Last Updated: 11:38 pm, Wednesday, July 28th, 2004

Schnell posts best final round, takes 2nd in Iowa Amateur
By Jon Gremmels/For the Times

.

Brady Schnell might not have grown up playing at Davenport’s Crow Valley golf Club, but he has played many rounds there the past two years and should know a few things about the course, since his father, Curt, is PGA director of golf there.

.

Schnell used his knowledge to his advantage and turned in the best final-round score Wednesday at the 102nd Iowa Amateur Championship. Not only was his 1-under-par 70 the only score below par on the final day of the three-round event, it wound up pulling him within one stroke of the title.

.

“The leaders kind of brought it back to us,” Schnell said. “I’m a little bit surprised to be right there. Putting was the key for me. None of my birdies came from up-and-downs.”

.

Schnell finished at 6-over-par 219, joining Jon Brown of Urbandale and Luke Miller of Clive just a stroke behind champion Nate Dunn of Cedar Rapids. Dunn, who started the day tied with Brown for third place at even par, pulled away quickly from the only two players who started the day ahead of him but bogeyed five of the final eight holes to allow others to close the gap.

.

“I was getting tired, and it was starting to show up,” said Dunn, who played 36 holes last Thursday at the U.S. Amateur qualifying tournament, finished second in a playoff Sunday in the three-day Cedar Rapids Open and then shot         70-72-76—218 at Crow Valley. “I figured this would be one of the tournaments I could win because the setup suits my game. I’m kind of a scrambler.”

.

It didn’t take long for Dunn to scramble to the top of the leaderboard.

.

He hit a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-5 second hole and    followed with a 3-iron to within 3 feet on the 198-yard par-3 third to set up his second consecutive birdie. That drew him even at 2 under with Brian deBuhr of Urbandale, who began the day in first place at 3 under.

.

“Those birdies put me in a great mind frame,” said Dunn, 28. “Fortunately, the other two guys were starting to falter a bit then.”

.

DeBuhr came back with a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 4 to take a 1-stroke lead, but disaster hit on No. 5.

.

His tee shot into the wind sliced into the pond on the right side, and he wound up with a triple-bogey 6 that left him at even par. He never would get back under par.

.

Dunn, meanwhile, took his 5-iron and drilled a low line drive within 10 feet of the pin, slid a birdie attempt just to the left of the cup and settled for par to remain at 2 under.

.

“That kind of did hurt me, but I was only two back at the time,” said deBuhr, who plays for the University of Iowa. “With the toughness of the course, you’ve got to realize there’s a lot of golf left.”

.

The problem was, there was a lot of golf left.

.

DeBuhr dropped five more strokes before the turn, finishing the front nine with bogey, double-bogey, par and double-bogey. Dunn, meanwhile, had a pair of bogeys but finished the front nine at even par.

.

Weber, who started the day at 1 under, took an early hit with double-bogeys on Nos. 2 and 4. His tee shot on No. 2 landed at the base of a pine tree, forcing him to take a penalty stroke, then his first two shots on No. 4 found a long left-side fairway bunker.

.

Neither deBuhr nor Weber got close to Dunn on the backside. Dunn’s late run of bogeys did allow some players ahead of him on the course to creep back into contention.

.

“I really played the front well,” Dunn said, noting that he had several near-misses on birdie attempts. “I played equally well all three days; the course was just set up harder today.”

.

That might have benefited the local players.

.

Besides Schnell, Tim Flaherty of Davenport shot a final-round 72 and moved into a four-way tie for sixth place at 221 with Weber and former state high school champions Collin Burich, a Bettendorf High School graduate, and Paul Huddle of Wapello. Burich, who will play for Nova Southeastern College in Fort Lauerdale, Fla., in the fall, had a final-round 78. Huddle, who plays for Iowa State, had a 76.

.

Schnell, meanwhile took advantage of his course knowledge and climbed all the way to second place. Although he lived in Omaha, Neb., during his high school years while his father was the professional at Oak Hills Country Club — and he played baseball instead of golf, leading Millard West High School to a state runner-up finish his senior year, although he earned a golf scholarship to the University of Nebraska — Schnell does have some recent experience at Crow Valley.

.

“The past two summers I’ve played a lot here, enough where I knew enough (that helped),” he said.

.

It might not have helped enough to put him over the top, but it helped enough for him to almost get there after starting the day in a five-way tie for 18th place.

.