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Greazel gets it again

Grant Greazel wins his second T-R City Golf Championship

By Ross Thede 9 min read

Farthest from the pin once everyone in his foursome had reached the 18th green, Grant Greazel quickly two-putted and got out of the way.

It's not like him to celebrate a bogey, even if it signified the finishing touches on his second Times-Republican City Golf Championship.

Greazel shot a finishing 1-under-par 69 at the American Legion Memorial Golf Course on Sunday to total a 4-under 136 for the weekend, winning his second T-R City Open crown by a cozy four strokes over former Marshalltown High School teammate JD Pollard.

Greazel said he left the window open a time or two during Sunday's final round, but Pollard couldn't seize the opportunities and settled for second place -- his highest finish in eight tries.

Greazel, who won the 2023 City title in a playoff over Tate Carlson, said this will be his second and final City Open as he begins his pursuit of a professional golf career.

"I came in not necessarily expecting to win it, but obviously I was kind of expecting to win with how my game is," Greazel said. "It was satisfying to actually go out and do it, although it was a little sloppy here and there. I hit a lot of good shots this weekend, so it was fun."

Greazel became the ninth multi-time winner in the 39th annual T-R City tournaments, bookending back-to-back victories by another former Bobcat teammate -- three-time champion Cole Davis. Davis and Greazel have combined for the last five championships and six overall, but Davis settled for his worst finish (11th) in 10 entries.

Greazel, who recently graduated from Ottawa University Arizona, earned his fifth top-2 result, buoyed by a hot start.

"I think birdieing holes 1 and 2 just helped settle everything down and also just not give anybody I was playing with any weird ideas that they can make a run at me," he said. "I think the key to today was a hot start and then after that I just kind of coasted form there. Nothing dumb, just kept the ball in front of me, made a couple sloppy bogeys, but that's how golf goes."

Pollard played safely enough to cling to second place at 140 with Sunday's 1-under 69 that included 15 pars, but his lack of competitive play caught up to him on this day and prevented the former Kirkwood Community College and University of Northern Iowa golfer from catching up to Greazel.

Pollard even drove the green on the par-4 14th hole, but both he and Greazel took par, and Greazel's birdie on the par-5 15th made Pollard's par feel like a quad-bogey.

"I made par (on 14) and my sails just dropped," Pollard said. "There was no momentum left. I don't think I really did anything that was really, really good, but I played and I had a fun time with Grant and everybody.

"Grant was just playing too good to catch him out here."

Everybody in the final foursome of the 17-man championship flight included Greazel's younger brother Joe, an MHS junior-to-be, who finished in seventh place at 144, and John Danielson, who placed fifth at 143.

Danielson was in the first group off the tee box for Saturday's round at Elmwood Country Club and carded a 1-under 69 that stood up for second place after the opening day behind Greazel's 67. Danielson, a 2005 MHS graduate and former collegiate golfer at Southern Illinois and Indian Hills Community College, was in the championship flight for the seventh time in his career and first since 2014. This marked his sixth top-6 finish.

The low round of the day belonged to Kelly Brown, another former collegiate golfer who tried to make a run out of the next-to-last group to tee off. Brown shot 3-under on Sunday to finish in with a 74-67--141 that earned third place for the former University of Nebraska Omaha collegian.

Danielson and recent West Marshall High School graduate Hunter Polley both finished at 143 for the weekend, with Polley taking fourth on criteria. Polley, the 2025 Class 2A individual state champion and future University of Dubuque golfer, shot 75-68.

Derek Kriegel took the tiebreaker over Joe Greazel for sixth place after both shot 144, while Taylor Wilson made his sixth championship flight and finished in eighth at 147. Donny Eicher carded his best finish since 2017 in placing ninth (148), and Aaron Fleming took 10th (151) while competing in his fifth-straight championship flight.

