Yellowjacket Links Host MSUB Yellowjacket Invitational Thursday and Friday

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings men’s and women’s golf team is scheduled to host the inaugural MSUB Yellowjacket Invitational, Thursday and Friday at Eaglerock Golf Course in Billings.  The field consists of six men’s teams and seven women’s teams.

“The weather has been beautiful all week,” first year MSUB coach Shawn O’Brien said.  “Both teams were able to get out and play and I am looking forward to the tournament and also looking forward to watching a lot of birdies being made raising money for the Lustgarten Foundation.  Our players are anxious to get out and play.  It will be a great tournament, the first-ever hosted by MSUB golf.”

Donations for every birdie made by the MSUB men’s and women’s golf teams in the tournament and general donations are going to the Lustgarten Foundation, a non-profit pancreatic cancer research foundation located in Bethpage, New York.   MSUB’s Putt for the Cure event will benefit America’s largest private foundation dedicated solely to pancreatic cancer research.

“I thought that having a Putt for the Cure campaign during our golf tournament would create awareness among our student athletes,” O’Brien added. “By being involved in this effort, our athletes will reach beyond the issues they encounter every day.  They’ll also have an opportunity to do something to benefit an organization uniquely positioned to lead the way toward diagnosis, treatment, cure and prevention of pancreatic cancer.”

Anyone wishing to donate or to learn more about Putt for the Cure may contact Shawn O’Brien at 307-689-3425 or shawn.obrien3@msubillings.edu.  For additional information on the Lustgarten Foundation:  http://www.lustgarten.org/Page.aspx?pid=587  

In addition to both the men’s and women’s golf teams, the field consists of NCAA Division II and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference member, Chadron State, on the women’s side, as well as Rocky Mountain College, Montana Tech University and the University of Great Falls from the Frontier Conference and Miles Community College and Dawson Community College. 

This is the first tournament of the spring for the Yellowjacket women’s team.  MSUB sits in second place in the RMAC standings heading into the spring.  The Jackets (21) are three points behind Mesa State (24) in the team standings with the conference championship left to play Apr. 19-20 in Goodyear, Ariz.  Chadron State currently is in eighth place in the league standings with three points.

Preseason first team all-conference selection, sophomore Kalli Stanhope, ranks fifth in scoring average in the RMAC tournaments with an 81.2 average.    Senior Amy Nordeen and sophomores Erin Heaney and Libby Rutz along with freshman Liz Tikriti all rank in the top 20 in the league in scoring average. 

On the men’s side, the Yellowjackets enter the tournament coming off a 12th place finish at the Cal State East Bay Pioneer Shootout, Mar. 7-9.  It was the first time the Yellowjacket men’s squad had been outside this spring.  Despite some high scores early on, the Yellowjackets cut an impressive 65 strokes from the first round to the second.  Senior Jacob Harr led the way for the Yellowjackets finishing tied for 54th and cut 18 strokes from his first round to his second firing a team-low 76 in the second round. 

The tournament begins at 12 p.m. Thursday with a shotgun start in the 36-hole event.