BUTTE — Sean Ramsbacher worked to get within just three shots of the lead during Tuesday’s final round at BanBury Golf Course, but a stumble the day before put a title repeat out of reach for the Montana Tech senior.
Ramsbacher scored a seven-over-par 220 and took second place behind Mitchell Thiessen (70-70-74-214) of Rocky Mountain College, which swept the individual and team titles at the Frontier Conference Championships in Eagle, Idaho.
“He’s as good a golfer as you’re going to come across,” Orediggers head coach Sean Ryan said of Ramsbacher. “He knew that he had a pretty big hill to climb after the way he finished (Monday).”
A birdie on 12 got Ramsbacher back to +6 and just three behind the lead. He bogeyed 13 and missed a few birdie putts as he settled for par on the last five holes of his tournament. Thiessen birdied 14 to virtually end Ramsbacher’s hopes at defending his title.
“He just couldn’t get anything to drop coming down the stretch,” Ryan said of the 2021 Frontier Conference champion. “If he could have made one or two of those birdies, things get a little bit tighter.
“But he played really, really well.”
The Tech men finished second with a three-day score of 53-over-par, 17 strokes behind Rocky. The Orediggers’ women shot 176-over-par and placed third behind Rocky (132-over) and Carroll (163-over).
Junior and Butte High grad Emily Kelly finished fourth in the women’s tournament to earn all-tournament honors with a score of 37-over-par 250.
Each team placed four golfers in the top-nine of their respective leaderboards.
Senior Isaiah Weldon took sixth (+15), junior Matt Hobbs was seventh (+16) and sophomore Jhett Braley finished in a tie for ninth (+20) for the Tech men’s team. Sophomore Jace Rhodes was a stroke outside the top-10 after shooting a 21-over-par for 11th place.
Ryan said Hobbs did well on a golf course he had never played before.
“Three rounds in the mid-70s, finishing just outside of the all-tournament team, that’s a really good showing for Matt and I think it gives him confidence going into next year,” Ryan said.
The freshmen trio of Samantha Benson (+43), Franchi Ceartin (+48) and Cierra Sundheim (+49) finished seventh through ninth on the women’s leaderboard, and fellow freshman Kennedy Lean (+73) placed 13th.
“The great thing is we’re not freshmen anymore,” Ryan said. “We’re going to be sophomores and a senior.
“We’ve made great strides and now it’s time to take the next step.”
Ramsbacher couldn’t match Thiessen’s ability to score down the stretch.
Over three days, Ramsbacher was -1 on the front nine and a +8 on holes 10-18.
Conversely, Thiessen was -3 on the back nine, including birdies on 16, 17 and 18 of his title-clinching final round. The Rocky senior birdied 18 each day of the tournament.
“Thiessen played really, really well down the stretch and made birdies to kind of pull away and make it his tournament,” Ryan said.
Ramsbacher entered Tuesday’s final round seven back of Thiessen. He bogeyed the first hole and birdied the sixth to stay even over the first third of BanBury and cut two strokes off Thiessen’s lead. He birdied 10 and 12 to pull within three, but that’s as close as he would get.
A 71 in the first round put Ramsbacher firmly in contention for the conference title, but a 76 on Monday placed him in a tie for second with Rocky’s Jacob Johnson. The defending champion was as close to eighth place as he was to first.
Rhodes shot a Tech-best 71 on Tuesday. The sophomore’s strong finish tied Ramsbacher’s opening round for lowest score of the tournament by an Oredigger.
“Jace played great,” Ryan said. “He wanted a little bit of a redemption at this golf course. It’s kind of had his number last year and this year. He kept his head and I think that’s what I’m most proud of. He took everything shot by shot and understood that not every shot is going to be there, especially under the conditions that you’re in.”
Ramsbacher could still play at the NAIA Men’s Golf National Championship on May 17-20 in Silvis, Illinois. The senior’s long track record of success could garner him an at-large bid.
“What he’s done over his career, and what he’s done this year scoring-average wise, we’re going to hold an outside hope for that,” Ryan said.
The field for nationals is announced in early May.
Ramsbacher and Weldon were the only seniors on Tech’s 10-player squad who traveled to Idaho. The men’s top-two golfers are going to be missed, Ryan said.
“They’ve left the program better than they found it,” Ryan said. “They’re tremendous young men. I’m so thankful that I got the opportunity to coach them. It’s hard to see them leave but I know they’re going to go on and do great things.”
The tournament, originally scheduled Monday-Wednesday, was moved up one day due to weather, though golfers still braved temperatures in the 30s throughout the tournament.
