2026 Match Play Championship

Blackfoot Golf Course is easy to miss. On some holes, the highway is easier to hit than the center of the greens. But this humble, municipal golf course — originally conceived by the Bobby Jones-slaying George Von Elm — remains a compelling test for modern players.  

Players from across the state scurried away from their practice rounds Wednesday as winds gusted north of 40 mph and downhill putts trundled back toward the tee. These are the gales that Easten Idaho’s golfers know not to mess with.  

But Wednesday’s warning call left players relieved to find calm conditions for Thursday’s seeding round. But the winds came roaring back for a weekend fit for minting champions.  

Men’s Division: 

Fresh off finals week, 2023 Men’s Amateur Champion Trevor Garus — who recently entered the transfer portal after his sophomore season with UCLA — strolled around Blackfoot Golf Course as if it was Sunset Boulevard. A bogey-free Thursday 65 (-7) was plenty proper to run away with the No. 1 seed. 

Garus, who finished runner up in 2023 and third in 2024, was followed by a talented troupe led by Dylan Rodgers with 69, and Trey Lambert, Toby Heider and defending champion Seth Jones with 70. All but Heider would all waltz into the final four. 

In the semifinals, Jones had Rodgers against the ropes through nine holes. Rodgers fired off five consecutive birdies on the back nine but only picked up one hole while Jones matched him four times.  He went on to meet Trey Lambert in the final, who used all 18 holes to beat Garus.  

The final match would also go the distance. Arriving on the 18th 1 up, Jones hit his second shot to the back of the green, leaving himself a long putt to a front hole location. Lambert, eyeing a short and makable chip from under the hole, watched as Jones’s putt dripped in the right edge of the hole to rob him of a chance to challenge.  

“It’s a bit surreal,” Jones said when asked to reflect on beating a soon-to-be Boise State Bronco in the wake of his senior season. “I’m still kind of in a daze from graduating, but I’ve talked to [Lambert] and Dylan and Trevor as well — all those guys that are playing college golf at all. They are great kids and I would just tell them to enjoy it because it will be gone in a heartbeat.”  

Jones says he plans to keep playing as well as he can through the rest of the summer before turning professional and taking a crack at Q-School.”  

Women’s Division:

Jayden Parker was the one to stick her nose in front of the pack Thursday, firing 76 to earn the No. 1 seed and a bye into the semifinals. Caroline Caven, who won this event in 2023 at Jerome Country Club, met Parker in the semifinal after emerging from a play-in match over Ellie Stastny.  

On the other side of the bracket, Tanli Lemoyne held the No. 3 seed after less than her best in the seeding round. She battled it out with No. 2 seed Alli Stastny in the semifinal and won the 18th hole to take a 2up victory into the championship match.  

Lemoyne, who finished runner-up in 2024 at River’s Edge Golf Course in Burley, won her first hole of the day but found herself 1 down thru 4. Then she won five consecutive holes, taking a 4 up lead into the back nine and never turned back. A win on the 15th secured a 5 & 3 victory and her first IGA title — on her birthday of all days.  

“It’s kind of like a full-circle moment,” she said. “I lost to Ava Schroeder, a BYU player, two years ago and it’s amazing that I can come back two years later as a senior and win.” 

Lemoyne credits a hot putter and the support of her parents, including her father on caddie duty, for the win.  

“It’s so amazing,” Lemoyone said. “I’m so grateful for my parents, and my dad especially, to make the trip up here and help me out on the greens — and my chipping especially.”   

Senior Men’s Division:

The Senior Men’s Division saw some familiar names in the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds after Thursday’s stroke play. Brian Swenson, fresh off a victory at the Royal Oaks Invitational Tournament in Vancouver, WA, fired 68 to take the No. 1 seed and Scott Masingill’s round of 70 set him on top of the opposite side of the bracket.  

The final four saw a predictable set of names, with Masingill and Swenson — who snuck by Mark Spalding in 19 holes — joined by Darren Kuhn and 2023 champion Jay Sutton. 

Masingill earned a one-up win over Sutton, while Kuhn made relatively quick work of Swenson, setting up a rematch from last year's championship match at Scotch Pines. The result would remain the same as well, as Kuhn got up early and won the first four holes on the back nine to end the match and earn a second consecutive Senior Men’s Match Play Championship.  

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Kuhn said. “I’m grateful. I haven’t been playing much golf. So the way it worked out was pretty unbelievable. I played some pretty good golf today and played some great people... Last year I was playing so well and I just decided to take the winter off and do some reflecting and had some other things going on, so I didn’t really know where the state of my game was — so this was a great sign that I could hit some putts where I needed to.”  

Senior Women’s Division:

Kris Fenwick found herself toe-to-toe with a very close friend who is known around the region as a player you don’t want to go toe-to-toe with in a championship match. But this week, Fenwick was just able to hold off Karen Darrington, winning one up on the 18th hole.   

“She had a couple scruffy wedges early that hurt her on the front side, so I got up.” Fenwick said. “But I totally knew she was coming back.”  

Two birdies on the back nine helped Darrington square the match and forced Fenwick to keep the ball in front of her — and that’s precisely what she did. A bogey-free, back-nine 36 left Darrington little room to mount a comeback.  

“I think for us, it’s golf, but it’s a bigger community,” Fenwick said of the closeness she and feels with Darrington and the other senior ladies. “We want to beat each other, but we are just as happy to be there.”  

Men’s Master-40 Division:

For the first time since 2010, Lee Reed is an IGA State Champion.  

“It feels pretty good,” Reed said. “I’m gonna try not to break down because it has been a long time — when you finish second in so many of these, you feel like you’re never gonna get over the hump, and it was nice to get that done today. It’s been a while.” 

Reed won the 2010 Mid-Amateur Championship and has since been a reliably competitive player in IGA Championships. Last year, he was in the heart of contention for both the Mid-Amateur and Master-40 titles but found himself shot short after 54 holes. 

An East Idaho native, Reed enjoyed an especially comfortable setting this week on a golf course he’s played countless times.  

“I’ve played these courses for 40 years,” he said. “You get to know them.”  

Super Senior Men’s Division:

Fran Matthias won yet another Men’s Super Senior title, continuing his reign of dominance over the division. He graciously declined an interview.