Nate Dunn rides hot play to Iowa Match Play title
PELLA, Iowa (June 29, 2014) -- Nate Dunn played fantastic golf all week at the 26th IGA Match Play Championship, so it's fitting that he closed out the final match against Mitch Tucker with a birdie-birdie-birdie onslaught. The final match was tight most of the day with Tucker and Dunn all square through 13 holes. Then Dunn made a birdie at 14 to go 1 up, was conceded a tap-in birdie on 15 to go 2 up and then made a 25-footer for birdie on 16 to close out the match 3 & 2. Dunn joins the club of Iowa Amateur and IGA Match Play Champions. He won the Iowa Am in 2004.
Dunn and Tucker both played solid golf all week at the host Amana Colonies Golf Course. Dunn earned his trip to the finals by defeating Bret Taylor of Des Moines in the semis 2 & 1. Both players played very solidly throughout the match, which started off with plenty of back and forth. Taylor won the first hole, Dunn won the second, then Taylor came right back to win the third while Dunn answered by winning the fourth and fifth. They then decided to get off the roller coaster for a bit and settle for some halves on holes 6-9. Taylor then won the 10th to square it but Dunn would go on to win the 12th and 16th holes to go dormie. Finally a nice par save at 17 closed out Taylor.
While Dunn & Taylor had a close match throughout, the semifinal tilt between Tucker and Connor Peck of Ankeny was a tale of two nines. Tucker dominated the front side, taking a 4 up lead at the turn but a short birdie miss at 10 seemed to turn the tide. Peck went on to make birdie at 11, 12 and 13 to win all three holes. Then a par at 14 squared the match. Peck would even take a 1 up lead after 16 but Tucker answered with a deuce at the par-3 17th to square it back up. The two then havled the 18th to force extra holes. Due to heavy public play on the front side, the two began extra holes at #10. They halved that hole and then Tucker hit his second shot to about 15 feet and drained the eagle putt on the par-5 11th for the win.
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ABOUT THE
Iowa Match Play
18 holes of stroke play qualifying to determine a 64-
player match play bracket. The defending champion
is exempt
from the 18-hole qualifying round. The defending
champion
may choose to compete in the qualifying round to
earn medalist
honors but is assured of no lower than the #2 seed
in Match Play. Must be an IGA member.
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