Helena's John Gilbert wins State Juniors golf title by two strokes
John Gilbert backed up his Helena roots with a 9-under run and a two-shot State Juniors win, adding another step to a Division I pipeline headed to Washington State.
Helena’s John Gilbert turned a tight final round into another rung on the ladder from local junior golf to Division I recruiting, winning the 2026 Montana State Junior Championships boys title by two strokes at Lake Hills Golf Course in Billings.
Gilbert finished at 9-under par with rounds of 68, 71 and 68, holding off Billings local Colin Jensen after starting Sunday one shot ahead. Gilbert opened fast with four birdies in his first five holes, then briefly lost the lead after bogeys on Nos. 9 and 12 before tying Jensen on the 14th hole. Jensen had surged with back-to-back eagles on Nos. 9 and 10, but Gilbert answered with birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 and closed with par on 18 to secure the win. “I was just happy I could finish the tournament off strong and win it,” Gilbert said.
The result matters beyond one trophy because Gilbert’s rise traces the kind of long path local families and junior programs hope will still work in Helena. He swung a club for the first time at age 2, started playing competitive events around age 9 or 10 and has now added a State Juniors title to a résumé that already includes the Montana Class AA high school championship. Gilbert, an MHSA Class AA champion and Washington State University commit, won that fall title in October 2025 at Butte Country Club in a three-hole playoff over Missoula Sentinel’s Jack Schaefer, finishing it with a birdie on the third extra hole.
Gilbert’s win also gives Lewis and Clark County a clear example of how Montana junior golf can feed the next level. The State Junior Championships are billed by the Montana State Golf Association as the premier junior golf event in the state, and top finishers can earn chances to represent Montana in events such as the Junior Americas Cup and the Montana/Alberta Ryder Cup Matches. For Helena golfers, that means the path from local rounds to college rosters and elite regional competition still runs through a demanding statewide circuit.
Cate Leydig of Big Sky claimed the overall girls title by six strokes at 9-over par with rounds of 74, 77 and 74. The MHSA Class B champion and Girls Junior Americas Cup team member entered the final round with a three-stroke lead, gave it away with a triple bogey on No. 12, then steadied herself with birdies on Nos. 13 and 14 and finished with a final-round 74. “The triple bogey helped her lock in mentally,” the notes on her round said, and she ended the tournament at +2 for the day to win her first overall girls title.
In the 14-15 divisions, Grant Golik of Great Falls won the boys title by three strokes at +2, while Clare Jensen of Billings took the girls title by four strokes at +32. Gilbert’s title, Leydig’s recovery and the younger champions’ finishes showed a junior golf structure that reaches from first swings to state-team opportunities, with Helena now sending one of its own all the way to the top.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
