Ham, Eggs & Baskets of Birdies: The 2025 Four-Ball

Left to Right: Noah Larsen & Colton Sisk (Men’s Champs); Caroline Caven & Tora Timinsky (Women’s Champs); Dean Park & Brian Swenson (Sr. Men’s Champs)

Sage Lakes Golf Course — one of three tracks in Idaho Falls’ rich municipal golf scene — doubled as a diner this week for the 2025 class of Four-Ball Champions, offering up a menu of ham, eggs, and a signature basket of birdies.  Two teams of Northwest Nazarene University players ran away and hid from the men’s and women’s divisions, channeling a rare comfort with team golf. And budding senior world-beater Brian Swenson collected a second-consecutive Four-Ball title alongside Dean Park, who birdied the last to finish one shot clear. 

Men’s Division  

Noah Larson and Colton Sisk arrived on the first tee Friday morning in the wake of the only college golf season they will play together. Sisk, an outgoing senior on his way to dental school, made the trip across the Snake River plain for one last itch at competitive golf before he sets his mind to textbooks. Larson, a rising sophomore, tagged along with someone he credits with sanding down the rough edges of life as college freshman.  

“I came in as a freshman to NNU and [Sisk] was a senior, and he kind of took me under his wing,” Larson said. “We’ve become really close together and it really showed out this week — I’m just so happy I got to do it with him.”   

A birdie-birdie start on Friday was quickly derailed by a team bogey on the 4th before the duo broke out the griddle and fired up the ham and eggs. The five birdies each player made across their final 14 holes only overlapped twice — and was highlighted by a near hole out eagle from Larson on the demanding par-5 16th.  

“I really like the layout here,” Sisk said. “It’s got some deep par-5s — they are really good par-5s.” 

Standing five-shots clear to start the final round, breakfast was late to the table. Playing their first six holes in three-under par, Larson and Sisk matched scores on each and every hole. But the early absence of ham and eggs, mercifully, did not yield a bogey. As Larson took control on the par-5 7th and 9th, the pair of Nighthawks soared away from the pack, posting a pair of 64s on their own balls.  

Five more birdies on the back nine — including a near ace from Larson on the 17th — brought them home to a nine-stroke victory over Jason Azzarito and Alex Blood followed by a log jam tie for third, including fellow NNU Nighthawks Luke Birkinbine and Gavin Rodeghiero.  

“This means a lot,” Sisk said. “I haven’t played an IGA event in a year-and-a-half, maybe two years. Last year I really struggled a lot with golf and then this year I’ve had a lot of time to work on my game. So, it feels good to play good, even though I’m done playing golf for a while in like two weeks.”  

Women’s Division  

Caroline Caven, who won the 2023 Women’s Match Play Championship in upset fashion over NNU Nighthawk Christine Cho, is now a Nighthawk herself. And this week, she teamed up with teammate Tora Timinsky, from Oregon, for some early summer fun on the Wyoming side of the state.  

“Obviously, we’re on the same college team together, and we just came out here for fun,” Caven said. “And I think that’s what we did — we just went out there with super positive, fun attitudes and it ended up going really well.”    

As casually as they rolled up, Timinsky took it upon herself to fry-up five birdies on Friday, including three in a row to close out the front nine. But while Timinsky manned the fryer, Caven took to the griddle, serving up pars to offset the vast majority of Timinsky’s trouble. A lone team bogey on the par-5 16th knocked the college teammates a hair off their pace, settling for four-under 66 to open the championship.  

“Today didn’t feel like as much pressure as college golf because if I bogey, Caroline can par or birdie and I’d be okay,” Timinsky said. “Whereas college golf if I bogey a hole, then I’m like, okay I need to birdie or par my next shots. So, I think this was more fun because there is more of a team aspect.” 

Looking to keep their momentum while holding onto a three-shot lead, Caven took on the birdie burden early, delivering a two on the par-3 third. And after coasting along with pars, Timinsky stuffed her second into the par-5 9th to secure an eagle and begin an insurmountable separation from the pack. 

In a brief pursuit, Jennifer Harper and Michaela Forelli found themselves under par before fading into a third-place finish. Melinda Howard and Stacey Camara, who were made to watch the young women from NNU rack up birdies for two days, posted scores of 69-67. Caven and Timinsky won by five.  

“It feels really good,” Timinsky laughed. “I think it was really fun to do this together; it was really good team bonding. Walking onto the last hole we were really trying to fight for more birdies, but we were excited to come out with a win.”  

Senior Men’s Division  

First out on Friday morning, reigning Senior Amateur Champion Darren Kuhn and 2015 Mid-Amateur Champion Stephen Hartnett had the ham and eggs ready to go while playing alongside defending champion Brian Swenson and Dean Park (who did not play last year).  

With one birdie early, and three to close out the front nine, Kuhn and Hartnett stuck their heads above the pack. Swenson and Park, meanwhile, started slow, picking off just two birdies on the front nine before turning to the back looking to make a run. Four holes later, they had closed the gap to one stroke, but a bogey on the long par-3 14th stalled their momentum, opening the door for Kuhn and Hartnett to birdie three of their final four holes, signing for 62. They did not make a single birdie or bogey on the same hole.  

“We ham and egged it very good,” Hartnett said. “And we read the greens well. It basically always comes down to putting and we made the putts when we needed to.” 

After a birdie to open the final round, Kuhn and Hartnett failed to make another birdie until the 9th hole to reach 10-under par.  Also in the hunt, Travis Hess and Rick Carosone closed the front nine with a flurry of birdies to get within one of the lead. Swenson and Park seemed to be running out of holes.  

Swenson and Park also seemed to be dealing with some technical difficulties, rendering themselves unable to report scores as they played. So, when Carosone birdied the 17th to tie Hartnett and Kuhn for the lead at 12-under par, the 12-foot putts he and Hess left themselves on the 18th hole looked like two good chances to win the title.

One brushed the high side; the other tickled the low side. But after signing their cards while Hess and Carosone burned the edges, the verdict was in. Swenson and Park used four consecutive birdies to reach 13-under par, pulling themselves out of a three-shot deficit to win by a single stroke. 

“We started by kind of limping out, not making a lot of putts” Park said. “But as the round came to a close and things got urgent, we turned it on.”  

Both players made birdie on three of their last four holes, with Swenson kicking things off on the 15th and Park sealing the deal with a six-footer on the 18th hole. This is Swenson’s third IGA title after repeating at the Four-Ball (2017 Mid-Amateur), and was recently one of just two IGA players to go undefeated at the PNGA Lamey Cup.     

“I really couldn’t be more excited for the rest of the season,” Swenson said. “We’ve got a great bunch of guys here in Idaho, I’m feeling really good about my game right now... it’s hard to believe we are already one state championship into the year.  

“So, I’m looking forward to [the Match Play Championship at] Scotch Pines in three weeks and see if we can keep it going.”