Written By: Shane René
Scott Masingill acknowledges the crowd after tapping in the winning putt. | Shane René
Falcon Crest Golf Club spills down and around one of few highpoints in the long, flat stretch of land running south of Boise toward Kuna, exposing itself to the winds known well to residents of the south Treasure Valley. Players in the 2023 Tournament of Champions battled a heavy dose of those winds last week, watching golden leaves and golf balls blown from their intended lines.
It’s no surprise that some of the IGA’s most consistent and proven competitors — including Scott Masingill, Fran Matthias, Kris Fenwick, Shawna Ianson, Courtney Walters, and Nate Smith — walked away with hardware.
Senior Divisions:
Kris Fenwick. | Shane René
The festivities kicked off Wednesday for the Senior and Super-Senior divisions, as club and state champions alike took to the first tee on a brisk and cloudy morning. Karen Darrington and Scott Masingill headlined the list of favorites and found themselves pinned comfortably near the top of the leaderboard before the start of the final round.
Karen Darrington and her husband, Phil. | Shane René
Masingill, the 2023 Senior Amateur champion, opened with a three-under round of 69 for a two-stroke advantage over Whitetail’s Bob Wheeler, the only other player to drag their round under par on Wednesday. With a bogey on the benign first hole, Masingill returned to his usually mistake-free form, coasting into Falcon Crest’s famously brawny final hole. Poking driver down the middle, Masingill turned his eyes away from water, laying up into the thin stretch of refuge on the left-hand side. With a wedge and a two putt, Masingill finished with 74 — 16 pars and bookend bogeys — to win his second-consecutive Senior TOC title.
On the women’s side, Stacey Camara found herself two-strokes clear of the revered Karen Darrington at the close of play on Wednesday. In her last competitive round before embarking on an 18-month mission to Tonga, Darrington came out of the gates with a tropical heat. A bogey-free 33 on the front nine vaulted her into the lead, before she cooled off in the pond guarding the 10th green. She earned a shot back with a birdie on the par-five 11th, but leaked oil down the rest of the back nine.
In Darrington’s wake, Kris Fenwick put her head down, playing her final eight holes in even par, finishing one shot clear of Darrington. Fenwicks win is her third consecutive victory at the Senior Women’s TOC, but she notched a rare victory over Darrington, a long-time friend and competitor.
“Karen has made me a better golfer over the years,” Fenwick said. “Today I feel like I graduated.”
Following the round, Karen Darrington was given an award for her eight years of service on the IGA Board of Directors, and continued excellence as model amateur player in the state of Idaho.
Super-Senior Divisions:
While the men in the IGA’s super-senior divisions are winning the war against Father Time, they keep losing battles to Fran Matthias. But through just a few holes on Thursday morning, the tables seemed to be turning in their favor.
Matthias rolled out to a two-stroke lead on Wednesday, but two double bogeys in the early goings of his final round had him tumbling down the leader board. After a front-nine 42, another double bogey at the par-5 11th had Matthias’ chances evaporating like the autumn foliage. Then he found his first birdie of the day one hole later, collecting two more on the gettable 15th and 16th, before navigating the 18th for a bogey that would cement his second consecutive Super-Senior TOC title by one stroke. Last year, he won by 11.
If you’ve spent time around IGA Championship events before, odds are you’ve seen the name “Ianson” floating around on a leaderboard. This year, former Senior TOC Champion Shawna Ianson found her way back into the TOC winners circle with a four-stroke win in the Women’s Super-Senior division. On a golf course that was playing long without the wind, Shawna took hold of the lead with an opening round of 90, shaving one shot in the final round to be one of just two players in her division to break 90.
Men’s and Women’s Division:
Courtney Walters
In a dazzling five-birdie display in the first round of the regular TOC event, Boise Ranch club champion Emily Callahan found herself with a two-stroke lead after round one. Out of the River Club, Courtney Walters played her final 13 holes in two-under to salvage an even-par 72.
Callahan leaked oil early in the final round, managing just three pars for a score of 41 on the front nine. Walters, meanwhile, opened with birdie on the first to go along with 7 pars, opening a lead that would continue to grow as the front runners made their way to the final hole. Like many of this week’s champions, a cozy, closing bogey was more than enough to nail the coffin shut, walking home with a nine-stroke victory.
Nate Smith
On the men’s side, Tetonia resident and former PGA Tour professional Nate Smith overcame a two-shot deficit in the first round to finish four shots clear of the field for his first win since regaining his amateur status.
On Saturday, 2023 Idaho State Mid-Amateur champion Jesse Hibler rolled home with a birdie-eagle-par finish to shoot 69. Smith stumbled on the 18th hole to finish with 71. But the professional still lives within the Duke University graduate, who opened the final round with back-to-back birdies, jumping him into the lead after a double bogey from Hibler on the tight, par-four 3rd. The battle continued through the middle of the round as Hibler made back-to-back birdies on the 9th and 10th, a two-stroke swing that would send Hibler back into the lead.
Smith absorbed another bogey on the 12th, but Hibler was having bigger problems of his own, making double bogey on the 13th and 15th, a stretch that Smith played in one-under. With another birdie on the 16th, Smith arrived on the 18th tee with a four-shot lead over Issac Emerson, who made a valiant charge with a final round 70.
“Winning is hard, and it’s been a long time since I’ve won a tournament,” Smith said.