Luke Harwick (above) wasn’t paying particularly close attention to where he stood in the 78th annual Fort Dodge Amateur golf tournament on Sunday.
He couldn’t help but look while standing on the tee box at the Fort Dodge Country Club’s often-treacherous 18th hole, though.
“I try not to ‘scoreboard watch,’” Harwick said. “But I figured I better check once I got to the 18th tee, just in case. I don’t really let my (position) impact my mindset and how I play during a round, but when you get that close to the end, you kind of have to double check to make sure.”
Luke Harwick (left) slammed it shut with a birdie to cap his wire-to-wire victory in the Open division at an impressive nine-under par.
The University of Dubuque junior-to-be was nursing a three-shot lead heading into the tree-lined par-4 – often regarded as one of the tougher closing holes in Iowa. If the door potentially opened just a little for three-time FD Am champ and hard-charging playing partner Andrew Huseman, Harwick slammed it shut with a birdie to cap his wire-to-wire victory in the Open division at an impressive nine-under par.
The area was well-represented the rest of the way. Former Humboldt standout Jeff Panek of Johnston took his first-ever FD Am title in the Senior competition. Tony Malizia of Humboldt was the Super Senior champ, while Mason City’s Joel Yunek – a Lake City graduate – captured the Legends trophy.
Fort Dodge’s Dave Sergeant was the first-ever Grand Master gold medalist.
The 20-year-old Harwick, a high school state champion in 2024 at Dyersville Beckman, didn’t waver much after an opening-round 66 on Saturday. Despite a two-hour delay in the start of the final 18 due to an unexpected rain and lightning storm on Sunday morning, everything else stayed pretty much on schedule for Harwick to earn his first major Iowa amateur tournament title.
A birdie at the 6th and an eagle at the 7th quickly erased an early bogey at the 4th, and Harwick’s eagle at 15 all but solidified the victory as Huseman and the field tried to chase from behind.
Huseman, the winner here in 2019, 2020 and 2022, didn’t go away quietly. The grandson of late Fort Dodge Senior High Hall of Famer Dutch Huseman and son of Fort Dodge chiropractor Bill Huseman birdied 15, 16, 17 and 18 to solidify the runner-up spot.
It simply wasn’t enough to rattle Harwick, though. The Dyersville native hit a perfect drive on 18, landed a pinpoint approach shot approximately 15 feet from the hole, then sunk the birdie putt for good measure to go out in style.
“This is a great course,” Harwick said. “I played here (in the FD Am for the first time) two years ago. It was in really good shape (this weekend), and the rain (Sunday morning) softened things up.
“(The FDCC) rewards straight hitters. The trees are large, so you have to stay out of the rough. But if you hit it long, stay in the fairway and make some putts, you can post a competitive score. That’s what I did. I played pretty smart overall, and the trouble I did get into I was able to limit the damage.”
Harwick had a big spring for the Spartans, taking the ARC championship in record-breaking fashion and solidifying honorable mention Div. III All-American honors.
“We had seven wins as a team and I had two individually,” Harwick said. “It was a successful season, and I feel like that’s carried over for me (into the summer tournaments).”
Harwick heads back to eastern Iowa on Monday for the John Deere Classic qualifier. He made it through the pre-qualifying rounds.
Huseman shot 68-68 for second-place honors at 6-under 136. Iowa State golfer Dianchao Wu was third (5-under 137), and recently-graduated Northern Iowa team member Calen Bishop – a former Johnston High School standout – finished fourth (3-under 139).
Former Lakeside Amateur champ Charlie West (2-under 140) and ex-FD Am titleists Niel Doak and Nate McCoy (1-under 141) rounded out the Top-7.
Panek, a 1987 Humboldt High School graduate, carded consecutive rounds of 71 to take the Senior trophy by a single stroke over Jay Gregory of Lineville at even par. Tony Newkirk of Des Moines was third.
Malizia matched Panek’s efforts with back-to-back rounds of level par in the Super Senior bracket. Polk City’s Andy Burton was a distant second, eight strokes back.
Yunek, who now has six FD Am titles spanning three different divisions, defended his Legends title with rounds of 76 and 78. Fort Dodge’s Terry Miller was two strokes behind in the runner-up slot.
Sergeant won his first FD Am championship since 2018 and seventh overall with a 76-80 in the Grand Legends division. The Fort Dodge resident was the Super Senior victor eight years ago, and the Senior winner in 2000-02 and 2010. His Open division triumph came in 1991.
Mike McDonald of Ankeny took the Super Legends trophy at 76-77–153.
Jon Brown (right) carded a superb 6-under-par 66 on Wednesday to earn medalist honors and the lone qualifying spot at the U.S. Senior Amateur Championship Qualifier held at Wakonda Club.
In the girls’ division, Stella Roemer (right) of Bettendorf found herself atop the leaderboard after posting a nice 73 (+2). Roemer found her stride on the par-threes, going two-under total on those holes.
