George Ferguson
Havre Daily News Sports
gferguson@havredailynews.com
Nick Obie has played golf in Havre most of his life. But for as much wind-swept golf rounds as he has played throughout the years, when the wind starts to whip, conditions are always a little bit different.
Obie entered Saturday's final round of the 2005 Montana Men's State amateur championship with a four-stroke lead and appeared poised to win another Montana major golf championship.
But the winds kicked up ferociously at Marias Valley Golf Club and Obie fired a 4-over par 76, while playing partner Josh Hedge of Billings shot a solid 2-under 70 to pass Obie by and capture this year's state amateur golf title.
Obie and Hedge had dueled for three straight days. After the 18-year-old Hedge, who is headed to Xavier on a golf scholarship, took the lead at the end of Wednesday's first round, Obie responded with a brilliant 67 on Thursday. He followed that up with a solid 71 on Friday, which put him at 10-under par heading into the final round.
Still, Saturday's conditions were brutal with high, gusting winds and temperatures in the 90s, and Obie said that he just could not put anything together during the final 18 holes.
"The wind really hurt me on Saturday and it didn't help that Josh played really well," Obie said. "I didn't really strike the ball that great all week, and then when the wind started to blow it really hurt me. I also couldn't get any puts to drop on Saturday, either."
Despite the disappointment of finishing second, Obie still had another tremendous week of golf in a summer that is turning out to be very successful for the 21-year-old, who will be a senior at Redlands College in California this fall. Still, he knows that despite playing three rounds of stellar golf in Shelby this weekend, this is a tournament that certainly got away from him.
"It's always disappointing when you're in a position to win a tournament like I was this week," he said. "But it hurts to give away a four-shot lead like that."
Obie wasn't the only Havre golfer who competed in the state amateur tournament this past weekend. Havre's Jason Johnstone, a former high school teammate of Obie, finished tied for third place with Bob Blenker of Kalispell. Johnstone opened the tournament with an even-par round of 72 and followed that round up with a 73. Johnstone's best round of the week came Friday, when he shot a 3-under-par 69. A difficult Saturday included a 75 for Johnstone, but that was still good enough to put him in a final tie for third place with a four-day total of 289.
Other Havre participants included Johsntone's father, Steve, who finished with a four-day total of 342 and Jim Kirkpatrick who shot a 352 for the week.
Championship Flight
Josh Hedge, Billings 65 75 70 70 - 280
Nick Obie, Havre 68 67 71 76 - 282
Bob Blenker, Kalispell 73 71 68 77 - 289
Jason Johnstone, Havre 72 73 69 75 - 289
Ross Bartell, Great Falls 71 72 69 78 - 290
Kelbi Lee, Billings 72 72 76 71 - 291
Shawn Tucker, Whitefish 79 71 68 75 - 293
Steve Williamson, Shelby 72 72 74 76 - 294
Spencer Williams, Great Falls 73 75 70 76 - 294
Woody Spainhower, Bozeman 72 81 72 73 - 298
Renzi Lee, Billings 73 73 73 79 - 298
Bryan Barthelmess, Condon 74 71 76 78 - 299
Lindsay Woolley, Whitefish 81 70 73 76 - 300
Jeff Dalton, Helena 73 73 75 82 - 303
Tom Hall, Great Falls 74 76 75 79 - 304
Billy Thompson, Great Falls 77 73 72 82 - 304
Andrew Olson, Shelby 71 77 76 80 - 304
Danny Oberweiser, Deer Lodge 77 75 77 76 - 305
Jacob Richards, Deer Lodge 76 79 70 83 - 308
Jon Allen Dillon, 78 78 72 80 - 308
John Campbell, Bozeman 76 78 74 80 - 308
Jeff Allen, Dillon 79 78 68 84 - 309
Nick Richards, Great Falls 73 75 76 85 - 309
Craig Ross, Fort Benton 68 85 74 82 - 309
Gordon Webb, Malta 77 76 74 83 - 310
