Nate Dunn Wins Close Player of the Year Race
Jim Butler Wins 2nd Senior Award; Jared Walahoski is Junior Player of the Year
Nate
Dunn’s play in 2007 demonstrates that consistency in golf is a primary
attribute.
In the closest race since 2003, Nate Dunn won the Iowa Golf Association’s Player of the Year Award over the 2004 and 2006 winner Jon Brown. Dunn accumulated 881 points to Brown’s 847.5. Mike McCoy and Gene Elliott tied for third place with 830 points each.
Dunn registered one victory in 2007, teaming with Mid-Am Champion Justin Schulte to win the IGA Four-Ball Championship in May. The 32-year-old Cedar Rapids banker advanced to the semifinals of the Match Play Championship and his accumulation of four 3rd place finishes proved to be enough. Dunn’s margin of victory came when he earned points by qualifying for the U. S. Amateur Championship in August.
Brown, of Urbandale has now finished either 1st or 2nd in the Player of the Year race in the past five years. After his remarkable four victories in the 2006 campaign, he finished 2nd in five events in 2007 including the Iowa Amateur, the Herman Sani Invitational, the Iowa Masters, the Carroll Amateur and the Briarwood Amateur.
McCoy of West Des Moines was low amateur at the Herman Sani Invitational and won his third Crump Cup title at Pine Valley in New Jersey. He also posted 2nd place finishes at the Iowa Mid-Am and the Lake Creek Amateur.
Elliott earned a large portion of his points from competing on the national stage highlighted by advancing to the semifinals of the Trans-Mississippi Championship. He also qualified for match play at the U. S. Amateur at Olympic in San Francisco and the U. S. Mid-Amateur at Bandon Dunes in Oregon, winning one match in each event before being eliminated. In his only Iowa events he posted 2nd place finishes at the IGA Four-Ball and the Iowa Open.
Complete results and details of the Player of the Year race can be found here.
Jim Butler Wins 2nd Senior Player of the Year Award
Senior Player of the Year Jim Butler of Fort Madison had a solid year with a win and four other top five finishes. But the highlight of his year, and perhaps his career, was his performance at the U. S. Senior Amateur at Flint Hills in Wichita, Kansas. Butler overcame a quintuple-bogey nine in the first round of stroke play qualifying to record a solid 1-over-par total of 143 and earned the 12th seed going into match play. He won two matches to advance to the final 16 and was then eliminated by the eventual champion Stan Lee of Arkansas.
Butler edged out John Peters of Muscatine and Robb Pomerantz of Des Moines. Peters, the 2007 Iowa Senior Amateur Champion, made a late push with strong finishes in national senior amateur tournaments to finish in second. Peters posed a top 5 finish at the Sunnehanna Senior Amateur and a top 20 at the Harvey Penick Senior in September. Pomerantz had a tremendous year recording first place finishes in the senior divisions of the IGA Mid-Amateur and the Carroll Amateur and tied for low senior amateur at the Herman Sani Invitational. He also tied for 3rd place in the Iowa Senior Amateur Championship.
2006 Iowa Senior Amateur Champion Sam Aossey of Cedar Rapids finished fourth in the points race while Jim Curell of Boone rounded out the top 5.
Iowa Amateur Champion Jared Walahoski Wins Junior Player of the Year
The IGA junior point race is the only Junior Player of the Year competition in Iowa that recognizes junior players for competing against the top adult players in major statewide competitions. Jared Walahoski’s historic win at the 105th Iowa Amateur Championship propelled him to the IGA Junior Player of the Year award.
Walahoski, of Urbandale, became the youngest player to win the Iowa Amateur since it was switched to stroke play in 1960. His 7-under-par score of 209 for the 54-hole Championship played at The Harvester Golf Club, was good for a 3-stroke victory over Jon Brown and Ben Herrera. In addition, Walahoski won the Iowa Section Westfield Junior, tied for 2nd in the 4A State High School and tied for third in the Iowa Junior Amateur.
The IGA Player of the Year Awards will be presented on Friday, November 2nd at a special dinner at the Hyperion Field Club in Johnston.