Posted
online: May 31, 2004 12:27 AM
Print publication date: May 31, 2004
By
Tom Johnston, tjohnston@qconline.com
Brian Soucinek felt it was important that the Quad City Amateur golf
tournament be played out to its scheduled 36 holes.
But that decision on a rainy Sunday almost cost the 2003 QC Am champ his
title defense. With the last group playing its final two holes in darkness that
made it tough to see their feet, let alone 300-yard tee shots, Soucinek finished bogey-par at
In the same group, University of Northern Iowa sophomore-to-be Ben Hanson
made a great par save on 17 and birdied the par-5 18th to forge a tie, both
golfers finishing the two-day National City Bank Amateur Tour event at 4-under
140.
On a round that took 12 hours to complete because of two lengthy rain delays
-- and not beating darkness to the clubhouse -- it was good enough for Moline's
Soucinek to defend the championship of what he calls
``the most prestigious QC amateur golf tournament of the season.''
As it turned out, residency issues factored into the final decision as to
who took home the trophy Sunday night. Since Soucinek
is a regular on the NCB Amateur Tour, of which the QC Am was this year's third
event, and Nelson hails from
Soucinek carded an even-par round of 72 on Sunday
to back up Saturday's 4-under 68 at Glynns Creek.
Hanson, who has relatives in the Quad-Cities, shot a 1-under 71 to go with
Saturday's 69.
Tom Nelson (71-70) finished solo third with a 141 total, two strokes ahead
of Dean Cavanaugh (74-69), Dustin Drenth (74-69) and
Scott Nelson (73-70). Sunday's best round belonged to Joe Irwin. Even with only
making one putt outside of 10-feet, the Moliner fired
a 6-under 66 that left him tied with Steve Schwabe (73-71) for 7th at 144.
If the event had been shortened to 27 holes as was discussed during the
second delay late in the afternoon, it still would have ended up a tie. Hanson
got his one-up edge on the front nine with a 1-under 35 to Soucinek's
even-par 36. Both carded 36s on the back with 17 being a big swing hole.
Hampered by darkness, Soucinek couldn't negotiate
a 25-foot birdie putt he had on the uphill par-3 and left it 15 feet short. ``I
couldn't see the break or the undulation,'' he said, of the three-putt bogey he
didn't think would be as big a factor. He admitted to not realizing Hanson shot
69 and was still in the mix at that point.
For Soucinek, though, there are no asterisks by
this title despite playing less aggressively than Saturday as he tried to nurse
the lead.
``It feels real good,'' said Soucinek of adding
another QC Am title to his impressive golf resume. ``It's a special tournament
vs. the whole season-long deal. This is one that I have a little harder time
letting go of than some of the other events. The Quad-City Am represents all
the golfers in the area. In my opinion, I hold it to a little higher esteem
than some of the other tournaments we play. We have so many great players in
the area that it's such a great honor to win this one.''
For the 19-year-old Hanson, this is his first amateur victory outside of
school-sponsored events.
``I'm considering it a win,'' he said. ``Four-under for two days is a good
showing. I've never experienced something like this in a tournament. I've
played in the dark plenty of times and just messing around, but never where I
had a 6-foot putt to win a tournament or force a playoff.''