Ryan Linnell, Kalispell 79 76 72 84 - 311
Brian Mattocks, Great Falls 75 76 77 83 - 311
Geoff Oliphant, Billings 77 74 77 83 - 311
John Reeves, Helena 78 80 71 83 - 312
Chris Haas, Bozeman 76 79 74 83 - 312
1st Flight
D.J. Guerrero, Kalispell 81 73 77 74 - 305
Brian Lytle, Bozeman 74 79 77 76 - 306
Chad Underdal, Shelby 82 78 70 78 - 308
Dan Ellis, Laurel 84 76 70 78 - 308
William Pine, Polebridge 76 76 79 78 - 309
Kelly Casey, Helena 78 77 76 78 - 309
Ryan VanDyke, Conrad 77 78 76 86 - 317
Loudan Steffes, Huntley 78 77 76 89 - 320
2nd Flight
Cassidy Degele, Billings 79 76 77 76 - 308
Kyle Poore, Helena 78 80 76 76 - 310
Chuck Sonefelt, Great Falls 77 78 80 77 - 312
Brady Kirkeby, East Helena 76 82 77 80 - 315
Tanner Sutton, Billings 77 82 75 81 - 315
Cody Swarthout, Billings 75 77 83 81 - 316
Dean Austin, Billings 83 76 75 82 - 316
Bryan Moore, Shelby 77 77 82 82 - 318
3rd Flight
Collin Day, East Helena 78 80 79 76 - 313
James Williams, Seeley Lake 83 79 74 77 - 313
Jay Johannsen, Sunburst 79 81 77 76 - 313
Earl Rife, Great Falls 78 74 84 78 - 314
Eamon Clancy, Park City 77 81 79 78 - 315
Keaten Labrel, Fort Benton 77 78 82 81 - 318
Jacob Knutson, Bozeman 80 77 79 84 - 320
Dan Markovich, Butte 83 79 77 83 - 322
4th Flight
Kurt McDonough, Florence 79 80 81 76 - 316
Jeff Jones, Seeley Lake 83 76 80 79 - 318
Marcus Vuletich, Billings 77 84 81 77 - 319
Jim Bjelland, Conrad 79 81 81 79 - 320
Jake Hedge, Billings 81 79 81 79 - 320
Brian Pfeifer, Deer Lodge 84 74 83 80 - 321
Cody Rowe, Seeley Lake 82 81 78 80 - 321
Chris Richter, Big Fork 79 82 79 82 - 322
5th Flight
Patrick Wike, Great Falls 80 83 79 75 - 317
Gerard Poore, Helena 82 83 78 77 - 320
Matt Madison, Bozeman 83 84 76 78 - 321
Garrett Van Heel, Great Falls 83 77 82 80 - 322
Justin Whitted, Shelby 82 78 82 82 - 324
John Sears, Bozeman 87 78 79 82 - 326
Brandon Jaurasek, Great Falls 80 82 82 83 - 327
Taylor Madison, Bozeman 84 80 78 86 - 328
6th Flight
Andrew Peterson, Billings 82 80 82 75 - 319
Troy Steffes, Huntley 82 83 81 78 - 324
Eric Giscason, Whitefish 86 79 82 78 - 325
T. J. Stevenson, Miles City 82 83 82 78 - 325
Greg Caouetts, Great Falls 83 82 82 81 - 328
Ben Gardner, Helena 77 87 82 85 - 331
Matt Kaul, Great Falls 76 88 83 87 - 334
Jerry Grinde, Great Falls 83 80 83 wd wd
7th Flight
Dave Streeter, Whitefish 85 81 82 80 - 328
Tom Reynolds, Shelby 84 84 80 82 - 330
John Marshall, Billings 88 84 80 79 - 331
Kruise Kemp, Plentywood 83 86 82 81 - 332
K.C. Kindle, Malta 83 79 89 81 - 332
Sam Wurz, Chinook 81 86 84 83 - 334
Bill Hedge, Helena 80 86 86 82 - 334
Ed Flesch, Shelby 80 85 83 86 - 334
8th Flight
Cody McBride, Shelby 83 86 84 79 - 332
Kyle Dunfee, Kalispell 81 91 82 80 - 334
Steve Shallue, Great Falls 86 86 85 81 - 338
Cramer Caouette, Great Falls 89 80 88 81 - 338
Ray Linnell, Kalispell 84 83 86 88 - 341
Steve Johnstone, Havre 83 84 88 87 - 342
Julien Pates, Billings 89 83 84 87 - 343
9th Flight
J.J. Barney, Livingston 90 85 86 78 - 339
Tyson Henderson,Columbus 80 88 89 82 - 339
Dave Morris, Butte 91 83 84 81 - 339
Austin Gates, Great Falls 88 86 83 85 - 342
Patrick Rivers, Helena 89 89 81 87 - 346
Jim Kirkpatrick, Havre 90 82 88 92 - 352
Hollis West, Great Falls 85 93 84 92 - 354
10th Flight
Darin Haddock, Lakeside 84 96 83 85 - 348
Matt Westerbuhr, Helena 85 95 86 85 - 351
Mike Hansen, Billings 91 89 89 83 - 352
Charles Chandler, Plentywood 84 92 89 87 - 352
Blaine Carlson, Vaughn 93 86 86 89 - 354
John Kemp Jr., Plentywood 89 92 87 89 - 357
Nick Phillips, Helena 92 86 92 87 - 357
11th Flight
Steve Nichols, Shelby 90 92 90 90 - 362
Tom Shea, Whitefish 98 93 87 87 - 365
John Tripp, Billings 97 84 95 89 - 365
James Rentfro, Great Falls 96 92 87 93 - 368
Joe Nickisch, Billings 94 101 87 91 - 373
Kaleb Perdew, Billings 91 93 91 99 - 374
