Iowa Amateur Opens with Tight Leaderboard; Sawyer, Weissenburger Fire 68s
Courtesy of Rick Brown
It took some time for Owen Sawyer (right) to flush away the disappointment of his close call at the IGA Match Play Championship in late June
“I definitely struggled with it a little bit,” Sawyer recalled Monday during the first round of the Iowa Amateur. “The good thing is that I was able to learn from that.”
Sawyer, who will be a junior at Iowa State this fall, lost to Braeden Nelson in the match-play final, 1 up. Nelson took the lead on the 12th hole, then they halved the last six.
“I wasn’t happy with the outcome,” Sawyer said. “I needed to work a little harder.”
The 123rd Iowa Amateur kicked off a three-day stay at the Des Moines Golf and Country Club Monday, and Sawyer is right back in contention. He shot a 4-under-par 68 and is tied for the first-round lead with Drake junior Jake Weissenburger.
Both leaders had six birdies and two bogeys on their cards.
Three more players are a shot out of first after posting 69s – Jamie Faidley, Maxwell Tjoa and Jonathan Ward.
“Everything was pretty good today,” Sawyer said. “Nothing over the top good. Nothing over the top bad.”
Weissenburger, from Clive, is coming off a victory in the Des Moines City Tournament last weekend at Waveland.
Weissenburger (left) finished 22 under par, one shot better than two-time Iowa Amateur champion Jon Brown. Weissenburger shot 64-66-64, twice posting a 30 on Waveland’s front nine. A 14-time City champ, Brown shot 67-64-64. Third-place finisher Owen Howe was nine shots back.
“It was crazy, that last round,” Weissenburger said. “I was going low and he (Brown) just kept it up most of the day. Hats off to him. It was a lot of fun.”
Weissenburger tied for ninth in the Iowa Amateur last season at Finkbine in Iowa City, after taking the lead into the final round.
“I’m not going to think about that, to be honest,” Weissenburger said. “I’m going to try and have a good round (Tuesday), make the cut and see what happens. Just a shot at a time.”
Faidley, 44, a six-time club champion at the Des Moines Golf and Country Club, got it to 5 under for the round when he had four 3s in a five-hole stretch of the back nine. That included an eagle on the par-5 13th. But a pair of bogeys on the 15th and 16th knocked him out of the lead.
“I’ve probably got some expectations of doing well, but I like it out here,” Faidley said.
Ward, who won the Iowa Junior Amateur this summer, is also a Des Moines Golf member. He had a share of the lead, too, until a bogey at the 17th.
“I’ve been playing here since I was 4 or 5 years old,” Ward said. “My dad has been a member here for like 25 years.”
Ward said he feels comfortable playing at Des Moines Golf. The State junior crown gives him more confidence.
“It felt good winning a big event,” Ward said.
Tjoa, who plays golf at Iowa, had four birdies to offset just one bogey.
“I was just being patient with my putter,” Tjoa said. “The front nine I had some pretty good looks for birdie but they just weren’t dropping.”
Tjoa said playing with patience is an improving part of his game.
“It’s something I’ve picked up the last couple of years,” Tjoa said. “Before, I would get frustrated. Now I keep level-headed.”
Defending champion Nate McCoy got off to a slow start Monday with a bogey-birdie-bogey start.
“I thought, “Oh, boy, is this the way I’m going to play?’ ” McCoy said. “I just didn’t want to shoot myself out of the tournament.”
McCoy managed to get around in 70. McCoy got off to a slow start in the Iowa Amateur last summer at Finkbine, posting a first-round 70. But he moved into a tie for fourth after a second-round 67 and closed with a 66 that included two eagles on the back nine.
“I think I was 40th or 50th after the first round last year,” Nate said. “I remember my dad telling me starting the final round,”These guys don’t know how hard it is to win one of these. Guys are going to come back,’ ”
Sage advice. Nate’s father, Mike, has won six Iowa Amateur titles. Mike shot 73 Monday, rallying with a 2-under-par 34 on the back nine.
Play in Tuesday’s second round of the Iowa Amateur, hosted by the Des Moines Golf and Country Club for the first time since 2003 and the 12th time overall, starts at 7:30 a.m. The low 60 scores and ties move on to Wednesday’s final round.
