Christmas 9—WHITEFISH — Joey Moore faltered at the end, and then he didn’t, making birdie on the first playoff hole to win the 85th annual Earl Hunt Memorial 4th of July tournament Saturday.
Holding a three-stroke lead on the tee at No. 17, Moore finished double bogey-bogey at Whitefish Lake Golf Club while Andrew Medley — the leader through the first two rounds — went par-par.
But Moore, the runner up a year ago, birdied to end the sudden death playoff after one hole. It was the Billings golfer’s third win at the tournament. He also won in 2017 and 2021.
Medley, out of Scottsdale, Arizona, was gunning for his third win to go with titles in 2012 and 2016. He shot a solid 2-under 69 on the South Course, including three birdies.
Meanwhile Moore was blistering the course, with his birdie on the par-3 No. 15 taking him to 6-under on the day. If it wasn’t quite enough to win the event through 54 holes — he still shot 68 on Saturday — he had one more in his pocket.
Jason Johnstone out of Stevensville’s Cove Creek also shot 68 Saturday to move up to third by himself, at 4-under 210. Mike Mezei was fourth at 213, and Whitefish’s Arthur Doorn was next at 214.
Missoula’s Kade McDonough, the third player to shoot 68 on Saturday, ended up sixth at 215.
Brad Grattan was the wire to wire Seniors winner, shooting 74 Saturday to finish even par 215 for the championship. He led a 1-2-3 Whitefish finish: Mary Mehl (222) was second, and Gene Walsh (233) tied Missoula’s Rick Reimers for third.
Greg Hetzer, another Whitefish golfer, was fifth at 235. He also shot 74 on Saturday.
Butte’s Patricia Joyce likes the North Course: She shot a 2-under 70 on Saturday to go with a 4-under 68 on Thursday, and won the women’s championship flight by 10 strokes. She began the day with back-to-back birdies and finished with a flourish, with birdies on the par-5 16th and 18th holes.
Cora Rosanova of Bozeman and Jasi Acharya of Columbus tied for second at 8-over 223; Acharya, the two-time defending champion, shot a 75 Saturday. Rosanova, who won this event in 2020, fired a 76.
Glacier High product Teigan Avery was fourth at 224, while Flathead High graduate Marcella Mercer was fifth at 227.
85th annual Earl Hunt 4th of July Golf Tournament
Men’s Open
Championship flight
Andrew Medley 65-72-69—206
Joey Moore 70-68-68—206
Jason Johnstone 69-73-68—210
Mike Mezei 69-74-70—213
Arthur Doorn 68-74-72—214
Kade McDonough 73-74-68—215
Bryce Reed 71-75-71—217
Jim Bob Coleman 73-74-70—217
Brian Hanson 71-68-78—217
Carson Hackmann 73-72-74—219
Scott Friggle 71-73-76—220
Bennett MacIntyre 73-73-75—221
Justin Dorr 77-74-71—222
Tristan Hanson 74-75-71—222
Brian Noonan 75-77-70—222
Joe Wagner 75-72-75—222
Mark Mance 74-72-76—222
Byron Olson 76-75-74—225
Eli Rogers 74-70-81—225
Liam O’Halloran 76-74-76—226
Derrick Hubbard 77-75-74—226
First flight
Shawn Tucker 70-73-76—219
Ken Bush 75-74-73—222
Brady Cady 69-80-75—224
Tanner Hanson 75-74-75—224
Ben Sidor 75-81-73—229
Maxwell Milton 76-76-80—232
Connor Bennett 80-77-75—232
Chris Haas 78-73-81—236
Curtis Blake 78-75-83—236
Johnny Nix 79-80-78—237
John Johnstone 79-79-79—237
Dan Conkling 73-78-86—237
Second flight
Tim Kiley 77-74-81—232
Brad Cox 80-75-78—233
Ryan Santa 81-73-79—233
Mark Houser 83-74-77—234
Dutch Teders 75-77-82—234
Kyle Sheppard 77-80-80—237
Christian Lund 82-78-77—237
Tommy Lindell 82-79-77—238
Matt Longfield 84-79-76—239
Hank Miller 78-79-83—240
Third flight
Kevin Ryan 81-74-77—232
Matthew Peschel 75-84-77—236
Mike Levin 74-85-79—238
Isaac Mosser 76-82-80—238
Palmer Coleman 79-79-82—240
Jeff Fairlee 76-83-81—240
Will Salonen 83-81-78—242
Kelly Kostad 78-77-88—243
JR Higbee 81-80-85—246
Tony Lyon 85-80-81—246
Eric Anderson 80-81-86—247
Fourth flight
Blake Hilburn 81-90-76—247
Levi LaPrath 80-85-85—250
Dave Knight 84-81-85—250
Jeff Bengtson 86-88-81—255
Rich Nickerson 80-87-88—255
David Bareno 90-82-85—257
Otto Klein 89-83-85—257
Trevor Brown 85-89-85—259
Jim Niebur 93-90-80—263
Brandon Rohrer 86-92-88—266
Eric Rea 90-90-86—266
Women’s Open
Championship flight
Patricia Joyce 68-75-70—213
Cora Rosanova 72-75-76—223
Jasi Acharya 74-74-75—223
Teigan Avery 73-74-77—224
Marcella Mercer 74-76-77—227
Bella Johnson 81-77-78—236
Katherine Wills-Byl 79-81-76—236
Anna DeMars 78-80-80—238
Carly McNaughton 83-78-79—240
Shealyn Hafer 82-84-79—245
Kinsey Irvin 80-88-87—255
Chloe Tanner 81-93-87—261
First flight
Stella Claridge 82-76-82—240
Kathy Dodd 76-86-81—243
Bobbie Lacken 81-84-80—245
Marcy Holt 79-85-81—245
Lauren Mayala 83-83-81—247
Ashley Maki 86-84-81—251
Nancy Brooks 85-85-88—258
Louise Cholette-Haley 82-89-87—258
Cheryl Breidenbach 89-90-82—261
Jamie Maki 92-85-87—264
Men’s Senior Open
Championship flight
Brad Grattan 69-72-74—215
Marty Mehl 73-73-76—222
Gene Walsh 82-74-77—233
Rick Reimers 76-80-77—233
Greg Hetzer 82-79-74—235
Ron Ramsbacher 78-78-82—238
Tom Shea 73-85-80—238
Joe Cielak 79-78-82—239
Andy Breidenbach 83-77-83—243
Gary Holt 86-77-82—245
Walt Barnes 83-79-83—245
First flight
John Hawkins 80-80-79—239
Vincent DePinto 79-78-82—239
Mike Managhan 79-75-87—241
Larry Schwenke 79-81-85—245
Dave Streeter 83-84-81—248
Steve Wood 78-91-80—249
Bryon Mayala 79-88-83—250
Bill LeLievre 82-88-81—251
Mike Lincoln 77-87-88—252
William Copeland 81-83-90—254
Second flight
Greg Selmanson 76-79-81—236
Mark Stella 82-83-89—254
Dan Wagner 84-88-85—257
Chris Viludich 80-92-88—260
Dan Rohrer 87-87-87—261
David Golden 84-90-88—262
Henry Raats 93-90-83—266
Neal Bouma 85-85-97—267
Barry Fenn 87-91-89—267
Robert Sandman 88-93-89—270