When it mattered most, Missoula's Sean Ramsbacher delivered the best round of the Montana State Mid-Amateur golf tourney Saturday. Trailing by a stroke heading into the third and final day, the Sentinel grad and former Montana Tech standout came through with a 7-under par score of 65 at The Ranch Club. It was the best round of the tourney by four strokes and he won by four over second-place Nicholas Balcken of Helena.
"It's cool — I've never won a state event," said Ramsbacher, who scored 73-71-65209. "I won Whitefish (4th of July Tournament), which was up there, but I've never really even competed in the State Ams or a U.S.
Am Qualifier. "I'd put it up there with one of the better tournaments I've ever won because it's a great field." A total of 94 golfers took part in the event on a sun-splashed weekend.
Balcken was tied with Blake Nevell of Rock Creek atop the leaderboard heading into the final day, with four golfers just one stroke behind. Ramsbacher blew the field away Saturday with seven birdies, an eagle on No. 17 and just two bogeys.
"The course is really polarizing, so you can get some high numbers and definitely a few birdies," said Ramsbacher, the 2022 Frontier Conference Men's Player of the Year. "I just tried to keep those high numbers out today. "It just kind of worked out.
I had a couple drives where it counted and played well coming in, too. I birdied the first and then on the second, I went 8 and 7 on the first two days, so I was happy with a par today. The.