116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Cedar Rapids with a Ryder rally over Iowa City
Aug. 30, 2015 7:37 pm
CORALVILLE – Midway through singles play on the final day of the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Ryder Cup amateur golf tournament, the Cedar Rapids squad found themselves in a tussle.
Needing just four wins in 12 pairings for outright victory on Sunday, Cedar Rapids led in just two through nine holes.
That's when they found the course at Brown Deer Golf Club to their liking – on the back nine.
'We were able just to turn it up and make a lot of birdies on the backside,” said Mason Linn, who helped Cedar Rapids rebound with six singles victories and win the Ryder Cup, 15-9, over Iowa City. 'I think that was key both days. Good finishes.”
Cedar Rapids – which led 8.5 to 3.5 after Saturday's fourball and foursome events – retains the Ryder Cup for the 10th-consecutive year. The teams tied two years ago.
'These guys found it somewhere deep inside to rally,” first-year Cedar Rapids captain Steve Koepke said. 'It's a real testament to the type of players that we have in Cedar Rapids to have been able to play this well for this long.”
Linn – who prepped at Cedar Rapids Prairie and golfed collegiately at Northern Iowa – was one of six new additions to the Cedar Rapids team. He got his team on the board with their first singles win, 3 and 2, over Seth Schroeder.
Iowa City won four of the first five pairings, including two by the convincing score of 6 and 5 from former captain Tim Hawkins and the newcomer Evan Yeutsy.
'Today we started out strong,” Iowa City captain Jason Haddy said. 'Typical Cedar Rapids. They came through. They had a strong back nine yesterday and they had a strong back nine today. And that really was, I think, the final result.”
After J.D. Schlotterback posted a comfortable victory against Grant Simpson, 4 and 2, to pull Cedar Rapids within two points of the cup, first-year Cedar Rapids Ryder Cup member Ryan Gass edged Derek Thomas, 1-up.
Cedar Rapids' Kevin Ault extended the Cedar Rapids win streak by getting past Aaron Strike, 1-up, in a pairing of city amateur tournament runners-up.
'Made a putt on 17 to make sure we went to 18 so it was dormie,” Ault said. 'And then hit a good chip on 18. Unfortunately for Aaron, he missed his putt and finished it up so that was good.”
The last two Cedar Rapids City Amateur champions - Justin Pansegrau and Chris James - both won, 2 and 1, and closed out the team scoring for Cedar Rapids.
Koepke - who also serves as golf coach at Cedar Rapids Jefferson - hopes events like the Ryder Cup leads to more opportunities for area golfers. A possible bi-weekly amateur tour from May through September – which has secured a commitment from Ellis Golf Course for a Cedar Rapids mid-amateur event in May – is being discussed, then possibly the formation of a Cedar Rapids/Iowa City 'all-star team” to compete against areas such as Des Moines.
'We have an opportunity to grow competitive golf in the corridor like never before,” Koepke said.
CEDAR RAPIDS/IOWA CITY RYDER CUP
At Coralville
(Brown Deer Golf Club)
Cedar Rapids 15, Iowa City 9
Singles -
Tim Hawkins (IC) def. Steve Koepke, 6 and 5; Mason Linn (CR) def. Seth Schroeder, 3 and 2; Chad McCarty (IC) def. Dan Driscoll, 2 and 1; Trey Skaugstad (IC) def. Austin Black, 3 and 1; Ryan Gass (CR) def. Derek Thomas, 1-up; Evan Yeutsy (IC) def. Rob Dickerman, 6 and 5; Kevin Ault (CR) def. Aaron Strike, 1-up; J.D. Schlotterback (CR) def. Grant Simpson, 4 and 2; Justin Leas (CR) and Robert Cordle, halved; Justin Pansegrau (CR) def. Jon Burgett, 2 and 1; Ned Carter (IC) def. Matt Taylor, 5 and 4; Chris James (CR) def. Ross McGaughlin, 2 and 1.
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