The final day of the IGA Senior Match Play concluded Wednesday, May 26th at Geneva Golf and Country Club in Muscatine with two close final matches. In the Senior Division, defending champion Joe Palmer (pictured on the right) battled Curtis Holck, of Ankeny, into a 20-hole match.

Palmer defeated Holck in the lengthy match that included seven lead changes. After many rounds of golf in the last ten days, including the IGA Four-Ball, both players gave it everything they had left in the tank.

The road to a fifth IGA Senior Match Play title wasn’t easy for Palmer, who notched his second consecutive title. He beat No. 31 seed Tod Ellis in his first round of match play, and the No. 15 seed Tom Garside in the following round. Palmer started to heat up and claimed victories over Jeff Collett and Sam Billmeyer to advance to the final match.

Holck had an impressive showing as well, knocking off No. 29 seed, Rick Sanders in the first round. He followed that with a win against the No. 4 seeded Terry Cook and Bob Brummel in the same day. Holck had to face a tough opponent in Tony Newkirk to advance to the final round and won that match 4&2.

In the final round, Jim Butler (pictured on the left) got his revenge on James Blackburn in the final match of the Super Senior Division, who defeated him in last year’s quarter-final round.

“It was really good golf (in the final match),” Butler said. “I had one less hiccup you would have to say. I lost to Jamie last year in the quarter-finals and I didn’t forget.”

Butler felt confident in his game all week, which was helpful when playing a course like Geneva Golf and Country Club for 36-holes every day.

“No one practices (for) 36 holes a day,” Butler said. “I love playing with these guys and everyone pulls for each other. I have been playing with them for years. It was my week, I guess. My game was mostly there this week.”

IGA Four-Ball partners, Blackburn and Pat Ryan, battled one another for a chance to take on Butler for the Super Senior Division title. Blackburn defeated Ryan 2 up, but ultimately fell to Butler in the final round on the last hole.

In the President’s Bracket, Chuck Malloy (right), of Cedar Falls, topped the runner-up, Craig Furnish. Malloy took an early lead but Furnish continued to fire back. Malloy was able to take control at the end, winning the match 3&2.

The next event is the Southeast Iowa Amateur event at The Preserve in Lake Rathbun, Moravia, starting on Saturday, June 5th. The entries for this event close on the 2nd of June and you can register here.

Senior Division Champion:
Joe Palmer

Super Senior Division Champion:
Jim Butler

Senior Presidents Champion:
Chuck Malloy