Messenger photo by Britt Kudla: The 2021 Fort Dodge Ford Lincoln Toyota county golf tournament winners (left to right): Coi Nguyen (men’s senior), Austin Morrow (men’s open), Rick Noll (men’s super senior), Kelsey Felch (women’s open) and Kathy Fortune (women’s senior) stand with Fort Dodge Ford Lincoln Toyota co-owners Casey Johnson (far left) and Matt Johnson (far right).

Austin Morrow remembers being a young golfer watching the best of the best compete for city tournament glory.

The names and rules have changed some over the last 20 years. The same can be said for Morrow, whose early dreams of being a champion have again come to fruition.

Morrow became just the sixth player in the 41-year history of the Fort Dodge Ford Lincoln Toyota Webster County golf tournament to capture at least three men’s open division championships, prevailing by a single stroke over fellow former winner Eddie Doyle at the Fort Dodge Country Club.

The annual event, which was shortened to 18 holes of regulation action after heavy rains water-logged the area the morning before, attracted perfect weather on Sunday and heightened the sense of urgency for the field in a condensed format. Morrow held off four other contenders who closed within five strokes of his one-over par 107 total. Meanwhile, Coi Nguyen (senior) and Rick Noll (super senior) earned their first-ever respective titles and flanked Morrow in the winner’s circle of the tournament, which was again presented by The Messenger.

“It’s always fun to win this and it obviously means a great deal to me,” said Morrow, who also took gold here in 2015 and 2019. “I think back to when I was a little kid…I’d come out here (during the weekend) and watch all of the great players. I’d picture what it would be like to be in those shoes someday. Now, to be that person (as a three-time winner), it’s very special — especially given the history of golf in this community.”

The even-tempered Morrow had a championship nine that mirrors his cadence. The 2009 Fort Dodge Senior High graduate was steady — he birdied hole No. 2 and bogeyed 8 — in shooting an even-par 35 on the front side. That was enough to hold off Doyle, Cole Jaeschke and Ryan Reeder, as the top-four places through the opening 18 holes stayed in tact.

“No big fireworks,” Morrow said of his efforts down the stretch. “I didn’t hit the ball particularly well all day, but I made a decent number of putts and got up and down a lot. I honestly thought after all the rain that softened the course up, I’d have to be aggressive and go pretty low. But my swing wasn’t really cooperating, and my driver went kind of askew, which is somewhat odd for me.

“Fortunately, I did just enough (score-wise) to find a way.”

There was no shortage of quality competition. Doyle won here in 2017, Jaeschke took the Lakeside Amateur last month, and Reeder had two of the last three county titles to his credit.

Kole Petersen, Lucas Peed and Drew Schaeffer followed the top four. Morrow joins a who’s-who list of Kevin Ault (five), Dave Sergeant (four), Cory Braunschweig (three), Pat Wendell (three) and Peed (three) as the only golfers to bring home at least three of these tourney titles.

Nguyen sank a long birdie putt on the second playoff hole to defeat Stults, who had rallied from five strokes down in the championship nine to force extra holes.

“I’m just so happy and I can’t believe I won here at the Country Club,” said the 53-year-old Nguyen, who works at CJ Bio America. “It’s a tough and beautiful course. I never thought this was possible, so I’m excited and grateful for the opportunity (to become a champion).”

Nguyen (73-40–103) and Stults (78-35–103) were tied after regulation, and both parred the first sudden-death hole. Nguyen then rolled in a 30-foot putt to end it.

Nguyen was third in 2020. Last year’s runner-up, Kevin Conrad, finished third this time around, followed by Ted Camamo, Steve Schmidt and Steve Huss.

Noll held off Tom Forbes, Greg Sampson and Paul Petersen in the super senior race. The 69-year-old retired owner of Taco Tico started slow — he was 5-over par after his first three holes — but said “I got my act together” and righted the ship.

“I figured at that point I either needed to get it together or go home,” Noll smiled. “I was hoping to just shoot something in the 70s and see where that got me. This was a fun experience with a good group of guys, including Greg, who won this last year. “It’s also nice to have this division for players like us, who maybe don’t hit it as far as we used to but can still chip and putt and score pretty well.

“It’s fun and exciting (to win), but it’s just great to be out here and enjoying it.”

2021 FD FORD LINCOLN TOYOTA COUNTY GOLF LEADERBOARD

Men’s Open Division

1. Austin Morrow 72-35–107

2. Eddie Doyle 73-35–108

3. Cole Jaeschke 74-37–111

4. Ryan Reeder 74-38–112

5. Kole Petersen 77-36–113

6. Lucas Peed 78-38–116

(tie) Drew Schaeffer 78-38–116

8. Justin Barber 76-41–117

9. Devin Gallentine 76-42–118

10. Ryan Dahlstrom 83-38–121

(tie) Tanner Ruge 82-39–121

(tie) Ted Hanson 84-37–121

13. George Valdes 83-41–124

(tie) Zach Colin 84-40–124

15. Brady Dixon 84-41–125

16. Adam Urlis 84-41–125

17. Chad Schaeffer 84-44–128

Men’s Senior Division

1. Coi Nguyen 73-40–113

2. Randy Stults 78-35–113

3. Kevin Conrad 76-40–116

4. Ted Camamo 75-43–118

5. Steve Schmidt 78-41–119

6. Steve Huss 80-40–120

7. Ron Cummins 82-39–121

8. Don Sawyer 82-40–122

(tie) Phil Ruth 81-41–122

10. Lance Utley 82-41–123

Women’s Senior Division

1. Kelsey Felch 85

2. Delaney Conrad 89

3. Gina Tran 96

4. Alexis Barber 98

Women’s Senior Division

1. Kathy Fortune 88

2. Peg Christensen 92

Men’s Open Division

First Flight: 1. Aaron Brown 85; Jacob Asche 85; Mitch McCarville 85.

Second Flight: 1. Dan Shepard 89 & Chad Lennon 89; 3. Jason Mercado 91; Taylor Monson 91; Spencer Johnson 91.

Third Flight: 1. Jared Carr 96; Jimmy Rosenberg 96; 3. Cody Ely 103.

Men’s Senior Division

First Flight: 1. Frank Howell 85; Joe Abrams 85; 3. Dean Stuhrenberg 87.

Second Flight: 1. Dave Knupp 93; Steve Hoshaw 93; 3. Roger Colin 94.