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