EAGLE, Idaho – Montana Tech golf teams started the Frontier Conference Championship Tournament a day early due to bad weather coming to the area this week at Branbury Golf Course just outside of Boise, Idaho. Both teams are in second place after the first day of the three-day tournament.
"The men and women played great in tough and cold conditions and posted some very solid rounds," said head coach
Sean Ryan.
The Oredigger men are just three strokes back of leader Rocky Mountain. The Battlin' Bears finished day one with a +12 and the Orediggers are just three strokes back at +15. Rocky's Mitchell Thiessen leads the field firing a 70 (-1).
Sean Ramsbacher is one stroke back at even shooting a 71.
"Ramsbacher bounced back from a pretty poor start to shoot a great round today. It might not have been the prettiest gold today for him but he scored well."
Isaiah Weldon is in fourth place after the first round finishing with a 74 (+3).
Matt Hobbs is tied in sixth with an opening 77 (+6) along with
Jhett Braley.
Jace Rhodes is in 17th with a 84 (+13).
"The men are in a great position, and I know we can play even better tomorrow. This is a pretty great group, they embraced the challenge of the playing this course under such strange circumstances and put themselves in the hunt."
The Oredigger women are just nine strokes behind Rocky who shot a +39 and Tech is at +48. Carroll College is in third at +57.
Valentina Zuleta leads the women's field shooting a 69 (-2) on the first day.
Emily Kelly led the Orediggers with an 80 (+9) and is in fourth place. Cierra Sundeim is in a tie for fifth place after shooting an 83 (+12). Franchi Certain is in seventh with an 84 (+13) and Sami Benson is in eighth with an 85 (+14).
Kennedy Lean is in 15th finishing with a 97 (+26).
"I'm so proud of our ladies who shot their best round of the spring when it matters the most.
Emily Kelly played great and led us off well. We played as a team and are right within striking distance. This was a great round with three of our players having never seen the course before and not having a practice round."
There are still two days left at the Frontier Conference Championship with bad weather predicted for the final two rounds.
