5th Marian Hills Open awards over $33,000

The 5th Annual Marian Hills Open Golf Tournament is in the books after the two day event saw one of its most successful weekends since the event's history according to Marian Hills Golf Course owner Jane Ereaux.

"The tournament went fantastic," Ereaux told the PCN. "This has been our best year. We had wonderful food, excellent players, and we had people come from all over the state of Montana, and North Dakota, Spokane (Wash.) and various places."

The Open was held on a toasty Saturday, July 27, and continued on a warm but windy Sunday, July 28. The 4-Person Scramble event was won by the team consisting of Gordon Webb, DJ Kovach, Connor Rakowski, and K.C. Kindle, who had a gross of 111 strokes.

"It's the second time we have won in five years and it is very satisfying," Kovach told the PCN. "It was good to be able to play well with very good players."

With Webb, Kovach, and Kindle graduating from Malta High within a year of each other and Kovach having gone to Rocky Mountain College in Billings with Rakowski, the group has played golf together for a long time. Kovach and Rakowski came up from Billing just for the event.

"It came down to us trusting each other and trusting the shots that we picked," Kovach said.

According to Kovach, the team's 54 strokes in the opening day was a record-breaking day one total. It was 18 under par.

"I feel like we did good in day one," Rakowski said. "But I feel like we could've done a little better but the conditions were really tricky today. It was fun and these guys are a good time."

Kindle was credited for hitting a shot that kept the team in the race for the trophy, hitting an eagle during the front nine in day two, putting the team ahead.

Though Rakowski is the only outsider to Malta on the team, he shared his opinion of Marian Hills Golf Course.

"This is the best nine hole course in the state," Rakowski said. "There are a couple of guys in the state that know what they are doing, and Cory (Shelhamer) is one of those guys."

The team consisting of Jim Slade, Jared Anderson, Vance Kielb, and Austin Walter won first place in the Net category with a net of 111.68.