Montana State University
Kelsey Chugg Invitational
Bobcat Golf Gets Season Underway on Monday at Kelsey Chugg Invitational
9/13/2024 1:35:00 PM | Women's Golf
MSU returns everyone from squad that re-wrote the record books in 2023-2024
BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Montana State golf gets the 2024-2025 season underway next week in Utah, competing in the Kelsey Chugg Invitational at Wolf Creek Golf Club.
The two-day, 54-hole stroke play tournament hosted by Weber State kickstarts a highly-anticipated year for the Bobcat women's golf program, with two 18-hole rounds on Monday and a final 18-hole round on Tuesday.
Monday's opening round will begin with a 9 a.m. shotgun start. Live results will be carried on Scoreboard and can be viewed here.
"What will be important for us is to start off decent," head coach Brittany Basye said. "It's the first tournament of the year, and everybody's been working hard. We've had a great three weeks of practice so now it's time to just let it all happen. Each week we've been prepping something new—this week they've been prepping for what they remember about Wolf Creek and we've looked at the yardages kind of playing and simulating some shots as best we can. When it comes down to it, it's going to be our short games and who can get the ball in the hole. The ladies hit the ball pretty far—one of our strengths this year with our team is our length. With that, we have to shorten up our wedges a little bit and dial in from 100 yards in."
The 11-team field includes five other squads from the Big Sky (Weber State, Idaho, Idaho State, Montana, Portland State), serving as an early barometer for where the Cats stand after consecutive top-four finishes at the conference championships.
Montana State will roll out a lineup of Scarlet Weidig, Lauren Greeny, Eva Heinz, Maddie Montoya, and Hannah Boraas, with Jordan Briggs and Belle Brezovski also traveling to compete as individuals. Grand Canyon transfer Becca Tschetter will sit out the tournament to comply with NCAA rules and will make her debut at next week's Eagle Invitational in Worley, Idaho.
"We've got experience," Basye said. "These ladies have been together for a while—they know each other, they know their golf games, and I feel like they're all focused on the culture that they've created. They're holding each other accountable and with this first tournament they're all focused on having each other's backs."
The Cats return to Wolf Creek Golf Club for the first time since 2022, playing the par 72 course that features a yardage of 6,097.
Montana State is looking to recapture the magic of that trip two years ago to the Kelsey Chugg Invitational, which saw Scarlet Weidig win the tournament in her first time wearing Bobcat colors and a young freshman in Lauren Greeny tie the program record for low round with a score of 67 in her debut.
"We didn't go to Wolf Creek last year because we had the Title IX tournament, but we're excited to go back," Basye said. "Scarlet won there her first year and Greeny had a 67 in her first collegiate round there, so we pull some positive things from Wolf Creek."
Montana State is coming off a season which they broke records for low 54-hole team score (854), low 18-hole team score (276), and low individual 54-hole score (Scarlet Weidig, 205). Heading into her third season with the program, Weidig owns four individual victories, second in program history only to Jen McGregor (5, 1993-97).
The Bobcats carded the five best 54-hole tournament scores in program history, an incredible feat, and had six of the best seven 18-hole round scores in program history.
The program-low record for individual 18-hole round of 67 was matched on five occasions, with Weidig accomplishing it three times and Greeny doing it twice herself.
Along with Weidig and Greeny, the Cats bring back junior Maddie Montoya, sophomore Eva Heinz, and sophomore Hannah Boraas, who all started in the lineup at the Big Sky Championship in April, along with senior Jordan Briggs and sophomore Belle Brezovski.
In 2023-24, Montana State finished with four of the top eight individual scoring averages in program history: Weidig (1st, 73.83), Greeny (2nd, 74.10), Heinz (6th, 75.40), and Montoya (8th, 75.89). The Cats also broke their own record from only a year prior for 4-player team scoring average with a mark of 297.10, eclipsing the previous season's average of 302.51.
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