Schultz, King, Paju, and Salonen all add Xs to their names
August 22, 2017 by Jacob Wilkins in Recap with 0 comments
While much attention was placed on the Disc Golf Pro Tour event at Idlewild last weekend, you may have missed some action at a couple of A-tiers — and even a PDGA Major.
The 2017 PDGA Pro Masters World Championships took place in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This tournament featured the marathon-style golf we’re used to seeing at World Championships, consisting of six qualifying rounds that saw the top 24 competitors move on to a semifinal round before the top four finishers battled it out in a final 9. Barry Schultz was crowned champion after a commanding performance, with a 1039-rated semifinal and 1064-rated final 9 giving him a six-stroke victory over Robert Bainbridge. Schultz finished with a 64-under par 392 total, while Bainbridge finished with a 58-under par 398. Dave Feldberg used hot late rounds to finish in third place, coming in with a 57-under par 399, and Mike Moser rounded out the top 4 with a 50-under par 406. It was Schultz’s second career Masters World Championship, after his triumph in 2013.
Elaine King, meanwhile, took home the win in the Masters Women’s division after throwing a 1-over par 405 throughout the week. This was enough to best Lesli Todd, who took second place honors with a 6-over par 410. Courtney McCoy and Des Reading tied for third place after Reading was able to gain a few strokes in the final 9, with the pair finishing with 9-over par 413s. Like Schultz, the victory was King’s second world title in the Masters Women’s division and adds to her bursting trophy case that already held five Open Women’s World Championships.
World titles weren’t the only hardware being awarded this weekend, though. The Frisbeegolfin SM 2017 – Finnish Nationals took place in Hyvinkää, Finland, and saw the burgeoning disc golf hot bed’s two best players take home victories. Seppo Paju came into the event as the favorite with his high rating of 1021 and did not disappoint, shooting a 33-under par 207 to best Väinö Mäkelä and Leo Piironen by two strokes. Jani Nevala took fourth with a 29-under par 211 weekend. Paju now has two Finnish titles in his career.
Eveliina Salonen cruised to the Open Women’s win after shooting the hot score during each of the final three rounds. Her 1-under par 239 for the tournament found her averaging 950-rated golf on the way to her third straight national title, while Henna Blomroos finished in second place after shooting a 7-over par 247. Anna-Sofia Haipus took third place after shooting 17-over par 257 total, with Hannele Määttä rounding out the top 4 after a-19 over par 259 performance.
Back in the States, the Cedar Creek Open in Fairmont, Minnesota, boasted an impressive Open field of 50 players. Cale Leiviska and Alex Geisinger headlined the event and battled to the wire, with Geisinger able to gain a stroke on Leiviska in the final 9 to force a playoff. Geisinger came out on top, with both he and Leiviska tossing 48-under par 195s in regulation. Matt Dollar took home third place for his highest A-tier finish on the year with a 42-under par 201. The win was Geisinger’s second in an A-tier this season and seventh overall.
In the Open Women’s division, Holly Finley rolled to a 26-stroke victory over Lauren Butler, with the former notching a 6-under par 210 during the event.
In other stateside action, the LVDC AWESOME OPEN !!!! took place in Whitehall, Pennsylvania, and the finish lived up to the event’s name. Dylan Horst came from multiple cards back to take a two-stroke victory in the two-round tournament, with a 1078-rated closer giving him an 11-under par 97 total. In Ohio, local pro Mike Gastin knocked off favorite Brad Schick at the 26th Annual Hall of Chains in Massillon, while Collin Carter logged a come from behind victory at the Oak Hollow Open in High Point, North Carolina.
