LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. — A furious close to the morning catapulted Montana State golf up the leaderboard, putting the Bobcats in second place through 18 of 54 holes at the 2025 Big Sky women's golf championship on Monday.
As a team, the Bobcats finished 5-under-par through the final three holes of the day with six birdies and one bogey, putting them at 3-over-par for the round with a 287 ahead of the final 36 holes of the tournament at The Wigwam.
Three of the four scoring Bobcats carded a birdie on the 18th hole.
Two-time defending champ Sacramento State leads the field at 2-under-par 282, with Montana State only five strokes behind. Montana is in third at 11-over-par, with Northern Arizona in fourth at 13-over-par.
One shot was the story of the day, as Becca Tschetter holed a 294-yard ace on the par-4 No. 14 hole.
The graduate student knocked it in with a driver from the tee box for her second hole-in-one in the last month, an incredible feat.
Tschetter, a native of Minot, N.D., was able to find the bottom of the cup for the albatross after hitting the front of the green with her shot and watching it roll 30 feet to the flag.
The shot follows up her hole-in-one at Royal Ka'anapali Golf Course in early March at the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational in Hawaii.
Yet, it was the veteran Scarlet Weidig who led the way for Montana State on the first day in Litchfield Park, carding a 2-under-par round of 69 on the Par-71 course.
Weidig, a three-time All-Big Sky selection, tallied five birdies on the back nine to just one bogey, and sits in second place on the individual leaderboard only one stroke behind Sacramento State's Darla May Dela Torre (-3).
Maddie Montoya, a junior from Boise, Idaho, saved her best round of the season for her first round at the conference championship, carding a 1-under-par 70 to sit tied for fourth through 18 holes.
Raina Ports shot a 1-under 70, tied for Montana’s second-best round ever at the Big Sky championships. She is tied for fourth with Montoya, one of five players to break par on Monday.
UM's Elle Higgins, who opened last year’s championship with a 68, shot an even-par 71. She is tied for sixth. Kate Bogenschutz (76), playing at her first Big Sky Championship, is tied for 29th, freshman Bella Johnson (78) is tied for 36th.
Montana’s score of 295 is tied for the Grizzlies’ third-best score ever posted at the championship.
Coming off her tournament win at the Bobcat Desert Classic last week and being named MSU's first first-team All-Big Sky pick in over a decade, Lauren Greeny carded a 1-over-par 72 to lurk just behind the leaders in a tie for 11th.
Montana State and Montana will be in the final grouping of the day for Round 2 on Tuesday, competing alongside Sacramento State.
Information provided by Montana and Montana State athletic press releases
