BILLINGS — When the stakes were highest at this week’s Class B state golf meet at Lake Hills Golf Course, Lone Peak’s Cate Leydig had a reminder for herself.
"I actually have a keychain on my bag that says, 'Be a goldfish,' and that's kind of the mentality that I enter when I'm playing golf, because they're the happiest animal in the world because they have a five second memory," Leydig said.
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Leydig shot an even-par 72 in Wednesday's second round, leading her to a six-shot victory for individual medalist honors.
The senior credited keeping the ball in play off the tee as a key to her performance.
"Honestly keeping the ball in bounds was a big one off the tee box, because my driver, it can get a little questionable sometimes," Leydig said. "I can hit it far, but I can also hit it 50 yards right or 50 yards left.
"So, I feel like the game changer was just ... putting the driver in a position where I can get a close approach shot, so that was just kind of the mentality there was, keep your driver in bounds, don't hit it out."
On the boys side, Manhattan's Blake Bentle trailed by four strokes entering the second round but overtook reigning champion Zach Munding of Missoula Loyola to win by one shot.
"My swing was feeling good all day," Bentle said. "I just got some unlucky breaks to start. ... I was able to get up and down a couple times in a row there to really help me out."
Bentle said staying mentally focused was central to his approach.
"I just try to find little things to do that take my mind off of golf for a second and just enjoy nature or something like that," said Bentle, who helped the Manhattan boys to a second-place team finish. Florence won the boys championship by four strokes.
Both Bentle and Leydig won Southeastern B divisional titles last week at Lake Hills, giving them familiarity with the course.
However, challenging weather conditions made Wednesday's round difficult.
"It's just taking it one shot at a time," Bentle said. "There was a little rainstorm there when I was on 5, and I made a tester par putt that kind of kept me in it for the round."
Added Leydig: "That definitely kind of throws a wrench in a lot of plans that you come into it with when it's blowing 30 miles per hour sideways."
But that doesn't faze a goldfish.
