118th Iowa Amateur heads to Davenport Country Club
The 118th Iowa Amateur Championship will be contested at Davenport Country Club (pictured above) on July 27-29. This will mark the sixth time the Iowa Amateur will be held at the club. The last time Davenport Country Club hosted the Iowa Amateur was in 2008, when eventual champion Mike Oimeon, of Clear Lake, won in a playoff. Davenport Country Club first played host to the Iowa Amateur in 1927 when Sioux City’s Lee Herron won the trophy.
The golf course has recently received a major facelift. In 2014, the club embarked on a renovation seeking to restore the course to its original design as well as uncover several hidden features that were once covered up by trees. In total, more than 500 trees were removed during the renovation, opening up new sightlines and lines of play. Davenport Country Club has since received national recognition for being one of the best courses in Iowa according to Golf Digest and currently sits at #159 in the recent GolfWeek list of top 200 Classic Courses.
There are a number of past champions in this year’s field, including 2006 & 2019 Iowa Amateur Champion Jon Brown, who will look to defend his title in 2020. Three-time Iowa Amateur Champions Nate Dunn and Gene Elliott are seeking their fourth victories. Dunn’s most recent victory came in 2016 at Sunnyside Country Club in Waterloo, with Elliott’s being in 2013 at Coldwater Golf Links in Ames. 2012 Iowa Amateur Champion Jon Olson and 2003 Iowa Amateur Champion Scott Hart will also be in the field.
The 2020 Player of the Year race is well underway, and several top contenders will be teeing it up next week in Davenport. Andrew Huseman, of Ankeny, 2020 IGA Match Play Champion Connor Peck, of Ankeny, and the previously mentioned Brown, of Adel, are currently in the top 5 in the POTY standings. They will be looking to make up ground on Ankeny’s Nate McCoy, who is leading the race with 690 points.