By John RittenhouseA former Luverne resident bested a field of 16 golfers to win the Master’s Tournament at the Hillcrest Country Club in Lincoln, Neb., over the weekend.Mark Iveland, a 1986 Luverne High School graduate who earned a pair of club championships (1990 and 1999 during his playing days at the Luverne Country Club, shot a three-under-par 141 to win the two-day, 36-hole event that was staged Saturday and Sunday.Iveland said the event is similar to the championship flight of the LCC’s Men’s Club Tournament, where the Hillcrest’s best players compete against each other for the same title."The 24 players with the lowest handicaps are invited to play, and the first 16 guys to sign up get to play in the championship," he said. "They all are really good players, so it takes a really good weekend like the one I had to beat them."Iveland opened the tournament by shooting one-under-par 71 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the second day of play.He carded a two-under-par 70 to win the event by two shots on Sunday, but it took a late-round charge to settle the issue."I actually lost the lead on the 12th hole Sunday, but I played the last six holes at four-under-par to win by two. I had two birdies and one eagle during the last six holes," Iveland said.The fate of the tournament wasn’t decided until the final hole.Iveland sported a one-shot lead over a close friend, Neal Roehrs, entering the last hole of the event.Roehrs put some pressure on Iveland when he put his second shot on a 472-yard, par-5 finishing hole within six feet of the cup. Iveland met the challenge by hitting his second shot at the same hole within three feet of the cup.After Roehrs missed his eagle putt before eventually recording a birdie, Iveland converted his eagle putt to win the tournament by two shots.
