Golfers survive soggy start

By DAVID LESNICK

The Daily Inter Lake

Considering the conditions, Steve Gold of Whitefish was satisfied with his results.

Gold shot a 40 Thursday for nine holes during stroke play qualifying in the Montana State Men's Amateur Match Play Championship at soggy Eagle Bend Golf Club.

"It was difficult, very wet," said Gold of the all-day rain golfers had to contend with.

"It was difficult staying dry."

And a stiff wind only made matters that much worse.

Gold went through two raincoats and two umbrellas in completing just nine holes.

Because of wet weather all week, two holes were ruled unplayable (Nos. 13 and 14) before the event began because of erosion and a mudslide. Thus the stroke play qualifying portion of the four-day tournament was reduced from 18 holes to nine.

Golfers played holes 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 17 and 18.

Jeff Allen of Dillon, John Campbell of Bozeman and Kelbi Lee of Billings all shot 36, which turned out to be the top score of the day.

Checking in with 37s were Hunter Lloyd of Bozeman and Chris Goldan of Manhattan.

Whitefish's Tyler Holtet was next at 38 and Mike Rider of Manhattan was another shot back.

This marked just the second time Gold has competed in this event. The last time was "seven or eight years ago," he said.

"I wasn't able to play at a couple other tournaments (this year) because of scheduling, traveling," Gold continued.

"This one, I didn't have any conflicts."

Except for the weather.

"I have never withdrawn from a tournament before, it crossed my mind, but I wasn't about to quit," Gold said.

"I didn't hit any (practice) balls because it was raining so hard, just a couple of (practice) putts and off we went. My tee time was at 8:40 (a.m.)."

Regarding his score …

"It was reasonable," Gold said.

"I had one double in there I wasn't too happy about. Other than that, I played pretty well."

Gold tied with four other golfers for the ninth best round of the day. Also shooting a 40 was Chris Haas of Billings, last year's runner-up in this event.

Gold is seeded 11th for today's match play event and is paired with Doug Bennyhoff of Great Falls, who is seeded 22nd.

They will tee off at 9:10 a.m.

"I did look it up," Gold said of the weather forecast for Friday.

"A little bit of rain early, then drying out. The question is whether the course will be playable (after an all-night rain)."

Seeded first for today's match play competition is Lee. He will face Joe Murphy of Great Falls, who is seeded 32nd. They will tee off at 8 a.m.

The top 32 scorers Thursday are in the championship flight.

Montana State Men's Amateur Match Play Championship

Thursday

At Eagle Bend Golf Course

Bigfork

Stroke Play Qualifier

Reduced to nine holes because of an all-day rain and wet course conditions

Jeff Allen 36

John Campbell 36

Kelbi Lee 36

Reid Lende 37

Hunter Lloyd 37

Chris Goldan 38

Tyler Holtet 38

Mike Rider 39

Bob Gray 40

Chris Haas 40

Ron Garland 40

Steve Gold 40

Craig Hurlbert 40

Greg Matthews 40

Kevin Odin 40

Brad Bechler 41

Doug Bennyhoff 41

Blu Funk 41

Adam Hober 41

Chris McConnell 41

Kurt McDonough 41

Woody Spainhower 41

Tom Brown 42

Conor Keenan 42

Logan Ward 42

Tom Heiman 43

Ron Ramsey 43

Dave Stengel 43

Tobin Woldtvedt 43

Mike DeGrazier 44

Matthew Krause 44

Joe Murphy 44

Guy Ask 45

Brian Cloutier 45

Dave Cottington 45

Brian Lytle 45

Chris Richter 45

Len Ward 45

Bruce Little 46

Steve O'Neil 46

Eric Berg 49

Earl Rife 49

Charles Cash 50

Seth Enes 50

Jason Kinsey 50

Billy Pine 50

Zac Wooten 50

Chance Keller 56

Dr. Tony Popp 56

Jim Valentino 59

Greg Betthauser and Derek Denning withdrew

Collin Orton, Rick Remitz and Roy Stanley were no shows

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Friday's Match Play Pairings

Championship Flight

8 a.m. - Kelbi Lee (1) vs. Joe Murphy (32); Blu Funk (16) vs. Woody Spainhower (17)

8:10 a.m. - Mike Rider (8) vs. Logan Ward (25); Greg Matthews (9) vs. Conor Keenan (24)

8:20 a.m. - Reid Lende (4) vs. Ron Ramsey (29); Bob Gray (13) vs. Chris McConnell (20)

8:30 a.m. - Hunter Lloyd (5) vs. Tobin Woldtvedt (28); Kevin Odin (12) vs. Adam Hober (21)

8:40 a.m. - Jeff Allen (2) vs. Mike DeGrazier (31); Chris Haas (15) vs. Brad Bechler (18)

8:50 a.m. - Tyler Holtet (7) vs. Dave Stengel (26); Craig Hurlbert (10) vs. Tom Brown (23)

9 a.m. - John Campbell (3) vs. Matthew Krause (30); Ron Garland (14) vs. Kurt McDonough (19)

9:10 a.m. - Chris Goldan (6) vs. Tom Heiman (27); Steve Gold (11) vs. Doug Bennyhoff (22)

First Flight

Competitors were re-seeded after the qualifying round

7:50 a.m. - Seth Enes (15) vs. Jim Valentino (18); Chance Keller (16) vs. Dr. Tony Popp (17)

Byes - Brian Cloutier (1), Steve O'Neil (8), Earl Rife (9), Len Ward (4), Charles Cash (13), Dave Cottington (5), Zac Wooten (12), Chris Richter (2), Bruce Little (7), Eric Berg (10), Brian Lytle (3), Billy Pine (14), Guy Ask (6), Jason Kinsey (11).