7th Annual Marian Hills Open

Despite a couple of hot and smoky days, the 7th Annual Marian Hills Open finished without a hitch, and with a record number of participants.

"We had a tremendous tournament," Marian Hills Open manager Dave Skiff said. "It got warm, but we had a little breeze. The golf course is in wonderful shape and there was nothing but compliments from all of the golfers here."

The four-person team scramble event featured 96 golfers, which is the most golfers the event has ever hosted.

"We had golfers from North Dakota, from all over Montana, many were local," Marian Hills Golf Course owner Jane Ereaux said. "We are fortunate that we have quite a few local players."

The event's Net Gross (game played without handicap) was won by brothers John Galt, Jay Galt, Jase Galt and John's brother-in-law, Jarrod Strickland.

"We did pretty good as a team," John told the PCN. "Everybody chipped in the first day. Jarrod played well today. I didn't play well today, but we made a lot of putts and that's what you need to do in an event like this."

The Galt brothers were born and raised in Malta, and had quite a bit of experience at Marian Hills GC.

"The course is in great shape," Galt said. "The greens are good. Cory Shelhamer (Course Manager) does a really good job. It's awesome."

John and Jay had won the event's Net Gross in 2017 with Craig Stiles and Kirk Stiles.

This year, the twin brothers golfed in the event with their younger brother Jase for the first time.

"I think he did good," John said. "He hit the ball well. He was probably nervous because he has never played in a tournament like this before. He was shocked that we asked him to play but obviously we will be back next year."

The Galt brothers won the event's Gross Total with 113, and Net Total, but due to the rules of the tournament, the group was able to choose. By selecting Gross Total, the events Net Total was won by Crawford, Copenhaver, Kulbeck, and Copenhaver, who had a net score of 108.98.

Second Place Net Total went to Walker, Anderson, Slade, and Kielb. Third Place Net went to Kovach, Murray, Stiles, and Dovre.

Second Place Gross went to Hill, Christensen, Lee, and Reisenhauer. Third Place Gross went to Kindle, Shelhamer, Webb, and Kindle.

The event also witnessed a hole-in-one from Kirk Stiles, at hole four, which features Marian Hills' infamous water hazard.

"It seemed like a perfect 8-iron," Stiles said. "It covered the flag the whole way, took one hop, and went in."

That was Stiles' third career hole-in-one. The first was at hole eight in Wolf Point during his senior season of golf, and the second was in Klamath Falls Oregon.

Had Stiles hit a hole-in-one at hole seven, he would've won a 2021 Dodge Ram, a prize from sponsor Lithua of Helena.

Golfers played eighteen holes on Saturday, July 24, and another eighteen on Sunday, July 24.

Day one was hot and smoky, with a high of 91 degrees and a constant wind, which benefited those on the course.

"It was probably a ten-mile an hour breeze that kept everything cool," Skiff said. "The wind did come into play."

Skiff said that Sunday the wind was around five miles per hour, making it a little easier on the golf swings.

"It reached about 98 degrees, so there was a lot of water consumed," Skiff said.