By: Hayden Foltz, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
COEUR D'ALENE, Ida. - Highlighting the Montana State University Billings Yellowjacket men's golf team at the GNAC Championships,
Paul O'Neil,
Kevin Kolb, and
Liam O'Halloran led the 'Jackets with top-10 individual finishes. The 'Jackets finished out their season with a bang, making the podium in third place with a gross team score of 848 (280-283-285). The tournament was held at no other than the famous Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course. The links featured 6,477 yards and played as a par 71 (Out – 35 | In – 36).
The 'Jackets shattered nearly every previous MSUB record in this year's GNAC Championships. The Yellowjackets placed third as a team, tying the school record for highest finish at the conference tournament. Their total 54-hole gross score of 848 is also the best team score at the GNAC Tournament and is third all-time in the MSUB record books for a three-round score. All three of their rounds (280-283-285) are institution bests at the conference tournament as well as their first round (280) tying for fifth all-time in the MSUB record books.
HEAR FROM BUIE: "Super proud of our men's effort not only this week but the whole year. This group of seniors has been the backbone of this team for a long time, and they are definitely going to be missed with some big shoes for us to fill. A third-place finish in the GNAC is impressive, we played extremely well as a team and were in the hunt the whole tournament. A great effort came up just short of the title but congratulations to WWU, they played really well today especially with the difficulty of pin locations."
Paul O'Neil led the way, shooting the best 54-hole score at the GNAC Tournament in school history. O'Neil was nearly flawless, posting a 209 (69-68-72) and taking 5
th place individually, which was a personal best. Looking back at last year's performance, O'Neil shaved of 28 strokes and went from a 24
th place finish to 5
th overall. The seniors gross score (209) also ties for 2
nd all-time in MSUB history for a three-round tournament.
Just behind O'Neil was
Kevin Kolb who also shot a personal best three-round tournament 210 (70-68-72), which is also tied for 6
th all-time in the Yellowjacket history books, and placed T-6
th overall amongst the 25 men competing. Kolb also shaved off 16 strokes from his previous GNAC Championships performance and jumped from T-12
th to T-6
th individual placement.
Following Kolb was
Liam O'Halloran in 10
th place and posted a personal best 54-hole gross score of 212 (70-75-67). O'Halloran's 67 in the final round tied Kolb's (67) from last year for the lowest single round score at the GNAC Championships in MSUB history.
Carson Garner was next on the leaderboard for the 'Jackets, coming in T-14
th place with a three-round gross score of 217 (71-72-74). Garner also improved on his 2023 performance, jumping from 17
th to T-14
th individually and shaving off 12 strokes. Rounding it out for the Yellowjackets was
Lucas Howell in 25
th place, with a three-round score of 228 (73-75-80).
THE BUZZ: Paul O'Neil was named Intermountain Health Player of the Tournament after leading the Yellowjackets with a 5
th place overall finish and a total gross score of 209 (69-68-72).
GNAC Championships
Results – April 23, 2024
Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course – Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Team – 1. Western Washington, 838 (273-287-278); 3. MSUB, 848 (280-283-285).
Individuals – 1. Michael Crisologo – 200 (67-65-68); 5.
Paul O'Neil – 209 (69-68-72); T-6.
Kevin Kolb – 210 (70-68-72); 10.
Liam O'Halloran – 212 (70-75-67); T-14.
Carson Garner – 217 (71-72-74); 25.
Lucas Howell – (73-75-80).
