July 20, Des Moines, Iowa
Bill Reed, tournament host, reports:
The 2019 edition of the HoA has been completed. The Open Medal Champion was a three-peat for Jeremy Wright of Louisville, Ky. He had to put in overtime to do so as he finished the 36-hole tournament in a tie with Gary Youngberg of Ames, Iowa. Wright shot 73-75 and Youngberg shot 74-74. The playoff lasted 5 holes until Wright nearly drove the short par 4 number 5 at Grandview, chipped to 18 inches and secured his victory with a tap-in birdie. Youngberg’s birdie putt came up just short. Youngberg had previously won the title in 2016.
The last playoff of the HoA was in 1998 between Randy Jensen of Omaha and his brother at Shoreline Golf Club. Randy prevailed after a two-hole playoff.
Gary Swenson of Kelly, Iowa, finished third, shooting 77-73.
The Open reserve finishers were Kirk Watson of Ames, Iowa, who won the Gold with 66-69/135. Jeremy Lyons tied with Bill Fallon of Nebraska at 145. After a scorecard playoff, Jeremy was awarded Silver and Bill the Bronze.
In the Senior Open Medal Division Scott Rosheim of Bondurant, Iowa, took advantage of his recent 60th birthday to win the Senior Gold shooting 74-81/155. Silver went to David Dunigan of Lincoln, Neb., with 79-80/159. Werner Kolin of Indianola, Iowa, claimed the Bronze shooting 82-78/160.
For the Senior Reserve Chris Hardy of Port Byron, Ill., took the gold; Dennis Olson of the Quad Cities, Iowa, the Silver; and the Walter Johnson of Hinton, Iowa, the Bronze.
Previous Open winner (2014 and 2015 ) John Berggren of the Houston, Texas-area, entered the Statesman Division and shot his age 76-75/151 to claim the Gold.
Jim Fisher of Boone, Iowa, won the Silver; and Peter Herrington of Old Kinderhook Fame in Missouri won the Bronze.
Chuck Collins of Indianola, Iowa, claimed the Statesman Reserve Gold Medal with a 36-hole net of even par 140.
The Ladies Medal Division winner was Jeanne Swenson of Kelly, Iowa. She hit a bunch of great shots and would have medaled if she had played in any of the Men’s Divisions.
There were great scores from the Mixed and Men’s Team Divisions.
The Men’s Gold was claimed by Rives McBee and Gary Proctor, both of the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas, along with Clayton Copple and Derek Hannah of the Hickory Golf Association. Their 63-65 was a total of -12.
The Mixed Team Gold was claimed by John Hutton and Patti Pittenger of Black Hawk, Colorado. They paired with Jerry Miller of Tennessee and Chris Palar of Ankeny, Iowa. Their 63-60 was a team record of minus 17/123.
Three meals, two days of free trade tables and an included practice round made the Heart of America the bargain of hickory golf again this year.
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- Warming up.
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- Tournament host Bill Reed, left, presents awards to Rives McBee, center, and Gary Proctor.
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- Mike Needleman’s easy-going guitar music helped set the mood for a great dinner.
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- Heart of America players prepare for action. From left: TJ McKenzie, Dean Townsend, Deb Herrington, Duane Baylor, and Ron Luster.
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- Rives McBee, right, watches Derek Hannah nail a big drive.
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- The Scramble and Mixed Team scoreboard
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- The Open and Senior Scoreboard