40-foot birdie putt lifts Montana State's Norah Seidl to Big Sky golf crown

LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. — Montana State junior golfer Norah Seidl bested Northern Arizona’s Lizzie Neale in a playoff on the No. 18 hole on the Wigwam Golf Club Blue Course to earn the Big Sky Conference individual title at the Big Sky Championship on Wednesday.
 
Seidl became the fourth Bobcat in program history to earn medalist honors at the conference championship tournament, joining teammate Maddie Montoya (2025), Paige Crawford (2013), and Jen McGregor (1995) in achieving the feat.

With her 5-under 208 performance, Seidl clinched Montana State’s second-ever NCAA Regional appearance after Montoya secured her spot at the NCAA Gold Canyon Regional by winning the Big Sky title last season.
 
“Just an amazing finish,” Montana State coach Brittany Basye said. “Norah is just clutch. That putt just rolled right in, and it was a celebration. The team played awesome today. We shot even-par today, and we had even on the first day. In the second round we struggled a little bit, but then shot even today, which is an awesome comeback for these girls. We had one thing to get done, and they did it today. I’m so proud of all of them, and we're going back to regionals.

“This is such a special team. I'm going miss my seniors, but the future is bright, and it keeps getting brighter. I’m so proud of Norah. We can't wait to get her to regionals, and you'll hear Norah's comment: she found her home. We got her as a transfer from Tulsa, and she's just special. She found a way to win. She had her teammates around her, but credit goes to this whole team. It's not just one person. It's a whole team, and it was all of them.”
 
The Bobcats secured their third top-three finish at the Big Sky Championship in the last four seasons, finishing 15-over 867 to wrap up a third-place performance in Arizona. They matched their opening-round score of 284 on Wednesday to finish with a three-round scorecard of 284-299-284.

Two Bobcats finished in the top 10 on the individual leaderboard for the third time in the last four seasons, with Lauren Greeny tying for 10th at 4-over 217 to notch her third top-10 finish at the Big Sky Championship.
 
Seidl shot her lowest round of the tournament on Wednesday with a 4-under 67, posting just one bogey over 18 holes while posting five birdies. She sunk three in a row on holes 4 through six as part of a string of 10 bogey-free holes to open the round. She added two more on Nos. 10 and 15 and concluded her final round tied at 5-under 208 with Northern Arizona’s Neale.

The two golfers went to a playoff to determine the champion, and Seidl delivered by sinking a birdie from approximately 40 feet out to beat Neale’s par effort on a replay of the 18th hole. Wednesday’s victory marked Seidl’s first career medalist honor and the third for the Bobcats this season following Eva Heinz’s win at the Yellowstone Intercollegiate and Lauren Greeny’s victory at the Diane Thomason Invitational in the fall.
 
Greeny concluded her Bobcat career with a 217 to take home a share of 10th place. She birdied on holes 1 and 7 while adding an eagle on hole 10 to post a 73 in the third round on Wednesday. The effort marked her second top-10 finish of the season and her third career top-10 result at the Big Sky Championship, adding to her fourth-place results in 2023 and 2025.
 
Eva Heinz counted a 71 for the Bobcats on Wednesday, shooting bogey-free on 10 of her last 11 holes to secure a 54-hole score of 5-over 218. She birdied four times on the back nine on holes 10, 12, 14, and 18 in a strong finish in Arizona. 
 
Ashleigh Wilson placed 27th in her first Big Sky Championship, carding a 73 in her best round of the tournament on Wednesday to finish with a 225. She found her best stretch of golf in the final five holes, sinking back-to-back birdies on holes 15 and 16 and adding pars on Nos. 14, 17, and 18.
 
2025 Big Sky individual champion Maddie Montoya capped off her Montana State career with a 54-hole score of 234. She posted an 81 on Wednesday, highlighted by five pars and a birdie during a six-hole stretch between holes 3 and 8. She finished tied for 40th place in Arizona.
 
Northern Arizona took home the team title at the Wigwam Golf Club with a score of 5-under 847, finishing five strokes ahead of runner-up Northern Colorado at even-par 852. The Cats placed third at 15-over 867, while Portland State (29-over 881) and Sacramento State (31-over 883) finished fourth and fifth, respectively, on the par-71 course.
 
Seidl earned the victory over Northern Arizona’s Neale in a playoff after both golfers finished 5-under 208. Northern Arizona’s Frankie Dezis and Northern Colorado’s Olivia Salonek finished three strokes back in a tie for third place at 2-under 211, while Weber State’s Sofia Fuenmayor and Northern Colorado’s Samantha Colombine tied for fifth place at 1-under 212.
 
The Bobcats concluded their 2025-26 season with a school-record four-player stroke average of 295.17, surpassing the 2024-25 Bobcats’ average of 295.12. With a program-record five golfers earning All-Big Sky honors, the Cats took home four Big Sky Golfer of the Week awards and compiled three individual victories, one team tournament win, and seven top-three team finishes in a historic season for the Montana State women’s golf.
 
With her individual victory at the Big Sky Championship, Seidl will advance to the NCAA Regionals, which will be held at six sites around the country on May 11-13.

Those regional sites and hosts include Ann Arbor, Mich. (Michigan), Chapel Hill, N.C. (North Carolina), Simpsonville, Ky. (Louisville), Stanford, Calif. (Stanford), Tallahassee, Fla., (Florida State), and Waco, Texas (Baylor). The NCAA Division I Selection Show is set for Wednesday, April 29, at 2 p.m. MT on the Golf Channel.