Montague golf guts out 4th-place finish at state, sets the stage for a bright future

BIG RAPIDS — It's been in many ways a dream season for the Montague Wildcats, and although this weekend's fourth-place finish in the Division 4 state finals at Katke Golf Course meant it ended just a bit short of the ultimate goal, the program showed that it's back on the big stage.

The Wildcats' two-day score of 755 came up 10 strokes behind state champ NorthPointe Christian, but it was a day to celebrate, not least because the team appears on the precipice of another special multi-year run - only Cadence Fox will graduate out of the five players who took the course this weekend.

"I felt like we exceeded expectations to put ourselves in this spot," Montague coach Phil Kerr said. "Of course, it would have been nice to pull out some magic at the end, but next year, the expectations will be really high. This will be our first offseason with our new golf room, and these girls are going to be as hungry as ever, so I'm looking forward to it."

There was no shortage of resilience required along the way for Montague. Every team in D-4 had to deal with the two-hour weather delay that affected Saturday's round, of course, but only the Wildcats had the additional issue of the disappearance of starter Marguerite O'Connell's clubs, which were apparently swiped from the team's hotel lobby that morning.

O'Connell used a loaner set of clubs from the course and got some help from other teams kicking in spare materials. Despite that sudden change in routine, she still shot a 101, only six strokes worse than her day-one score. She even scored a birdie on the par-4 11th hole.

"I was proud of how the girls fought, specifically Marguerite," Kerr said. "She went and shot a score that's right around her average with a junk set that we pulled out of the clubhouse. That was pretty sweet."

After day one, the Wildcats had a lot of reason to be confident. They were sitting just two strokes back of the lead after storming back from a big deficit early in the round and shooting a 376. All four day-one scorers broke 100, led by a 90 from Fox - a remarkable number considering a disastrous 10 on a par-3 early in her round.

"Yesterday, after I shot my first 10 of the season, I sat there and I was a little disappointed," Fox said. "I didn't even make it on the green. It just kept going in the water. I sat there and laughed at myself...I just thought, 'You can make it back on the back nine.'"

Fox did just that and rallied to shoot four over par on the back nine Friday, showing the toughness and leadership Kerr has spoken of all season, which will be so missed next fall.

Also Friday, Addi Smith had a 94, including one birdie. O'Connell shot a 95 and Molly Mulder added a 97.

Saturday dawned with much different conditions. The morning rain and steady wind made things unpredictable for players, and teams jockeyed for position early in their rounds.

NorthPointe, which held the lead after day one, and Lansing Catholic, which spent the whole season ranked No. 1, eventually separated from the pack with strong rounds, and the Wildcats hung around as long as they could before settling for fourth place. Elk Rapids managed to overtake Montague as well by tying for the day's best team score, a 370. (Montague's 379 ranked fifth for the day.)

"Two great teams," Kerr said of the two that ended up at the top. "Lansing Catholic was ranked first all year. They were the best team all year from start to finish. We knew they were the ones to beat. NorthPointe played out of their minds all weekend. They were a lot different team than we saw at regionals a week ago. Credit to them, and credit to their coach. They really pulled it out."

The emotions flowed freely once the round ended; Fox was able to triumphantly end her high school career with a birdie on her final hole, and shot her second 90 of the weekend to again lead the team in scoring. She finished ninth on the individual leaderboard. Smith also matched her Friday score, shooting another 94 to come in a 15th-place tie.

Brynlee Kessler rebounded from a Friday 101 to shoot a 94 of her own, and Mulder equaled O'Connell's score by shooting a 101.

The last time Montague finished fourth at state, it followed by winning the next two championships. The Wildcats knew when that run ended that there would be a lull; their next top players simply didn't have enough experience to sustain that kind of run. This time around, things are different. Kerr, the program, and a talented group of young players have put in the time to set the stage for a run that might just last far longer this time.

"We've put a lot of work in to make this sustainable," Kerr said. "Last time we were here at this level, we knew there was about to be a drop-off, and we decided to do something about it. We feel like from here on out, there's no more drop-offs. We expect to be here every year fighting for this."

"At this point, we have enough of a system that every year, hopefully, we'll have good players coming in," Smith added.

Smith will be one of those players; she, Mulder and Kessler will be the senior anchors of the 2026 Wildcats, with O'Connell slated for her junior season (presumably with a different set of clubs). And there's a lot more talent behind them.

But for Saturday, the celebration was about the present, which looked pretty wonderful as well.

"It's so hard to win these," Kerr said. "I know we made it look easy for two years, but it wasn't easy then, and it's never going to be easy. Some things go your way and some things don't. One hole for Cadence, golf clubs come up missing, things could be different, but I'm proud of these girls. The season was awesome. One of my favorite all-time groups."