It's hard to be any hotter than Gene Elliott is right now
(Iowa Golf Association photo)

Before the dust could even settle on the two trophies he collected just in the last week-and-a-half, he picked up another Saturday in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Elliott, from Des Moines, IA completed a dominating run at the Iowa Senior Match Play with a 5&4 win over Tom Norton in the final match at Fort Dodge Country Club. Not only was it a successful defense of the title he won a year ago at he Tournament Club of Iowa, it was also the third tournament he has won in the last ten days.

The three wins have come in three different formats.

It started at the Trans-Mississippi Senior Championship in Indian Wells, CA where Elliott rode a second-round 66 in the desert heat to a four-shot win in the 54-hole stroke play championship.

From there he hopped a plane back to Iowa and teamed up with Mike McCoy to win the Iowa Four-Ball at Bent Tree Golf Club, shooting a final-round 63 to come from behind and win by two shots. For Elliott and McCoy, it was their third straight win in the tournament.

This week at Fort Dodge, Elliott's hot streak continued, as he posted a three-under 68 in stroke play qualifying, and then ran off five straight dominating match play wins.

How dominating? None of Elliott's matches ever reached the fifteenth hole.

Going into the final, Elliott had posted wins of 9&7, 5&4, 6&4, and 6&5. But early in the final match it was his opponent Norton who got the upper hand early, and Elliott found himself 2 down through four holes.

But Elliott won the fifth hole with a par, and from there it was another avalanche, as he ran off four straight birdies starting at the seventh to take a three up lead. Two more birdies in the next four holes finished the match and the championship, with Elliott winning 5&4.

It was Elliott's third Iowa Senior Match Play title and second straight.