Scotties open with third place finish in Shelby

By Joseph

The Glasgow golf team did pretty well in unfavorable weather at the first tournament of the season.

The Scotties' boys team finished third at the Shelby Invitational, held at Marias Valley Golf and Country Club, behind Conrad and Fort Benton.

Dealing with high winds, up to 30 miles per hour during the day, and difficult greens that varied in speed and smoothness from hole to hole. 

Kevin Hill was the top finisher for the Scotties, finishing with an 88, after shooting a 48 on the front nine. Hill said he could have shot better but his short game wasn't where he wanted it.

Peter Breigenzer finished just outside of the top 10, shooting a 92, just two strokes from tying for 10^th place. Casey Riggin shot a 101 on a bad putting day.

Two newcomers, Walt Dalbey and Boyd Sinclair, did fairly well in the tough conditions. Dalbey shot a 117 with a 55 on the back nine and Sinclair shot a 121 with a 58 on the front nine.

“If we hit to our potential, we're going to kill the field,” head coach Christie Riggin said.

Conrad ran away with the tournament, finishing a full 20 strokes ahead of second place Fort Benton. Conrad had four golfers finish in the top five, all shooting at least 83 in their rounds. Fort Benton was led by the tournament's top finisher, Louis Shneider, who finished with a 77.

The girls didn't have enough eligible golfers to field a team, most of the team hadn't logged enough practices, but the one Scotty who did participate did pretty well. Kirsten Bense shot a 129, finishing her round with a 63 through the back nine.

Shelby's Morgan Stevens and Big Fork's Sara Keenan tied for the girls' lead with a score of 86.

The Scotties don't golf again until April 10 at Fort Benton. The Scotties won't have a ton of opportunities to improve their short game in the near future with the greens and tee boxes closed at Sunnyside Country Club for the time being while the course gets ready for the season. Until then the team will have to work on its drives and approaches on the course while putting indoors to get ready for next weekend.