Local Golf Report: Health Dept. opens golf courses

As of Monday afternoon, golf officially returned to Hill County.

Monday evening, the Hill County Health Department posted on its Facebook Page that it is lifting county wide restrictions on local golf courses, meaning Prairie Farms Golf Course and Beaver Creek Golf Course will be open today.

Both courses will be practicing strict social distancing and sanitation measures due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Of course, even when the courses do open, be advised that it will be unlikely that leagues tournaments will be happening anytime soon. Social distancing measures are going to stay in place for some time, and those types of events don't really allow for much social distancing.

So, on that note, if any tournament organizers, or league secretaries have any information they would like published, especially as we inch closer to tournament season, please email me that information at [email protected].

Had it not been for COVID-19, the Montana State University-Northern men's and women's golf teams would have been playing in the annual Frontier Conference Championships right now.

The tournament was set for Monday through Wednesday, and was going to have a new venue, as it moved from Phoenix, Arizona, to Boise, Idaho. It was going to be an exciting move for the Frontier, because the tournament would have been played much closer to all of the Montana schools.

However, like every other collegiate sporting event in the United States right now, the Frontier tournament wasn't to be.

The fall season did happen, however, so the Frontier released its 2020 Frontier All-Conference Teams last week. On the men's side, Lewis-Clark State's Carlos Davila was named Frontier Golfer of the Year, while Rocky Mountain College head coach Aaron Poole was named Coach of the Year. On the women's side, Rocky's Hailey Derrickson was named Player of the Year.

The league also announced its Champions of Character awards, and MSU-N's Kyle and Megan Vandenacre, both of Conrad, were honored.

The Frontier tournament this week would have concluded Northern head coach Jim Kirkpatrick's first season in charge of the MSU-N program.

The Lights were composed of Kyle Vandenacre, fellow sophomore T.J. Reynolds, as well as freshmen Troy Amsden, Oden Hallock and Matt Krueger. The Skylights were made up of Tiara Gilham, Makayla Labuff, Leotie Whitehead and Megan Vandenacre.