BILLINGS - Nate Bailey is one round away from a three-peat at the Men's State Am.

Not only did the Laurel golfer maintain his lead tournament lead, he increased it Friday at The Briarwood Golf Course.  Bailey shot a 2-under-par 70 dropping to 8-under for the week.  He leads Libby's Jimmy Mee by three strokes and West High graduate Brandon McIver by four.

Bailey, who admits he hasn't played much golf in the last couple years, was rolling through Friday's round at 5-under through 14 holes, before settling for a triple bogey on his 16th (par 4 7th).  McIver, playing in the group ahead, made birdie on that hole for a four-stroke swing between him and the leader.

Former Senior High golfer Blair Monson carded a hole-in-one on the par 3 3rd.

The State Am concludes Saturday with leaders expected to tee off around 9:00 a.m.

Men's State Am - 3rd Round:  The Briarwood (Par 72)

1 Nathan Bailey 73 65 70 -8
2 Jimmy Mee 72 67 72 -5
3 Brandon McIver 77 66 69 -4
T4 Jerry Pearsall 74 68 74 E
T4 Jake Hedge 70 73 73 E
T6 Reed Platke 73 70 74 +1
T6 Spencer Williams 75 68 74 +1
T6 Ty Wengel 70 70 77 +1
T9 Ben Leestma 70 71 78 +3
T9 III, Larry Iverson 72 73 74 +3
T11 Justin Telford 72 73 75 +4
T11 Austin Berg 74 73 73 +4
T11 Gordon Webb 72 76 72 +4
14 Drew Vanyo 76 74 71 +5
15 Jim Coleman 78 72 72 +6
16 Colin Gunstream 76 74 73 +7
17 Michael Bekken 79 72 73 +8
18 Shawn Tucker 73 76 76 +9
T19 Morgan Thompson 73 75 79 +11
T19 Graham Schmaltz 75 75 77 +11
21 Preston Matchett 75 77 76 +12
T22 Bennett MacIntyer 78 78 73 +13
T22 Sean Benson 80 73 76 +13
T24 Houston Bradbury 79 74 77 +14
T24 Wyatt Nielson 78 78 74 +14
T24 Cole Lorenz 79 73 78 +14
T24 Dakotah Jenson 78 78 74 +14
T28 Tanner Berg 81 78 72 +15
T28 Connor Hausauer 79 74 78 +15
T28 Ryan Porch 75 74 82 +15
T31 Jared Strickland 78 76 78 +16
T31 Drew Ferguson 76 81 75 +16
T31 Tyler Schiff 75 77 80 +16
T34 Derek Fuhs 80 77 76 +17
T34 Tyler Crennen 78 74 81 +17
T34 Thad Lensing 80 77 76 +17
T37 Blair Monson 75 83 77 +19
T37 Keithon Walter 80 80 75 +19
T37 Brian Muller 83 77 75 +19
40 Sean Gilligan 75 79 82 +20
T41 Joel Mallams 81 77 79 +21
T41 Austin Zopfi 78 74 85 +21
43 Nick Jankiewicz 78 85 76 +23
44 Brady Hoiness 80 79 81 +24
45 Marcus Drange 82 78 82 +26
T46 Brian Schwarzkoph 74 86 83 +27
T46 Stephen Martens 86 79 78 +27
T48 Pat Ryan 84 79 81 +28
T48 Kurt Kueffler 87 75 82 +28
T50 Adam Zwemke 82 87 76 +29
T50 Camden Caraveau 80 81 84 +29
T52 Padraig Barron 78 91 77 +30
T52 Eric Nell 84 85 77 +30
T54 Brandon Meyer 82 80 85 +31
T54 Zach Fischer 90 77 80 +31
T54 Phillip Caillavet 80 86 81 +31
57 Roger Burckley 90 81 78 +33
58 Greg Judson 83 84 83 +34
59 Marko Stanisich 90 79 83 +36
T60 Brady Nagel 83 86 84 +37
T60 Chad Jelle 84 87 82 +37
62 Anthony Wood 85 85 84 +38
T63 David Starcevich 88 88 79 +39
T63 Garrett Woodin 86 83 86 +39
T63 Easton Enott 85 90 80 +39
T66 Hunter Anderson 90 81 85 +40
T66 Todd Eames 83 83 90 +40
T66 Ryan Allen 87 89 80 +40
T69 Michael Degrazier 87 88 82 +41
T69 Austin Gates 90 84 83 +41
T69 Travis Thompson 93 85 79 +41
72 Chris Light 86 85 88 +43
T73 Tyler Ordahl 90 82 88 +44
T73 William McFarland 86 88 86 +44
T75 Bryce Anderson 94 83 85 +46
T75 Joe Nisly 88 90 84 +46
T75 Josh Roberts 92 86 84 +46
78 Jake Zwemke 90 89 84 +47
79 Eric Sell 89 83 92 +48
80 Nate Anderson 87 89 91 +51
81 Henry Holiday 93 89 86 +52
T82 Clayton Pike 97 88 85 +54
T82 Gerald Miller 90 88 92 +54
T82 Justin Jaster 86 92 92 +54
85 Tyler Johnston 87 93 91 +55
86 Bryan Ordahl 94 84 94 +56
87 Andy Ferguson 92 95 89 +60
88 Jesse Kynett 97 97 85 +63
89 Bruce Hamm 96 97 89 +66
90 Daniel Tedlund 93 96 94 +67
91 John Marshall 104 83 97 +68
92 Braydon Dutton 99 91 98 +72
93 Tafuna Tusi 98 100 95 +77
94 Ty Klippenstein 107 97 94 +82
- Brian Beach 79 - - - - - DQ DQ
- Trevin McNeil 99 - - - - - DQ DQ
- Parker Heller 76 78 - - - F WDI WDI
- Chris Hunter 82 - - - - - WD WD