Golfers face windy conditions in day two of 47th Iowa Senior Amateur
While the sun has set on day two of the 47th Iowa Senior Amateur championship, the battle to crown a pair of champions has only just begun. With three players atop the Championship Division leaderboard each carding a second round 71 (E) and many in the hunt in the Super Senior Division, today’s final round is set to be a dogfight to the finish.
In the Championship Division, Joe Palmer of Norwalk, Jon Brown of Adel (above), and Brian Verduyn of Polk City fared the elements to maintain their share of the lead.
Brown highlighted the day with a hole-in-one on the second hole.
“Second hole of the day and the wind’s howling right to left…Went in on the second bounce. Pretty cool,” expressed Brown.
For the remainder of the field, the road to spotless rounds was far from easy. The players’ biggest adversary? The wind. With gusts up to 25mph, the links-style golf course left a trail of carnage. Triple-bogeys and worse plagued countless scorecards, and birdies became few and far between.
“It was a two to three club wind out there today,” shared Gary Ellis of Norwalk. “I just had to trust my swing and trust the club and had to take some chances out there with the wind.”
Ellis shared the Championship Division low-round of the day with a 71 (E).
Also carding a 71 was Ben Peters of Bettendorf. Making a strong comeback after a round one score of 74 (+3), Peters leads the entire field in birdies with a total of six so far.
“I made quite a few nice putts today. When I’m getting the ball in play I’m able to score, I’m just hoping to get the ball in play more often,” Peters said.
The Super Senior Division was highlighted by Dave Gaer of Des Moines’ low-round of 70 (-1). As the only player with an under-par round today, Gaer made up some ground after an opening round of 76 (+5).
“I hit 15 greens today which left me a lot of birdie putts. I avoided a lot of the fescue which certainly helps out here,” Gaer noted. “Heading into tomorrow, I’m really just looking to get the ball in the fairway and play smart.”
Jim Butler of Fort Madison shot 75 (+4) in round two which brings his two-day total to 145 (+3) and keeps him at the top of the leaderboard in the Super Senior Division. Following close behind is Gaer (+4) and a trio of golfers, Jim Madsen of Carroll, Tony Malizia of Humboldt, and Paul Wielage of Clive at (+6).
With impending thunderstorms forecasted for tomorrow’s championship round, the entire field will begin play with an 8:30 a.m., shotgun.