Day two is in the books and it delivered all of the excitement we could hope for. Hot weather,
adequate wind, and an immense sun stood between the competitors and a formidable score.
Luckily, or unluckily, for the competitors, Thursday is forecasted for a lightning storm. After
Thursday’s brief cessation of heat, Friday and Saturday are both forecasted for the mid to high
eighties with partial cloud cover. Now, less weather, more disc golf.
Going into this tournament, the favorites were clear. Paul McBeth and Ricky Wysocki need no
explanation, every player who registers for a tournament they are playing understands the
likelihood that they will lose to these two established champions. Calvin Heimburg, Eagle
McMahon, and Chris Dickerson all fall under the “threat” category as they are all the next set of
favorites behind the two behemoths of the sport. The underdogs for this tournament are James
Proctor, Adam Hammes, James Conrad, and Emerson Keith. Each of these players has proven
their tenacity over the years and that on their day, they can be the best disc golfer in the world.
All have won notable titles and all have finished within the top ten of Worlds before.
Emerson Keith shot a scalding hot -10 second round, tying Calvin Heimburg, who shot -9, for
the lead. Three strokes behind our leaders is an enormous tie for third place at -15 for the
tournament including McBeth, Leiviska, Conrad, Jones, Sexton, Ford,
and Wysocki. Only one
stroke behind them, Chris Dickerson lurks beyond the depths, waiting to strike.
While the leaders lead, familiar names like Nikko Locastro, Steve Rico, Gavin Rathbun, Paul
Ulibarri, and Garrett Gurthie all took themselves out of contention within the first two rounds,
barring a miracle.
The FPO division lined up much differently this year than in 2019. Though Paige Pierce enters
every tournament as the favorite, this year she has a lot more talent to outrun. Over the years
her nemesis has been Catrina Allen. The two have won the majority of major events in disc golf
over the last seven years, but Hailey King has added herself into the mix and has yet to look
back. She has already won two National Tour events this year, Texas States and Dynamic
Discs Open, and has only finished outside the top ten once at WACO. Kona Panis, Alexis and
Valerie Mandujano, Sarah Hokom, Ohn Scoggins, Lisa Fajkus and Missy Gannon have finished
well consistently this season and have all proven themselves over the recent, or several, tour
seasons. Underdogs include Heather Young, Maria Oliva, Sarah Gilpin, Ella Hansen, and
Jessica Weese. Each of these players has proven they are able to throw the shots needed to
win, but have yet to do so at a Major.
So far, Paige Pierce finds herself at -11 with a four stroke lead on Lisa Fajkus and Catrina Allen.
Joining them on the lead card tomorrow will be Kristin Tattar from Parnu, Estonia.
Kristin will be joining the Disc Golf Pro Tour through the end of July, hitting four DGPT events on
her miniature tour. The world has not seen much of Kristin, though that is to change during the
coverage of tomorrow’s round, both live and post production. She has won each of her
tournaments this year and will be exciting to follow the next month or so.
Tied with Kristin for the tournament is Hailey King, with Sarah Gilpin two strokes back of the pair
at -3. No other woman is under par for the tournament. Ohn Scoggins is tied with Valerie
Mandujano at +1, with Heather Young, Jessica Weese, and Ella Hansen only one back of them.
Alexis Mandujano, Holyn Handley, Stephanie Vincent, Sarah Hokom, Sai Ananda, and Maria
Oliva are all tied for twelfth place at +3. Maria followed up a poor first round performance with a
980 rated -4 on her second round.
Good luck to all of the competitors on day three, it is moving day and there is a cut to be made!