Cole Davis called it a full-circle moment, thinking back to a time when he first started attending the Times-Republican City Golf Tournament alongside his late father, Trent.

He remembered a picture in the paper so many years ago showing Sam Zoske reacting to a missed putt on the 11th green at Elmwood Country Club and his father echoing the sentiment by throwing his arms in the air.

There, holding a can of Mountain Dew, was Cole — calm as can be.

He’s still that chill on the golf course.

Davis bogeyed two of the final four holes with the pressure of being pursued no longer propeling his game, shooting an even-par 70 on Sunday at Elmwood to win the 38th annual T-R City Open by a comfortable seven-stroke margin.

Davis successfully defended his title from a year ago and ran his total City championships to four, matching Zoske’s mark for second-most in tournament history. Matt Steddom’s 10 titles stands alone atop the charts.

Davis, who shot 68-70–138, said he might have to go for one more.

“Now that I’ve tied Zoske, he doesn’t have anything over me,” Davis said after Sunday’s final round. “That’s huge. It’s an honor. I love this tournament, I love this town.

“I used to carry [Zoske’s] bag, which is pretty funny.”

Davis used to watch the championship flight alongside his father, and by the time Cole reached middle school, he was carrying Zoske’s bag during the City Open. Now he’s won the title just as many times as the guy he used to caddie for.

“It’s come full circle so it’s pretty cool.”

Davis has two tournament records still in tow. In 2022, he set the scoring record with a 10-under total of 130, and in 2018 he became the youngest champion in the event’s history (16).

He successfully protected the latter, warding off a pair of young contenders this weekend. Two sophomores-to-be joined Davis in the final foursome, but neither Rylan Weaver nor Joe Greazel could catch him.

Weaver was the closest, shooting the second-best round of the day to finish with a 69-76–145 in second place. The East Marshall sophomore-to-be was within a stroke of Davis after Saturday’s opening round at the American Legion Memorial Golf Course, but Davis wasn’t about to let one of his records fall.

Brandon Dutton defended his Senior Division title with a 70-78–148 that included four double bogeys, finishing in third place, and Joe Myers jumped up from the next-to-last foursome to finish in fourth with a 72-79–151.

Greazel, a Marshalltown High School sophomore-to-be, leveled out after a rough start to Sunday’s round but couldn’t close the gap and tied for fifth place alongside Taylor Wilson. Both shot 153, marking the best finish yet for each of them.

Aaron Fleming finished in seventh (156) a year after coming in fourth. Kelly Cooper (157) put up a 79 on Sunday, which was the fifth-best score of the day.

But the day belonged to Davis, who never lost the lead and maintained a three-stroke advantage at the turn. The gap slowly grew as Weaver lost his groove and Davis did just enough to keep his, helped along by a hard-working birdie on the par-5 13th hole.

Davis hit his initial tee shot so far right that he elected to play a provisional, just in case his wayward shot found Westwood Drive. His first drive stayed in bounds, however, and he managed to loft his second shot high enough to climb over the towering oak trees while rolling it up just shy of the creek protecting the front of the green.

Weaver, who striped his drive, hit his second shot pin high but just left of the green. Davis threw his pitch to within seven feet and sank his birdie putt, while the rest of his group settled for pars.

That gave Davis a six-stroke lead with five holes to play, and not even a bogey on the par-4 15th rattled his demeanor down the stretch.

“I would say I knew around 15, which actually was kind of strange because, you know, Apgar’s crowd up there,” Davis said. “Actually that was like the calmest I felt all day was when I got to 15. I led by six at that point and I figured it’s pretty hard to mess it up from there.”

An uncharacteristically poor tee shot by Weaver on the par-3 16th hole made it more than official that Davis was going to be crowned the champion.

“Oh, going in, I knew that probably nobody was going to catch him, especially over here (at Elmwood),” said Dutton, who posted his best finish yet in the City Open. “He’s such a solid player.”

Dutton carded 26 pars over 36 holes for the weekend and moved up from last year’s seventh-place result.

“It was fun, I loved being in that final group,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to be there. And the young guys are so good.”

Super Senior showdown

Rob Christensen won on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff, defeating Pat Ryan, to win the Super Senior Division. Christensen and Ryan tied at 5-over-par for the tournament before settling the score head-to-head.

Christensen shot 73-73–146 while Ryan shot 76-70–146 to account for the top two spots, and Pete Kelly came in third at 78-70–148. Mike Ward (156) and Mike Anderson (161) rounded out the top five.

Christensen, who won the Open Division three years in a row from 1992-1994, also claimed his third Super Senior title. He was the Senior Division winner in 2019 and 2020 as well.

Pregnant and playing well

Leiah Paustian successfully defended her Women’s Division title despite playing while nine months pregnant. Paustian, whose daughter is due to arrive on Tuesday, shot three strokes better than a year ago to become yet another back-to-back women’s champion.

“I knew I wanted to play if I could, and it turned out I was still feeling good,” said Paustian. “I’m a little slower to my ball, but besides that, nothing’s changed.”

The Women’s Division, which has has been contested 22 times since 2000, has had eight women win at least back-to-back titles: Terri Craft (2001-03), Whitney Schraeder (2004-05), Amanda Vogt (2006-07), Emily Allison (2008-09), Kim Tarbell (2010-11), Amber Henson (2018-21), Natalie Henson (2022-23) and now Paustian (2024-25).

