Coby Thompson leads at Iowa City Golf Association Men’s City Amateur

SOLON — Coby Thompson just needed to see one go in.

Through six holes of the second round at the Iowa City Golf Association Men’s City Amateur golf tournament, the 35-year-old North Liberty resident had bogeyed one hole and parred the other five. If Thompson was going to maintain the slim tournament lead he earned after Round 1, he needed his longer putts to fall.

And once one found the bottom of the cup, a flurry followed.

“It was certainly not the best start,” Thompson said after firing a 7-under par score of 65 Saturday at Saddleback Ridge Golf Course. “A couple of nervy swings and a couple of three-putts in there. … I hit a nice chip on (hole No.) 7 and made a nice five-footer. Just getting that one to go in just kind of opened the floodgates for me and settled me a little bit. Made some nice putts coming in after that, so I just kept that momentum going.”

The momentum swing was powerful. Over the final 12 holes, Thompson carded six birdies and closed the front nine in style with an eagle on the par-5 No. 9 hole.

“Playing a little downwind today, which obviously helps,” Thompson said. “I kind of ran a 5-iron up there about pin high. I actually thought I missed the putt, probably about a 15, 18-footer. I thought I missed it low and away, but somehow it hung on and caught the low lip a little bit and went in.”

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The performance pushed Thompson’s two-day tournament score to 12-under par, six strokes better than Coralville’s Preston Reynolds.

“Playing a good round yesterday, I knew my name was going to be up there near the lead,” Thompson said. “Just trying to put a good score on the board and give myself a chance tomorrow was certainly my goal today.”

Thompson, 35, was an all-state prep golfer in Illinois before attending Bradley, where he was a first team all-Missouri Valley Conference honoree during the 2010-11 season. After attending medical school at Southern Illinois, Thompson relocated to Iowa City in 2015 to begin an anesthesia residency at the University of Iowa. One year later, he won his first Iowa City Men’s Am.

Thompson still finds time to golf a few times a week and recently became a member of the Cedar Rapids Country Club.

“Right now, the iron game is really solid,” Thompson said. “That has traditionally been my strength. Just a very solid iron player. The putting has been fantastic through the first two rounds. Something I have been working really hard on is the putting and I am starting to see some results this year.”

The Iowa City Men’s City Am is not the only area amateur golf tournament that concludes Sunday. The Cedar Rapids Men's City Am is tied (-4) between Kevin Ault and five-time champion Chris James, while Pat Erb and Jeff Berndt are also tied (-4) in the Cedar Rapids Men’s Senior Am.

The final round of both Cedar Rapids tournaments will be staged at Ellis Park Golf Course, while the Iowa City Men’s City Am will be at Brown Deer Golf Club in Coralville.

It is a golf course Thompson knows well.

“It has kind of been my home course since I moved to Iowa City,” Thompson said. “That is probably the course I am most comfortable with. … I love the people out there, more than anything. The staff out there has been great to me over the years. It will be an interesting final round. A lot of things could happen. It should be a fun day.”