Jerry Pearsall has been one of the most dominant senior golfers in Montana the last few years. In 2019 he won his first State Senior Tournament title and followed that with another one in 2024.
Pearsall was also the 2024 and 2025 Montana State Senior Amateur Champion and even qualified for last year’s U.S. Senior Amateur at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio. While he enters the Montana Golf Hall of Fame for what he’s already accomplished, given his continued success it seems likely, as MSGA Executive Director Nick Dietzen stated recently, that “his playing record will continue to grow in the years to come.”
For Pearsall, the golf life began in Dickinson, North Dakota, at the early age of six when his dad Gary would take him for a quick nine holes before heading off to work. When the family moved to Billings, Montana, “He continued to take me along with him to Lake Hills,” Pearsall recalled of his dad. “And that is where I spent the next 20 years learning to play.”
Pearsall had early success as a youth golfer, starring for the Billings Senior High School team and twice having the honor of representing Montana in the Junior Americas Cup. Also on those teams was Billings West golfer and another future Montana Golf Hall of Famer, Mike Grob. The two teenagers had many battles on the course and Pearsall credits his life-long friend Grob as somebody who “inspired me to get better as a junior golfer if I wanted to try to compete with him.”
In 1980 Pearsall beat out the future PGA Tour player Grob, among others, for the Steve Schwartz Memorial Trophy which is awarded to the lowest scoring junior at the Montana State Men’s Amateur Championship.
A year later and once again back at the State Amateur at Riverside Country Club in Bozeman, the 16-year-old Pearsall had a memorable playing performance, finding himself in the final group with Montana golf legends Gene Cook, Louie Bartoletti, and Mark Metzger. “I was incredibly nervous and way out of my league,” Pearsall recalled. “The weather was awful – pouring rain, thunder, and a saturated course. Gene and Louie did not even notice the weather and played great all day.”
As memorable as playing in that final group was for Pearsall, the first thing that still comes to mind about that 1981 State Amateur was getting to play with another hero of his.
“My first love was baseball growing up, and as a Billings kid, my favorite player was Dave McNally,” Pearsall said about the Billings native McNally who was an All-Star pitcher and won two World Series’ with the Baltimore Orioles. “The first two rounds I was paired with Mr. McNally – that in itself was memorable. I played really well those first two days, opening with 72-72, and he was cheering me on and encouraging me the whole way. We didn’t play together in round three, but he came looking for me after the round to see how I did. That made my day.”
By the mid-1980s Pearsall began his career as a golf professional and continued getting better on the course, even qualifying three straight years (1990-1992) for the Boise Open which was on the Ben Hogan Tour (eventually re-branded as Korn Ferry Tour).
In his first Boise Open in 1990 at Hillcrest Country Club, Pearsall played against the likes of Tom Lehman, Jeff Maggert, and John Daly and yet managed to get his name briefly atop the leaderboard early on. “My hands were shaking teeing the ball up on the first hole, and my dad was on the bag,” he recalled. “I think he was more nervous than me.”
After settling down a bit, he played well for three rounds, making the cut and finishing in a tie for 41st and made $560 for his efforts. As Pearsall proudly recounted, “A PGA Tour paycheck! This was probably the best golf I have ever played over three days.”
Along with his playing exploits, Pearsall was also bestowed with the 1991 Rocky Mountain Section PGA Assistant Professional of the Year Award while working at Lake Hills. A couple years later it was his work with the local section that led him to a new administrative position with the Pacific Northwest Section PGA in Olympia, Washington, which included 10 years as executive director. While working in Washington, Pearsall ran tournaments all throughout the Northwest as well as trade and merchandise shows and even helped establish a First Tee facility for kids.
After spending over a decade in Olympia, Pearsall still looks back fondly on his time spent there. “Although it has been more than 20 years since I left the Pacific Northwest,” he reminisced, “the friendships developed over those years with PGA professionals across the Pacific Northwest Section, Rocky Mountain Section, and throughout the country are treasured. I especially enjoy the friendships made with fellow staff members I worked beside those 12 years, nearly all of which I remain in contact with to this day.”
Pearsall moved back to Billings in 2004, and he immediately applied to the United States Golf Association to regain his amateur status. It didn’t take long to reacquaint himself with the top of the leaderboards at state events, turning in runner-up performances at four Mid-Amateur Championships (2008, 2010, 2011, 2015) and a handful of top-5 finishes at State Amateur and Mid-Amateur events over the next decade. In 2010 after narrowly eking out a Mid-Am win, fellow Billings golfer Craig Hurlbert had some prophetic words when talking to a local reporter about the runner-up Pearsall. “His time is going to come, and he’ll win several,” he said.
In 2009 Pearsall qualified for the U.S. Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, his first experience with a USGA national championship. It was a special experience with his mom and dad flying down to watch the event, and his friend Dr. Robert Bergeson as his caddie. “To be in that atmosphere walking the fairways with Bob Bergeson was unforgettable,” Pearsall said. “He was just a wonderful person who loved golf, the Rules of Golf, and baseball. He left us way too soon.”
As for the golf itself, Pearsall claims that the two courses he played at the 2009 U.S. Amateur – Cedar Ridge Country Club and Southern Hills Country Club – “were the longest and most difficult courses I have ever seen or will ever play.”
That same year he represented Montana at the USGA State Team Championship, which he did again in 2012.
While his golf remained at an elite level, Pearsall was still searching for that elusive MSGA Championship title to call his own. He was close a number of times in the decade and a half since moving back to Billings but couldn’t quite reach the top spot.
That all changed in 2019, when playing in his first Montana State Senior Tournament in his hometown of Billings, Pearsall managed to outlast his lifelong friend, Craig Hurlbert, for his first state amateur title.
With the win Pearsall established himself as one of the top senior players in the state and continues collecting first place trophies. In 2024 he played his way into both the Senior Tournament and Senior Amateur titles and followed that up in 2025 with another State Senior Amateur victory, making that four MSGA Championships won by Pearsall thus far, with more likely on the way.
In 2025 he also had his second USGA experience when he qualified for the U.S. Senior Amateur at Oak Hills Country Club in San Antonio. He was thrilled to share the moment with his good friend and golf buddy, Mike Follett, who had caddy duties.
“Thinking back,” Pearsall stated recently, “I’ve played in MSGA events for over 50 years, going back to those early days of the MSGA district junior tournaments that were usually held at Laurel Golf Club.”
As he reflected on his recent induction into the Montana Golf Hall of Fame, he said what an incredible honor it is to be included in this prestigious 2026 class of inductees. “I’ve said before that winning a Montana State Golf Association event is something that all of us Montana golfers aspire to accomplish. But to be in their Hall of Fame was never an aspiration, never a goal, just an amazing by-product for simply enjoying this great game for a lifetime.”