Davis, a four-time titlist, took 11th ahead of Senior Division champion Troy Underhill after both shot 151. David Eichhorn and Joe Myers both made their third-straight championship flight and shot 155, followed by Todd Weaver (156), Brandon Dutton (158) and Jeff Miller (161).

Dutton was third a year ago and Myers was fourth, while Miller (2020) and Weaver (2021) made the championship flight for the first time in a few years.

"It's always humbling, coming and playing with everybody because everybody's good," Pollard said. "Marshalltown is maybe one of the best towns in the state for golf. Almost everyone in the championship flight played college golf or something like that, so it's not like somebody's gonna go out and shoot 90.

"You just have to have your game when you come and play here. It's a legit tournament."

Super Senior Division

Pat Ryan outpaced bosom buddy Pete Kelly for the Super Senior Division championship, shooting 72-72--144 to claim his first independent divisional title in the City Open. Kelly shot 76-73--149 in what quickly became a two-man race for the 65-and-up crowd.

Ryan won the Senior title twice (2006, 2009), finishing as Open Division runner-up both times, but continued his run after recovering from injury and surgery. Ryan was named the Iowa Golf Association's Super Senior Player of the Year both in 2021 and 2022.

"No penalty shots, I kept the ball in play, and it was a good day," said Ryan. "There's always a good crowd and so it's fun to play (in the City)."

Ryan said he golfs nearly every day with Kelly, who has claimed two Senior crowns as well as four Super Senior titles.

Ladies Division

Marshalltown High School junior-to-be Morgan Hilderbrand had the upper hand from the jump and hoisted her first Ladies Division trophy on Sunday after shooting 79-81--160 to win by 15 strokes.

Playing in the event for just the second time, Hilderbrand had a 15-shot advantage after Saturday's opening round at Elmwood and made it stand up by staying out of trouble on Sunday.

The event featured only four women's golfers, but Hilderbrand -- last year's runner-up -- was out to achieve the victory she sought last summer.

"It means a lot," she said. "I didn't know if I was gonna be able to win it this year since I came up short last year, but it was fun playing with all the other ladies and showing that I can play."

Hilderbrand had four birdies during her opening 79 at Elmwood and followed with two more on Sunday at the Legion.

With such a lead, she didn't need to score any more to secure the win.

"I played with all three of them last year, but I feel like I've grown a lot in my game and I came back from shooting like a 96, 94 last to a 79 at Elmwood yesterday," Hilderbrand said. "That was my personal best there. Elmwood's a really hard course and a lot can go wrong, but yesterday it went well for me."

Riley Myers maintained second place from Saturday through Sunday after shooting 94-81--175, Leah Stahlin was third at 95-84--179, and Margaret Fehrle finished in fourth at 98-95--193.

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39TH ANNUAL T-R CITY GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

