the ladies tees. The course is still a 72 par course.

 

On the twelfth fairway stands a marker proclaiming that over this spot wagon trains crossed this spot heading westward from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. The name of this path to the west is known as the Oregon Trail.

 

Each home site surrounding the club was auctioned off for $10,000.00 and today the sites are selling for roughly $150,000.00.

 

Art Edwards, Sunnyside's first manager, was elected in 1924.

 

 

 

www.sunnysidecountryclub.com

 

View DM Register Articles from the 1985 Iowa Amateur, the last Amateur held at Sunnyside CC

 

Preview Article

Round 1 Recap page one

Round 1 Recap page two

Round 1 Recap page three

Round 2 Recap page one

Round 2 Recap page two

Round 3 Recap page one

Round 3 Recap page two


Mike Oimoen 

106th Iowa Amateur Champion

By Craig DeVrieze, Quad City Times

Score one for sportsmanship. On Tuesday, Mike Oimoen, a 21-year-old college senior from Clear Lake called a penalty on himself after only he saw his ball move slightly after he addressed it with his putter.

On Wednesday, Oimoen prevailed in a one-hole playoff with Davenport’s Michael Wuertz and won the 106th Iowa Amateur Championship. “It’s karma,” Oimoen said after fighting his way into overtime with a 1-under-par final round of 69. “It pays off.”

Oimoen won the playoff at Davenport Country Club’s 18th hole when he two-putted for par from 30 feet.

Wuertz, 18, and bound for Iowa State in the fall, started the day in the lead, struggled a bit late in his round, and then forced the playoff when he chipped in for birdie at the 17th hole and saved par with an 8-foot putt at 18. In the playoff, though, he missed a 4-footer for par that would have extended the playoff.

“I just hit it a little too hard, and it never caught the break,” the former Bettendorf High School star said. “I still feel really good about what I did. I played good all week.”

Wuertz followed a pair of even-par opening rounds with 1-over 71 to match Oimoen’s 1-over three-round total of 211. Ben Peters, a 35-year-old former professional who makes his home in Bettendorf, finished third among an original field of 156 players. Likewise, Gene Elliott, a 46-year-old Bettendorf native and also a former professional. He finished two shots back, tied for fourth along with Cole Peevler of Keokuk and Nate Dunn of Manchester.

Wuertz trailed by one after Oimoen, playing a group ahead, chipped in at 15 to save par and then rolled home an 18-footer for birdie at the pivotal and picturesque 16th hole, which was dubbed “The Hole of Grief” after Sam Snead lost the 1951 Western Open with a wayward drive onto the rightside cliff.

The uphill par-3 17th nearly became Wuertz’s hole of relief when, after leaving his tee ball out to the right of the green, he  somehow found the bottom of the hole with a flop-shot pitch.

“Just a crazy shot,” he said of an approach that rode a severe downhill, right-to-left break to the pin. “I was basically dead to the right, and I managed to make it, which was unbelievable.’’

Oimoen, a two-time state champion who was recruited only by Indian Hills Junior College out of high school, did, of course, prevail. “I beat a lot of good players in Iowa today,” he said. “It’s a great honor.” And an honor won honorably, although Oimoen said calling Tuesday’s penalty simply was the right thing to do.

“The other two guys didn’t see it and I saw it,” he said of ball that twitched on the severely sloped eighth green. “I couldn’t sleep at night knowing I cheated on a golf course.

“That’s golf,” he said. “It’s a game of honor.”


 

Champions - Last 10 Years

2008 Mike Oimoen

Davenport Country Club

2007 Jared Walahoski

The Harvester Golf Club

2006 Jon Brown

Whispering Creek Golf Club

2005 Brian Verduyn

Wakonda Club

2004 Nate Dunn

Crow Valley Golf Club

2003 Scott Hart

Des Moines Golf and Country Club

2002 Bo Anderson

Spirit Hollow Golf Course

2001 Bo Anderson

Dubuque Golf and Country Club

2000 Gene Elliott

Ottumwa Country Club

1999 Matt Gatchel

Geneva Golf and Country Club

Championship Facts

 

107th Iowa Amateur

 

PAR AND YARDAGE:

TBD

 

HOLE BY HOLE:

TBD

 

ARCHITECT:

The current course at Sunnyside Country Club was designed by E. Lawrence Packard and opened for play in 1970.  Packard's most famous work includes four courses at the Innisbrook Golf Resort in Palm Harbor, FL. 

 

SUNNYSIDE CC AND THE IOWA GOLF ASSOCIATION:

2009 will mark the second Iowa Amateur Championship played at the current Sunnyside CC.  The first, in 1985, was won by Dana Kain of Ames. In recent years, Sunnyside CC has played host to two U.S. Mid-Am Qualifiers (02, 07), a U.S. Senior Open Qualifier (04), a U.S. Amateur Qualifier (06), the Iowa Mid-Amateur (05) and last year's IGA Club Team Championship.

 

THE FIELD:

The total entry will be determined after the entry deadline of July 9th.  Three qualifying sites will determine the final field of 156 to play at Sunnyside Country Club on July 27-29.  The field is cut to the low 60 and ties for the final round.

 

SCHEDULE OF PLAY:

Monday, July 27th: First round, 18 holes

Tuesday, July 28th: Second round, 18 holes (field cut to the low 60 and ties after second round)

Wednesday, July 29th: Final round, 18 holes - Awards Ceremony following play

 

MISCELLANEOUS HISTORY:

Art Bartlett holds the record for most Iowa Amateur victories with seven (7).

 

Rod Bliss Jr and Rod Bliss III are the only Father-Son combo to each win the Iowa Amateur

 

John Jacobs and Bob McKee are the only players with titles in three different decades

 

Jack Webb defeated brother Don Webb in the 1949 Iowa Amateur Championship Match

 

The Iowa Amateur switched from Match Play to Stroke Play in 1960

 

The Iowa Amateur was not held from 1943-1945 due to World War II.

 

Copyright © 2009 Iowa Golf Association