Columbus North and Indiana Wesleyan graduate Jake Coffey has owned the men’s city golf tournament, winning three of the past four years.
His chance at winning for the third consecutive year could be derailed by his younger brother, Ian Coffey, who is heading into Sunday’s final round with a one stroke lead. This would be the St. Francis sophomore golfer’s first city tournament title if he edges out his brother in Sunday’s final showdown at Otter Creek.
“I’d really like to get my name on that plaque with all the other really good players who have come through Columbus,” Ian said. “That would mean a lot to me.”
Ian went into the second round tied for third with his brother behind Coleman Glick and Columbus East freshman Kody Reynolds who were tied for first. The Coffey brothers leap-frogged both Glick and Reynolds, but Ian’s 3-under 69 separated himself from Jake, who shot 70.
Reynolds fell back to fourth place, one stroke behind the former North and Tusculum golfer Glick, who is sitting in third, three strokes behind Jake. Ian found a little time away from work during the week break between rounds to get some practice in on Wednesday and a few shots at the golf range on Monday. Jake said he has been trying to do what he can to keep his game in shape, but work has gotten in the way of getting any quality practice time.
“Even though I haven’t been practicing as much as usual,” Jake said. “My game feels really good right now. So I’m pretty happy about that.”
Not much practice is needed for either brother to get comfortable golfing at Otter Creek. Otter Creek is like home for the Coffey brothers and Glick according to Ian. He said all three of them have golfed at Otter Creek about 100 times each. Glick, with Otter Creek also being his domain, can’t be counted out for a come-from-behind win for the city title. Ian isn’t getting too comfortable with his lead. He said he plans to go into today as if all golfers are tied at even par.
“I think I have a pretty good chance of keeping my head in it mentally,” Ian said. “Who can stay in it the longest mentally, that’s who usually wins it. Right now, I’m pretty confident in my game.”
Golfers Eric Grider and Bryce Turner are tied for fifth at 148 but just might be a few strokes out of reach for contending for this year’s championship.
The men still have one more day to rest while the women’s city golf tournament kicks off today at Greenbelt. Autumn Fateley, Corolyn Dailey and Mary Sturgill are the three competing golfers for the women’s tournament. It starts at 1:00 p.m. with the final round scheduled to begin tomorrow.
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Women’s city tournament
When: Today (1 p.m. tee time)
Where: Greenbelt
Golfers: Autumn Fateley, Corolyn Dailey, Mary Sturgill
Men’s city tournament final round
When: Sunday (tee times listed below)
Where: Otter Creek
Second Flight
8:03 a.m: Justin Kendrick, Tony Carr and Andrew Krueger
8:12 a.m: Kevin Stockdell, Ron Hadley and Reese Moore
8:21 a.m: Darell Kendrick, Steve Chinn andWalker Thomas
8:30 a.m: Luther Simpson, Craig Carter and Bill Hanson
First Flight
8:39 a.m: Randy Proffitt and Derek Wright
8:48 a.m: Nathan VanDeventer and Dylan Wright
8:57 a.m: Mike Stanley, Randy Rudzinski and Darrin Ferry
9:06 a.m: Man Sung, Evan Umphress and Luke VanDeventer
9:15 a.m: Scott Ousley, Ryan Kistler and Bob Haddad
Championship Flight
9:24 a.m: Will Mayhew, Wiley Umphress and Ben Harpring
9:33 a.m: Zach Sanders, Jeremy Newland and Alex Bays
9:42 a.m: Jim Turner, Austin Proffitt and David Lacey
9:51 a.m: Tom LaBarbera, Ross Pushor and Darren Hinton
10:00 a.m: Bryce Turner, Eric Grider and Kody Reynolds
10:09 a.m: Coleman Glick, Jake Coffey and Ian Coffey
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