Cut day has gone just as quickly as it came and the battles for the final day are set in stone.
Catrina Allen has pulled a rabbit out of her hat, taking a one stroke advantage into the final day
over Paige Pierce, who sits six strokes ahead of Lisa Fajkus in third place. After a disappointing
third day, Kristin Tattar rallied back with a hot -5 for the day to mitigate all but one of the strokes
she coughed up during her previous +6 at Fort Buenaventura.
Sai Ananda and Hailey King both sit one stroke back of Kristin at -3 for the event, one stroke
ahead of Sarah Hokom and two strokes ahead of Ohn Scoggins. These top eight ladies are the
only competitors under par in the FPO division. The race for podium seems as entertaining as, if
not more entertaining than, the two horse race for the title.
Both fortunately and unfortunately, not all of the talent we typically see towards the top of the
FPO leaderboard made the cut this year because of the stark difference between courses and
their playstyles. Des Reading missed the cut by one stroke. Kat Mertsch missed the cut by five
strokes. Zoe Andyke and Ellen Widboom both missed the cut by eleven strokes. Rebecca Cox
missed the cut by twenty strokes.
The same goes for the MPO division as well. Familiar names like Tim Barham, Bradley
Williams, Steve Rico, Avery Jenkins, Steve Brinster, Zach Melton, and JohnE McCray all
missed the cut and will not play tomorrow.
While those legends of the game will miss the final, Paul McBeth will not. In fact, he carries the
lead going into the final day after a remarkable -10 at Fort Buenaventura with two bogeys. His
resurgence does not put him in the clear, however, as James Conrad, Kevin Jones, and Calvin
Heimburg are all tied at -30 for the event; just one back of Paul.
Nate Sexton shot a mediocre -4 for the day to put him at -29 for the event, just one stroke
behind second place and one stroke ahead of Chris Dickerson in sixth. Dickerson shot a hot -9
on the day to give him a two stroke lead on Ricky Wysocki and Mason Ford who sit at -26 for
the event.
Tomorrow is expected to be an intense battle for the lead card. Even more intense than most
battles dating back to Paul and Ricky’s scrap at 2014 Worlds in Portland. We all eagerly await
the action.
A wise man once said, “A man who bogeys after an attempt at birdie has half the wit of a man
who lays up expecting error, but the man with wit will never win a meaningful athletic endeavor.”
Good luck to all the competitors and congratulations on making the cut.
