This year we had 90 players in our extended category course championships. We added two age protected categories. A senior category for men over 50 in both the Open and Amateur categories. We had perfect light winds and a warm day that led to some great scores in all five categories. Clint Calvin who is our new course champion shot what is now a new course record for our modern course championship format. About 10 years back we changed our format to include an incredibly difficult second round that only the players in this event will ever play due to its’ difficulty and crossing fairways, Clint bested the 21 person Open field shooting a -11 on the medium difficult course, a -5 on the long course, a -15 on the short course and a -8 in the final 9. His -39 is the best score yet with this format and earned him $400 for his efforts. Rounding out the top four Nick Newton wowed the crowd with a near ace on hole 8 for his bid at the first ever -10 in a nine hole final. He eventually missed his putt on hole 9 as well to finish -8 for the final nine as did Clint. Max Nichols finished third again this year. Being a lefty Max is always fighting an uphill battle on this course. Coming in fourth was one of our longest playing champion players Carlo Pelg. Carlo has won the Course championship once but he’s finished second 13 times. Of note in the third round hard charging Carlos Caballero also a former course champion had two aces in his round. He nabbed hole 11a and hole 16b for the ace pool monies. That was one very high energy group to follow. Mike Westerman won the senior open division with a fine -12 in the third round outlasting near daily local Fred Aguero.
In the Am category Alex Gerlock aced hole 12 long for the first time ever in tourney play earning him a dollar from each of the other competitors in the event. He then went on to win this 55 player category shooting a -11 for his three rounds, For his efforts he won a new sharpshooter basket from Legacy Discs plus an additional $200 in merchandise and shop credit. There were 18 players in the amateur division that cashed. In the Am Seniors Hans Degner led from start to finish carding an eventual -8 for the tourney . The seven man senior division had 3 who cashed. John Maki took second and Seamus Garland took third.
In the women’s category Rianne Hamilton dominated again this year winning by 26 strokes in the four person field. Rianne shot a magnificent -8 in the third round. Second place finisher Pam Vaughn also shot an under par round carding a 56 in the third round.
Lunch was pizza, salad and drinks donated by Amplified Ale Works again this year. The San Diego Beer Council sponsored as did the Morley Field Disc Golf Pro Shop. Players earned back 100% of all entry fees paid into the event. Big thanks to Zac Burnside and Chris Dilloway for art and computer work, my wife Joanne who ran around town and picked up all our lunch food and served it to the players. My staff Jesse, EJ and of course my long suffering side kick Mac. Mitchell was invaluable with tourney prep in the shop. Also a special shout out to Christian and Britany for spotting in the 5 ½ hour second round. Till next time…
Z ya