Local Golf Report: It's playoff time on the golf course

It's officially playoff time on the local golf scene. In other words, the season comes down to this.

The playoffs for the ladies began last Thursday night at Prairie Farms Golf Course, while the playoffs in men's league at Beaver Creek Golf Course also got started.

In ladies league, Independence Bank, Prairie Farms, Scharfe, Kato & Co. and Northern Montana Hospital were all victorious last Thursday night and will play in the semifinals later this week.

Tonight also starts the playoffs for men's league at Prairie Farms.

The final week of the regular season last week saw Kyle Sheppard and Lunar Evans tie for low gross with scores of 37 Tuesday night, while Curt Leeds was low net at 27.5. Last Wednesday night, Kyle Miller and Doug Sheppard each shot 39 for low gross, while Lowell Swenson was low net at 28.5.

The playoffs will begin tonight with Wagner Plumbing taking on HUB Insurance, Hole 19 battling Havre Ford, Tire Rama versus Korb Construction and Vic's Place taking on Michelob Ultra. The other half of the bracket will see Master Sports play BA Ranch, DA Davidson take on Rock Solid, Valley Furniture face Cowan & Sons and Myers Ranch against Patrick Construction.

The playoffs continue Wednesday night with the quarterfinals, next Tuesday with the semifinals and next Wednesday with the 18-hole championship.

A reminder, please send me final results from your playoffs as well as picture of the championship teams so we can publish those.

Last week was also a good week for some of our fine local golfers away from Havre. Three Havre players won their flights at the Montana State Senior Amateur in Billings. Jeff Jensen scored a 236 to win his flight, while Jim Kirkpatrick shot 241 to win his flight and Dave Greenwood shot 276 to win his flight.

On a personal note, those are three guys who have taught me a lot about the game of golf over the years, so great job, fellas.

Speaking of Kirkpatrick, it won't be long until his Montana State University-Northern golf teams get their season started. The Lights and Skylights will return to school next week and will begin preparing for the fall season.

Northern has three tournaments scheduled for the fall, starting with the University of Providence tournament Sept. 10-11. MSU-N also travels to Carroll College Sept. 23-24 and Lewis-Clark State Sept. 30 and Oct. 1.

Lastly, a couple of dates have been set for area club championships. The Women's Club Championship at Prairie Farms will be held Sept. 8 and the Men's Club Championship will be played Sept. 15. For more information on both tournaments, visit the Pro Shop at Prairie Farms.