Saturday at Elmwood Country Club

Sunday at American Legion Memorial Golf Course

OPEN DIVISION

CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT

1. Grant Greazel -4 67-69--136

2. JD Pollard E 71-69--140

3. Kelly Brown +1 74-67--141

4. Hunter Polley +3 75-68--143

5. John Danielson +3 69-74--143

6. Derek Kriegel +4 74-70--144

7. Joe Greazel +4 72-72--144

8. Taylor Wilson +7 75-72--147

9. Donny Eicher +8 74-74--148

10. Aaron Fleming +10 79-71--150

11. Cole Davis +11 78-73--151

12. Troy Underhill +11 77-74--151

13. Dave Eichhorn +15 79-76--155

14. Joe Myers +15 77-78--155

15. Todd Weaver +16 78-78--156

16. Brandon Dutton +18 79-79--158

17. Jeff Miller +21 78-83--161

FIRST FLIGHT

1. Paul Collins +14 80-74--154

2. Bob Higgins +17 90-67--157

3. Rylan Weaver +19 82-77--159

4. Owen Chaloupek +21 85-76--161

5. Tyler Peschong +21 81-80--161

6. Chad Moler +23 85-78--163

7. John Grier +23 83-80--163

8. Jeff Schneider +28 85-83--168

9. Brynjar Brynjarsson +29 90-79--169

10. John Haney +29 85-84--169

11. Joel Botello +30 89-81--170

12. Brian Kadner +30 88-82--170

13. Steve Ruddick +32 87-85--172

14. Tyler Stahlin +32 84-88--172

15. Todd Bolar +35 90-85--175

16. Chris Blanchard +35 88-87--175

17. Ryan Bennett +36 88-88--176

SECOND FLIGHT

1. Zach Underhill +28 94-74--168

2. Brian Ferneau +28 93-75--168

3. Riley Wirth +33 95-78--173

4. Shawn Morris +33 94-79--173

5. Mike Younkin +33 91-82--173

6. Jeff Tice +35 93-82--175

7. Logan Krough +38 94-84--178

8. Austin Ruddick +38 93-85--178

9. Will Shipley +39 92-87--179

10. Kent Carson +39 92-87--179

11. Dave Benz +41 93-88--181

12. Tom Wahl +42 93-89--182

13. Bret Ferneau +42 92-90--182

14. Ray Halverson +44 93-91--184

15. Josh Capalla +45 95-90--185

16. Dylan Longley +47 94-93--187

17. Jacob Chapman +49 92-97--189

THIRD FLIGHT

1. Adam Boone +36 100-76--176

2. Mel Koch +37 99-78--177

3. Darin Shipley +37 98-79--177

4. Jeff Turner +40 97-83--180

5. Joel Chandler +41 100-81--181

6. Arch Allison +41 97-84--181

7. Donny Weeks +42 96-86--182

8. Eric Wilson +44 100-84--184

9. Doug Wirth +44 96-88--184

10. Kenneth Logsdon +47 99-88--187

11. Jarius Bear +47 97-90--187

12. Ron Davis +49 103-86--189

13. Mike Peschong +49 101-88--189

14. Nick Buhr +53 98-95--193

15. Brad Kadner +54 100-94--194

16. Blake Micllef +58 100-98--198

FOURTH FLIGHT

1. Joe Gummert +51 107-84--191

2. Chris McWherter +52 107-85--192

3. Nick Vesely +53 105-88--193

4. Joe Stonner +53 104-89--193

5. David Gersema +53 104-89--193

6. Joe Hannam +57 105-92--197

7. Levi Roseland +63 108-95--203

8. Rob VanHorn +63 107-96--203

9. Matt Goshon +70 109-101--210

10. Justin Smith +79 105-114--219

Lee Vancleave WD

Kishan Gordan WD

FIFTH FLIGHT

1. Cory Logsdon +73 115-98--213

2. Steven Alvarez +74 110-104--214

3. Bryon Betts +84 118-106--224

4. Frankie Alverez +87 116-111--227

5. Arestio Hernandez +89 115-114--229

6. Travis Hinkle +94 124-110--234

7. James Hogan +95 135-100--235

8. Jeremy Lavender +103 124-119--243

9. Angel Sanchez +103 121-122--243

10. Rob McClure +104 123-121--244

11. Frank Alverez +117 132-125--257

SUPER SENIOR

1. Pat Ryan +3 72-72--144

2. Pete Kelly +8 76-73--149

3. Thomas Fleming +25 86-80--166

4. Mike Ward +26 86-81--167

5. Tim Bell +29 84-86--170

6. Jim Carlson +39 96-84--180

7. Merlyn Applegate +42 98-85--183

8. John Detrich +42 96-87--183

9. Denny Gould +44 96-89--185

10. Gary Bolar +56 104-93--197

LADIES DIVISION

1. Morgan Hilderbrand +19 79-81--160

2. Riley Myers +34 94-81--175

3. Leah Stahlin +38 95-84--179

4. Margaret Fehrle +52 98-95--193

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