Yellowjacket Golfer Captures Montana State Match Play Championship

BIG FORK, MT – Montana State University-Billings golfer Chris Haas (Bozeman, Mont.) won the 2004 Montana State Men’s Match Play Championship this past weekend, defeating Bigfork’s Ron Ramsey, 3-and-1.

Haas eliminated Rick Reimers of Missoula, 3-and-2, and Mike McNally of Billings, 4-and-2, to advance to the championship match.  The sixth-seeded Haas outplayed the fifth-seeded Ramsey in the 36-hole title match to win one of the state’s top amateur golf events.  Last year Ramsey qualified for the U.S. Senior Open and the British Senior Open.

“Chris is our top returning player and he’s just getting better,” said Yellowjacket head golf coach Roger Burckley.  “This is the first time an MSU Billings golfer has won a major amateur tournament, and I’m very proud of him.”

Haas, who will be a junior next season at MSU Billings, was the Yellowjackets’ top player as a sophomore.  He had a season scoring average of 76.6 and was the Jackets’ top individual finisher in five of the team’s six competitions.  His best round of the year was a 71 at the Cal State-Stanislaus Invitational, and his best individual finish was fifth at the Northern Colorado Invitational. 

Yellowjacket golfers Matt Desin (Billings, Mont.) and Judd Norman (Laurel, Mont.) also competed in the tournament.  Desin lost in the semifinals of the President’s Flight, 1-up, to Ryan Linnell of Kalispell.  Desin had defeated Seth Enes of Missoula earlier in the tournament, 3-and-2.  Norman lost out to Woody Spainhower of Bozeman, 2-and-1, after defeating George Mahoney of Polson, 3-and-2.