FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Monday, May 2, 2016 By: Rio Frame, MSUB Media Relations Intern New Faces: MSUB golf freshman Kortney McNeil
Recently completing her first season as a Yellowjacket, freshman Kortney McNeil is already rewriting the school record books as one of the top golfers in program history. MSUB SPORTS – Kortney McNeil was a successful golfer long before she joined the Montana State University Billings women’s golf team. “I think one of my defining moments as a golfer was winning state my freshman year,” reminisced McNeil about her days at Billings Senior High School. “Winning got me more hooked into golf than any other sport. At that point I don’t think I had really realized how much I loved it.” After one season with the Yellowjackets, McNeil is already one of the best golfers in school history. She bettered the school record for a two-round score three different times in the fall season, and came within a single stroke of the Yellowjacket single-round record. Her 147 (71-76) at the NCAA Division II National Preview meet in October helped her team set a school record with an overall round of 297, the first sub-300 round ever for the women’s golf program. Her 2015-16 season average of 78.2
strokes per round was just shy of the MSUB record of 78.0 (Kalli Stanhope, 2011-12), and was good enough to earn her second-team all-Great Northwest Athletic Conference honors with the seventh-best average in the league. “I chose MSUB because it seemed like a perfect fit,” McNeil said. “I knew I would be close to home and it had my major, so it just seemed like the right place to be.” McNeil is working towards earning a nursing degree. “I felt nursing would be very rewarding, yet challenging. Every day would present itself with something new and I enjoy helping people,” noted McNeil on her choice. This young athlete’s relaxed demeanor combined with her calming voice and presence is a perfect quality for the people that she plans to help during her nursing career. “I’ve always been impressed with the way the Kortney competes,” commented MSUB head coach Kevin Woodin about his freshman athlete. “She impresses me with her calm demeanor and her ability to focus on one shot at a time. She had great freshman year.” “I’ve known Coach Woodin since I was really little, so having him come in as our new coach the second half of our season has been a really easy transition,” said McNeil. Coach Woodin was not the only person from the team that McNeil was familiar with coming into her freshman year. “I actually had played golf with Sammy Walter all throughout high school,” commented McNeil on her teammate. “She was kind of a deciding factor for choosing MSUB as well.” Walter was the lead golfer for the Yellowjackets during her freshman year in 2014-15. “Sammy is one of the people who I look up to most on the team because I’ve known and golfed with her so long that she knows my game and I know hers. If I’m feeling down I know that I can talk to her about anything,” McNeil stated happily. Walter is also a part of one of McNeil’s favorite memories playing golf. “We were in high school and we both shot really close scores to each other. We were at the same course, but we were like a group away from each other,” smiled McNeil as she recalled one of her favorite days. The two girls kept tabs on each other to see how each was doing. “It was exciting to be that close at the end of the day to each other’s score,” said McNeil. McNeil notes that not having any seniors on the team has not affected its abilities within the GNAC. “I think with how close we all are playing definitely makes us a stronger team overall,” said McNeil. The women had a good showing at the conference tournament in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho in late April, with McNeil earning the 18th spot in the tournament. “I wanted to go in with a lot of confidence and to know that I was capable of shooting what I could,” noted McNeil. Playing golf is difficult because of all the techniques, head games, and outside elements that can affect a player during her tournament. For
McNeil putts at the 2015-16 GNAC Golf Championships at the Coeur d’Alene resort in Idaho.
McNeil she believes that her short game is one of her biggest strengths when she’s out on the course. “I would say that putting is one of my strengths,” comments McNeil. “I’m usually pretty good at staying fairly calm out there, and I don’t get too upset or up and down in my game.” However, if McNeil is having an off game she has a way to keep herself centered. “I think the main thing when you are having a bad round is to just try and stay calm. I’ve had some rough tournaments where I learned a lot about myself and how not to give up on myself,” McNeil commented. “Everybody has a bad day, but to see how you are as a golfer you have to come back the next weekend and play how you know you can.” McNeil is extremely knowledgeable and mature for her age, especially when she talks about how to handle tough situations. Namely, her battle with scoliosis has forced McNeil to constantly deal with adversity, and overcome challenges within her sports on a regular basis. Scoliosis is an abnormal curvature of the spine and not something a golf player wants to have to deal with. “I’ve been trying to manage with doing physical therapy,” McNeil noted about the struggle to keep herself healthy. McNeil supplements her golfing with core workouts and back strengthening exercises. “I actually found out a couple weeks ago that I don’t have to have surgery for a couple more years.” Along with her back exercises, McNeil enjoys doing yoga to strengthen all her muscles. Not only does McNeil work on mastering her short game, but she focuses a lot on her longer game too. “One of my weaknesses is my long game. I’m not a super long hitter, but I’m usually pretty straight,” said McNeil about the focus she has spent working with her driver out of the tee box. “I think that Kortney has adjusted to collegiate golf really well. The courses are longer and tougher, but she is off to a great start,” commented Woodin. “I’ve never played golf in the spring before,” commented McNeil on her two-season sport. “That was kind of strange jumping into playing so early this year and not playing basketball either.” During her high school career at Billings Senior, McNeil participated during the winter sports season in basketball, as well as golf during the fall. “I did enjoy being able to focus just on one sport and give it all of my attention instead of a couple, like during high school,” said MSUB’s star golfer. To keep herself sharp for her fall and spring seasons McNeil spends a lot of her free time working on areas she needs to improve in her golf game. “During the off season you know your game and what you need to work on, so you can spend time focusing on that,” said McNeil. She is a frequent visitor to Mitchell’s during the colder Dealing with the tough elements in the winter months in months of the year when she is unable to actually hit the course. “You Montana hasn’t deterred McNeil’s interest in the sport she loves.
can also find a few tournaments here and there to play in to keep that competitive edge.” The snow and frigid air during the winter months keeps a lot of golfers away from the courses, making it more difficult to work on their game, but during the summer months it’s a different story. McNeil spends a lot of her free days golfing. However, this dry and fairly warm winter gave the golfer the opportunity to play year-round. “I don’t think I’ve ever been able to play golf in January, but this year I did,” said McNeil excitedly. “The grass is still not the best during the winter, but you are still getting to swing your clubs.” McNeil started playing golf when she was a very young girl with her father and brother. “My older brother, Treven, and my dad, Brian, were always big golfers and so I’d always tag along,” remembered the freshman about how it all started 13 years ago. “It has always been a family thing, way before it was competitive.” Woodin believes that in the next couple years, McNeil’s successful career with continue. “I think if she continues to put in the time, the sky's the limit for Kortney.” McNeil’s family never could have guessed how successful the little six-year-old golfer would become as a Senior Bronc, winning state a couple of times, and then later being one of the best golfers that the Yellowjacket program has had at only the beginning of her collegiate career. McNeil has not let anything stop her, from a bad game to scoliosis, to keep her from her goals of continuing to do the sport that she loves.
McNeil (second from right) poses with the MSUB women’s golf team at the GNAC Championships with the famous ‘floating green’ in the background.
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