2025 Players of the Year

While leaves continue to fall and the Idaho Golf Community laps us the few remaining weeks of golf season, the IGA Championship season is well past closed. And thus, it is time to crown our Players of the Year. 

This year, some familiar faces received the honor, as well as a newcomer to the IGA community and multi-time IGA champion in her final year of amateur competition — all of whom served as models of championship golf in Idaho.   

You can find a full breakdown of point allocations and final Player of the Year standings here.  

Women’s Senior POY: Kris Fenwick 

Fenwick was a model of consistency this year, falling short of just two players across three of the IGA's biggest women's senior events. After a strong showing at the Women's Mid-Amateur, Fenwick finished runner-up at the Match Play in June. In August, she shot the round of the tournament (74) at a difficult Juniper Hills CC to finish second. And to close out the year, Fenwick won her third-consecutive Women's Senior Tournament of Champions title at Meadow Creek Golf Course. 

Men’s Senior POY: Brian Swenson 

Winning this award for a second-consecutive year, Brian Swenson stayed busy in 2025. Between bookend victories at the Idaho Senior Four-Ball and IGA Tournament of Champions, Swenson was competitive in state and regional competition throughout the summer. In IGA competition, Swenson suffered a second-consecutive 2nd place finish at the Idaho Senior Amateur, then made a strong showing at the Idaho Men's Mid-Amateur & Master-40 Championship, finishing 13th and 10th, respectively. After picking his way through to the round of 16 at the PNGA Men's Master-40 Championship, Swenson finished 6th at the PNGA Senior Amateur. He also earned his way through U.S. Senior Open Local Qualifying in Utah. 

Women’s Mid-Amateur POY: Felicia Medalla-Kennedy 

A newcomer to IGA competition, Felicia Medalla-Kennedy made herself known with a runaway performance at the Women's Mid-Amateur Championship this year, winning by five strokes over six-time champion Karen Darrington. Originally from the Philippines, Medalla-Kennedy moved to Idaho with her Idaho-native husband who she met while playing golf in graduate school at University of Nottingham in England. She says the Mid-Amateur division opened her eyes to a new chapter in her golf life — one that took her to the 2024 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship. 
 
“[During Covid] I was stuck in the Philippines... and I just continued playing as much as I could throughout the lockdown. And then I just realized that there was another avenue for me to compete which is the Mid-Am [division]. So that’s given me motivation to just go out there and practice," she said. “It's relatable for a lot of Mid-Ams who come out of college and find the game again — find the love for the game again — and are just out here to have fun and compete and meet a bunch of really cool people.” 

Women’s POY: Carly Carter 

If you've been following the best of girls and women's golf in Idaho for a while, you probably know the name Carly Carter. The owner of three Junior Girls' Amateurs and one Women's Amateur title, Carter nabbed her fifth major IGA title at the Women's Amateur this year, joining an elite list of names with multiple wins in the event. Carter ran away from the field as the only player under par, winning by seven stokes in her final event as an amateur in her home state. After taking one last shot at the U.S. Women's Amateur after her win, Carter turned professional, competing on the Annika Tour throughout the summer. 

Men’s POY, Master-40 POY & Mid-Amateur POY: Nate Smith 

With his awesome performance on a regional and national level this year, Nate Smith has swept all but one Men's Player of the Year races. Smith punched his ticket to another U.S. Amateur this summer by earning medalist honors at Final Qualifying in Salt Lake. And when he arrived at Olympic Club as one of the oldest competitors in the field, he advanced into match play where he won his first match as lost to John Daly II in the round of 32. Smith also represented Idaho at the Pacific Coast Amateur and battled his way to a T-13 finish among some of the best amateurs in the world. And as a cherry on top of a remarkably competitive year, Smith captured the PNGA Master-40 Amateur in dominant form.