Kirkwood News
Men's Golf - Fri, Aug 13, 2010
Once again, former Eagle, Chris James is on top of his game and claims the City Am Championship.
 
As Mike Koolbeck reported in the (Cedar Rapids) Gazette on Monday, August 9, 2010.
 
By Mike Koolbeck

Correspondent

CEDAR RAPIDS - A self-taught golfer gave a lesson in poise en route to his second Cedar Rapids Men's City Am title Sunday at Ellis Park Golf Course.

Chris James, who also won in 2008, shot an evenpar 72 and fended off a mild challenge from defending champion Steve Koepke for a three-stroke win. Former champ Todd Hingtgen and Justin Pansegrau tied for third, five shots off the pace.

Another former champ, Kurt Hockaday, was fifth, six shots back. James, 24, is a Cedar Rapids Washington graduate who played college golf at Kirkwood and St.

Ambrose. He said he had one lesson as a youngster, but mostly learned the game on his own. 'I owe a lot to (Kirkwood Coach) Darin Pint,' James said. 'He's a great golfer and a great coach.' Players went off the back nine holes and finished on the front nine Sunday at Ellis. Tournament Director Gary Louvar, the head pro at Ellis, said that change was made several years ago.

'I felt like the back nine was a place where the tournament could be lost, while the front nine is a place the tournament can be won,' Louvar said. Sure enough, that's nearly what happened.

James shot back-toback 68s at Gardner and Jones the first two days to build a five-shot lead over Koepke and Hockaday, his final round playing partners. Koepke whittled the lead to two after the first seven holes.

'He was leaking a littlebit of oil and I felt like if I could get (James' lead) to one or two shots after the first nine I had a chance,' said Koepke, 37, the boys' and girls' golf coach at Cedar Rapids Jefferson and science teacher at Taft Middle School.

Instead, James dropped a bomb, draining a 35-foot putt on hole No. 17 that started a three-hole, fourstroke swing that made it his tournament to lose.

And, after blowing a twostroke lead two weeks ago in the final round of the amateur division of the Greater Cedar Rapids Open, he wasn't about to let that happen.

'I hated that feeling,' he said. 'It left a bad taste in my mouth.' There was no bad taste this time. His birdie to start the final nine, cou pled with Koepke's bogey, boosted James' lead to six shots. He had pars on five holes, bogeyed two and sank a birdie on the final hole to clinch his win.

'Pars are good scores,' James said. 'I wanted to make them have to make shots.' Koepke had, perhaps, the shot of the day, clubbing a 3-wood from 272 yards to within 25 feet for a possible eagle on the final hole. He missed, leaving James four shots to get in the cup from about 12 feet. It took one.

'I really didn't feel like I had the tournament until Steve missed that eagle putt,' James said.

The City Am's top 10 finishers qualified for the Ryder Cup, a competition between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City golfers. It is Aug. 28-29 at Ellis.

© 2010 The Gazette