Hall wins EIGA; Monticello team finishes second

     Dustin Hall shot 72-70–142, and made a critical putt on the last hole, to win the Eastern Iowa Golf Association Tournament by one stroke.

     Hall, who last won the EIGA Tournament in 2011 when Monticello hosted it, led the Monticello team to a runner-up finish in the nine-team event, held Aug. 10-11 at West Liberty Country Club.

     Hall went into the final hole with a one-shot lead, knowing he needed to par the 230-yard, uphill par-3 hole in order to win. His closest pursuer, Josh Downham of Solon had already completed his round.

     He left his tee shot about 25 yards short, then chipped to within what he described as “eight-to-10 feet” with a chance to win.

     “I knew what I had to do,” Hall said. “The putt appealed to my eye right away. I also knew I was due; for the whole tournament I stroked the ball very well, but I struggled putting-wise. I was burning edges all weekend.”

     Hall sank the winning putt, and earned the title among 112 golfers. Randy Miller of Solon was third with 144.

     “It was nice to win it away from our home course,” he said.

     The Monticello team as a whole performed well, shooting 1525 to finish second by 12 strokes to Solon. Mount Vernon was 20 stroked behind Monticello in third, at 1545, and Dyersville was fourth with 1554.

     Monticello’s Kevin Goedken shot 147, Brian McDonald and Mike Wennekamp each had 148, Chad Norton shot 151, Seth Ballou carded a 158, Aaron Prull, Chance Manternach and Jacob Bergman all came in with scores of 161, Andy Manternach shot 162, Evan Felton had 168, and Phil McDonald totaled 171.

     Bergman, who will be a senior at the University of Iowa this fall, was Monticello’s EIGA Scholarship winner, for $800.