2026 Senior Amateur Championship
As Idaho’s championship brass have come to expect, the finish at Jug Mountain ranch reared it’s lush and ugly head last Tuesday, dragging all but three players into the meadow and over par. 2015 Mid-Amateur Champion Stephen Hartnett was the only man to find red figures on day one. John Drescher bottled a rare strike of lightning, closing with consecutive birdies to find himself one back at even par with Marc Rhodes, who came home with a more conventional bogey-bogey finish.
But by Thursday, those final few holes defined yet another IGA Championship, stealing golf balls and dealing nerves to some of Idaho’s best.
Senior Men:
When Robb Price walked off the second green Tuesday afternoon, things could not have been going less according to plan. After hitting his tee shot wide right into the meadow and hacking it around for a while, Price put the finishing touches on his snowman (8) and went looking for birdies. He went out in 41 before finding his first birdie of the week at the par-3 10th.
Price came home in 35 and parlayed that confidence into a birdie-birdie start to his second round, which he promptly followed with a bogey and a double. A bogey at the 8th put the Eagle resident six-over thru his first 27 holes, well off the leaders hovering around even par.
Drescher, who was setting the pace at two-over on the back nine Wednesday, took his first notable stumble at the par-5 16th, pulling his layup into meadow, punching it into the bunker and eventually scraping it in the hole for a double-bogey. A birdie at the 17th and a bogey at the 18th, sealed up a round of 76. Price, on the other hand, was finding a groove, shooting a bogey-free 33 on the back nine to take a one stroke lead into Thursday’s final round.
With just two rounds under par through 36 holes, the final round featured three. Defending champion Bret Rupert posted 71 from the middle of the back, and Brian Swenson made birdie at the last to fire 70 to post +3 in the penultimate group.
But in the final pairing, Robb Price finished in a flurry. After 11 consecutive pars, Price made birdie at the 12th, and closed with back-to-back birdies on the 17th and 18th holes to storm away with a three-stroke victory. Sitting +6 through 27 holes, he played his final 27 in six-under par without a bogey.
“I had a great time out here,” Price said. “The competition was great; so many guys in the hunt all week long. Very difficult conditions, especially today. The greens made it hard to get close. I had a bunch of shots hit and go over, so I was scrambling most of the day. It was a great test.”
Senior Women & Super-Senior Women:
For the first time, the Senior Women’s and Super-Senior Women competed in separate competitions from the same set of tees, allowing much of the field to play two championships at the same time. The Super-Senior division plays just 36 holes.
2021 champion Sheryl Scott took hold of the lead in both competitions early on. A round of 74 put her eight strokes clear against the Senior Women and just four-shots clear of Kris Fenwick in the Super-Senior Division. Karen Darrington, a six-time champion, led the field group of chasers in the Senior Women’s field.
Things got interesting in the Super-Senior when Scott made 9 on the 15th after a string of bogeys, allowing Fenwick to tie the lead. Then Fenwick birdied the 16th to take a one-stroke lead. But on the 17th hole, Fenwick made triple bogey, giving Scott a two-stroke lead with one to play. They both made birdie at the last.
“It’s good training to be under pressure for two straight days to try to win something,” Scott said of playing in two competitions at once. “It was fun.”
Scott said it was hard to gear up for the third round after the energy it took to complete the victory on Wednesday. And early on, her lead was closing as defending champion Melinda Howard made birdie on the 1st and 3rd holes while Scott stumbled with a triple at the par-4 5th.
By the time the final pairing reached the 15th tee, Scott’s lead had shrunk to just two shots. But then the finish at Jug Mountain Ranch reared its ugly head, biting the defending champion as Scott steered her way home. She went on to win by 7.
Super-Senior Men:
As he does, Fran Matthias found himself squarely in the mix looking to win a record fourth Super-Senior title. Heading into the final round, he held a one stroke lead over Paul Lodge, who was also looking for a fourth title in the event, and a two-stroke lead of Louis Burke.
After just two holes, Burke found his way into the lead with a par-birdie start. Meanwhile, Matthias struggled to kick himself in gear, allowing Burke to cruise home for his first IGA Championship title.
“I’m a little surprised, actually,” Burke said. “My up and down game won this tournament. I didn’t worry about those guys. I didn’t watch the board at all. I just played my game — and I played well.”