Paustian edged out MHS sophomore-to-be Morgan Hilderbrand for this year’s title, shooting 88-89–177 to win by one stroke. Hilderbrand shot 82-96–178 to finish second in her City Open debut.

Margaret Fehrle and Leah Stahlin shared third place at 181, and Riley Myers came in fifth at 199.

38th Annual Times-Republican City Golf Tournament presented by Scooter’s Coffee

OPEN DIVISION

Championship Flight

1. Cole Davis -2 68-70–138

2. Rylan Weaver +5 69-76–145

3. Brandon Dutton +8 70-78–148

4. Joe Myers +11 72-79–151

T5. Taylor Wilson +13 76-77–153

T5. Joe Greazel +13 71-82–153

7. Aaron Fleming +16 74-82–156

8. Kelly Cooper +17 78-79–157

9. Chad Moler +20 77-83–160

10. Troy Underhill +22 76-86–162

T11. Tyler Slagle +26 77-89–166

T11. Todd Bolar +26 76-90–166

T11. Paul Collins +26 75-91–166

14. Kent Carson +30 77-NS–77

15. David Eichorn Jr. +32 76-96–172

First Flight

1. Todd Weaver +20 79-81–160

2. Gavin Misek +21 79-82–161

3. Darin Shipley +22 79-83–162

T4. Joel Botello +23 82-81–163

T4. Then Baccam +23 81-82–163

6. Jacob Thiessen +25 79-86–165

T7. Will Shipley +26 81-85–166

T7. Dan Buffington +26 82-NS–82

9. Lom Cavan +27 81-86–167

10. John Haney +28 79-89–168

11. Mel Koch +29 80-89–169

12. Donny Weeks +35 81-94–175

T13. Owen Chaloupek +36 82-94–176

T13. Zach Underhill +36 79-97–176

15. Joel Chandler +37 81-96–177

16. Matthew Weise +40 82-98–180

Second Flight

1. Wyatt Stalzer +23 83-80–163

2. Mark Wolken +24 84-80–164

3. Mike Younkin +26 83-83–166

T4. Devon Driscoll +28 83-85–168

T4. Carter Giannetto +28 83-85–168

T6. Jeff Schneider +31 84-87–171

T6. John Grier +31 83-88–171

T6. Ryan Bennett +31 83-88–171

9. Jeff Welch +34 83-91–174

T10. Mike Peschong +35 85-90–175

T10. Curt Hoff +35 84-91–175

T12. Brad Kadner +38 85-93–178

T12. Bret Ferneau +38 84-94–178

14. Kenneth Logsdon +43 84-99–183

15. Joe Hannam +51 85-106–191

Third Flight

1. Trent Upah +33 86-87–173

T2. Jerry Summers +36 89-87–176

T2. Jim Bowie +36 89-87–176

4. Brian Ferneau +37 88-89–177

5. Jeff Tice +40 87-93–180

T6. Steve Ruddick +42 87-95–182

T6. Austin Ruddick +42 86-96–182

8. Ray Halverson +44 87-97–184

9. Chris Blanchard +45 88-97–185

10. Jose Tejeda +46 88-98–186

T11. Joe Gummert +49 88-101–189

T11. Korben McKibben +49 88-101–189

T13. Shawn Morris +50 89-101–190

T13. Brian Kadner +50 87-103–190

Fourth Flight

1. Dao Sorlaesith +38 91-87–178

T2. Antonio Botello +39 92-87–179

T2. Trae Misek +39 90-89–179

T4. Tom Wahl +45 98-87–185

T4. Dave Benz +45 91-94–185

T6. Eric Wilson +50 94-96–190

T6. Rob VanHorn +50 93-97–190

8. Logan Krough +51 90-101–191

9. Eden Hernandez +55 92-103–195

10. David Gersema +56 96-100–196

T11. Marcos Nunez +58 94-104–198

T11. Blake Micllef +58 90-108–198

13. Tayven Dutton +60 96-104–200

14. Nick Buhr +65 97-108–205

15. Ivan Hernandez +76 97-119–216

John Caster DNF

Chris McWherter DNF

Fifth Flight

1. Nick Vesely +59 100-99–199

2. Tyler Stahlin +60 101-99–200

3. Jose Alcazar +70 103-107–210

4. Chris Bennett +71 107-104–211

5. Kishan Gordham +75 105-110–215

6. Steven Alvarez +78 108-110–218

7. Sean Raymond +79 107-112–219

8. Aristeo Hernandez +80 115-105–220

9. Bryan Betts +88 113-115–228

10. Mike Garret +95 123-112–235

Dylan Frye DNF

SUPER SENIOR DIVISION

T1. Pat Ryan +5 76-70–146

T1. Rob Christensen +5 73-73–146

3. Pete Kelly +7 78-70–148

4. Mike Ward +15 80-76–156

5. Mike Anderson +20 79-82–161

6. Thomas Fleming +31 85-NS–85

7. Dan Propst +33 80-94–174

8. Jim Carlson +34 84-NS–84

9. Jon Bru +36 84-NS–84

10. Scott Riemenschneider +37 84-94–178

WOMEN’S DIVISION

1. Leiah Paustian +36 88-89–177

2. Morgan Hilderbrand +37 82-96–178

T3. Margaret Fehrle +40 84-97–181

T3. Leah Stahlin +40 88-93–181

5. Riley Myers +58 89-110–199