McMahon and Gibson close in second place tie
June 10, 2018 by Alex Colucci in Coverage, Recap with 0 comments
Scoring separation at the Beaver State Fling has been hard to come by, and after three rounds we again have a new leader in what should remain a close race until the end. Simon Lizotte is the new leader after his 9-under par 52 at Milo McIver State Park’s West Course brought his total to 24-under par 159. That’s good enough for a mere one stroke lead just barely ahead of the leaders after rounds one and two: Eagle McMahon and Drew Gibson.
Lizotte opened up his 1058-rated round with four straight birdies, which included a 60-foot putt on the 630-foot par 4 2nd and a 66-foot birdie save on the short 175-foot par 3 4th, after a miscue on his drive. He went on to add six more birdies to go with a lone bogey on the 390-foot par 3 15th. Lizotte showed off his accuracy from the tee and fairway, reaching circle 1 in regulation 50-percent of the time, which was good enough for ranking second in that measure on according to UDisc Live’s statistics. And perhaps a greater testament to his accuracy was the fact that — besides the 60-footers — he rarely found himself putting from beyond 15 feet yesterday.
McMahon had a similar day to his teammate’s. The Coloradan his the fairways with accuracy, ultimately finding circle 1 in regulation 44-percent of the time, cashing in on all but one of those opportunities on his way to seven birdies during his bogey-free performance. On the other hand, Gibson started out the day in form much like Lizotte and McMahon, but couldn’t maintain their pace down the stretch. Gibson began hitting five of nine birdies on the front half, but a missed circle 1 putt for a sixth birdie on the 689-foot par 4 9th foretold the challenges that were to come. According to UDisc Live’s collected stats, Gibson opened up the back nine missing the fairway off the tee in the first three frames, with one — on the 375-foot par 3 11th — leading to his lone bogey after a botched scramble attempt compounded the struggles. Four of his next six drives would come up short of the fairway, leading to lower fairway hit and greens in regulation percentages than he notched in the tournament’s opening two rounds. In each case, however, Gibson was able to scramble for par and cash in with his putter, hitting an impressive 38-footer to close out the final frame.
Just a bit further down the leaderboard Garrett Gurthie and Chandler Fry both made impressive runs up the leaderboard on moving day. The pair carded an 11-under par 50 and a 10-under par 51 respectively to move up 15 and 10 spots into a tie for second place at 22-under par 161 with Paul Ulibarri. Gurthie’s impressive 1074-rated round was the highest rated round yet at the tournament and came thanks in large part to two back-to-back eagles on holes 6 and 7 — the 850-foot par 5, notable for being the Philo-albatross hole, and the tricky 587-foot par 4.
Behind that trio is another. Seppo Paju, Kevin Jones, and Nate Sexton are all tied in seventh place at 20-under par 163. In keeping with the tight scoring and packed leaderboard at the top, there is a four-way tie for 10th place between last year’s winner Ricky Wysocki, Philo Brathwaite, Dustin Keegan and Bradley Williams at 19-under par 164. Alone in 14th place is Paul McBeth who dropped from the lead card after a difficult 2-under par 59 mark took his three-round total to 18-under par 165. However, if McBeth can put together another 10-under par 51 showing — like he did in round two — back at the East Course, he still appears to be within striking distance of the lead.
The lead card of Lizotte, McMahon, Gibson, and Gurthie tees off at 12:30 p.m. local time. You can follow along with the live scoring at UDisc Live, and keep an eye on the PDGA’s Instagram account for updates and highlights throughout the day. Check back in here at Ultiworld Disc Golf for recaps and coverage of the final round.
