He didn’t hit every fairway or every green in regulation. Half of his tee shots resulted in one-armed follow throughs. He couldn’t make a putt on the front nine.

It didn’t matter — Tate Carlson once again stepped up his game on the back nine, shooting a final-round 68 at the American Legion Memorial Golf Course and clinching back-to-back titles at the Times-Republican City Golf Tournament, winning the 34th annual edition of the event by four shots.

Carlson’s round continued his pattern set in the first round of a slow start with a flurry at the finish. His calm demeanor throughout the round carried into his post-round interview, where he emphasized how fun the weekend had been.

“It feels good, I just came out and had fun and everything kind of worked out,” Carlson said. “I always come back home and really enjoy playing in this tournament.”

Carlson parred the first two holes of his round before bogeying hole three. He bounced right back with a birdie on the fourth and, after a bogey on hole six, parred out for 1-over-par 36 on the front nine. It gave him a slim cushion over Grant Greazel and a four-shot lead over Chad Plaehn, the Legion’s course superintendent.

The lead dropped as low as one shot, but Greazel was never ahead of Carlson.

On the back nine, putts began to drop for the defending champ. Birdies on 12, 14, 17 and 18 offset a bogey on hole 11 to give Carlson a back-nine 32. His round was capped by a near-ace on the final hole, which left him a tap-in to seal the deal. He is the first back-to-back winner of the City Open since Matt Steddom won four in a row from 2004 to 2007.

Greazel cut a frustrated figure on the back nine as the round began to get away from late, dropping as low as one-over par and four shots back. An eagle on hole 15 got him back in the game, but he was unable to continue any late charge and finished in third place with 68-73–141.

Plaehn’s front nine was stop-start, much like the rest of the final group.

He said it was difficult to grab momentum when there wasn’t anyone in the group really playing well early on.

“I think we were all just waiting for that one putt to fall and see one go in,” Plaehn said. “I think it helps you grind when you’ve got to catch the guy in front of you, and we were all just stagnant, couldn’t go anywhere.”

A long birdie putt on hole nine jump-started his round, though, and with three birdies on the back he pushed himself into contention. A long birdie at 18 put him in red figures for the tournament at 71-68–139 and alone in second place. Plaehn said he was pleased with his performance despite Carlson being one step ahead.

Carlson was a surprise winner in 2020, riding a first-round 64 and outlasting prior winners like Cole Davis and Sam Zoske. In 2021, with a title already under his belt, he once again was the class of the field — but this time it was no surprise.

• In the Super Senior division, Tim Bell won the title on a cardback with 78-81–159. It was Bell’s first title in any division at the City Open.

• Amber Henson had a record-breaking weekend at Elmwood and the Legion, setting four records on the way to a fourth-consecutive win in the Ladies division. Her scores of 75 at Elmwood and 73 at American Legion set the women’s record at both courses, as did the overall score of 148. Henson also set the records for total victories (four) and consecutive victories in the event (four), breaking records set by Terri Craft from 2001 to 2003.

In an extra twist, Henson played both rounds with and against her 14-year-old sister Natalie, who made her debut and finished second with 81-82–163.

Henson described the new experience of competing with family at a tournament level.

“[Natalie] does really push me, she brings out a lot of emotions in me,” Henson said. “I really don’t like to lose with her. We’re a really competitive household, and so she does push me and I think that’s part of why I shot a better score than I have in the past.”

Both Hensons will be a part of the Marshalltown High School girls’ golf team next spring.

34th Annual Times-Republican City Golf Tournament

Ladies Division

Amber Henson-75-73-148

Natalie Henson-81-82-163

Leah Stahlin-87-91-178

Norah Wilson-89-82-181

Super Senior Division

Championship Flight

Tim Bell-78-81-159

Dennis Olson-83-77-160

Denny Gould-81-81-162

Tom Fleming-78-87-165

David Mitchell-79-86-165

Mike Ward-83-84-167

Arch Allison-81-87-168

Tom Apgar-83-85-168

Steve Dunham-102-88-190

First Flight

John Detrich-85-80-165

Mike Anderson-84-84-168

Jon McKeever-85-83-168

Jim Carlson-85-84-169

Ken Severson-87-85-172

Steve Knickerbocker-86-87-173

Steve Dunham-102-88-190

Jim Kelehan-112-118-230

Open Division

Championship Flight

Tate Carlson-67-68-135

Chad Plaehn-71-68-139

Grant Greazel-68-71-141

Jarred Carlson-73-72-145

Cole Davis-74-72-146

JD Pollard-75-74-149

Taylor Wilson-72-80-152

Sam Weatherman-75-77-152

Paul Collins-76-79-155

Colin Schmit-75-81-156

Todd Weaver-78-78-156

Brandon Dutton-81-76-157

Tom Weis-75-83-158

Clint Schneider-77-81-158

Brayden Fahrni-81-78-159

Drake Polley-78-81-159

Darin Shipley-81-82-163

First Flight

Aaron Fleming-83-75-158

Chad Weir-83-75-158

Ryan Schmit-82-81-163

Pat Hala-87-77-164

Zach Underhill-84-80-164

Jeff Tice-87-80-167

Curt Hoff-84-83-167

Mark Wolken-82-86-168

Bernie Johnston-87-80-167

Jim Hunt-85-83-168

David Eichhorn-84-85-169

Andy Chau-87-83-170

Dex Walker-84-87-171

Ben Snyder-87-85-172

Jon Vance-83-91-174

Second Flight

Kent Carson-88-79-167

Kirt Daniels-90-77-167

Owen Chaloupek-88-82-170

Trent Upah-88-83-171

John Haney-88-84-172

Ron Davis-89-84-173

Donny Weeks-89-84-173

Dave Benz-90-85-175

Chuck Misek-90-87-177

Zach Stahlin-88-93-181

Justin Sorensen-88-93-181

Dao Sorlaesith-90-92-182

Norm Bach-90-96-186

Third Flight

Mike Younkin-92-77-169

Bret Ferneau-91-79-170

Darren Bare-92-78-170

Then Baccam-93-79-172

Tyler Faltys-92-80-172

Kenneth Logsdon-91-81-172

Matt Yates-91-83-174

Luke Sponsler-92-82-174

Alec Gansemer-91-88-179

Kim Ruddick-91-91-182

Rob Weatherly-92-90-182

Aaron Cooper-91-92-183

Trent Potter-93-93-186

Theron Schutte-93-102-195

Fourth Flight

Joel Chandler-95-74-169

Brian Ferneau-96-80-176

Austin Ruddick-96-81-177

Steve Ruddick-95-82-177

Cael Sandvick-95-84-179

Bryan Herschberger-95-84-179

Seth Heinrichs-94-88-182

Jacob Theissen-94-89-183

Andy Chate-95-89-184

Shawn Morris-96-88-184

Hunter Polley-94-93-187

Eli Polley-96-92-188

David Engel-97-91-188

Chris Blanchard-95-95-190

Blake McIlef-97-95-192

Todd Bolar-97-WD

Fifth Flight

Will Shipley-99-84-183

Kreighton Miller-102-83-185

Zack Johnson-100-87-187

Brecken Payne-99-90-189

Jake Sponsler-98-92-190

Andrew Neuroth-98-93-191

Ray Halverson-98-95-193

Steve Dunham-102-88-190

Grant Brintnall-99-95-194

Matt Hannam-99-96-195

Matt Wagner-104-97-201

Alonzo Ceren-102-103-205

John Casey-106-99-205

James Hogan-115-107-222

Sean Raymond-120-105-225

Jim Bowie-98-WD

Brian Wilkie-103-WD

Brad Kadner-106-WD