Allen's third consecutive win in June
June 25, 2018 by Bennett Wineka in Coverage, Recap with 0 comments
It wasn’t wrapped up until late in the final round of the Utah Open, yet it always felt like this was Catrina Allen’s tournament to win.
After going to a playoff with Jessica Weese last season, Allen picked up where she left off, shooting a 2-over par 60 in the first round, tying the lowest score for an Open Women’s player in the tournament’s history. She matched the 2-over Sunday on the way to the victory, finishing at 8-over par 182 total.
Weese would finish in a tie for second place with Paige Bjerkaas after both shot a 4-over par 62 to finish at 11-over par 185. Lisa Fajkus finished in fourth at 13-over par 187 to maintain the same finishing positions the players started the round in.
Sunday began with the lead card separated by a mere two strokes. Allen quickly gave herself a buffer of three when she birdied the 369-foot par 3 2nd from a knee, perched atop a mound outside Circle 1.
Round Three 2018 Utah Open – Catrina Allen Birdie Hole 2
Mulligan’s Creekside offered few scoring opportunities for the field all weekend, and the final round proved no exception. Through the front nine, the lead card could only combine for three birdies to nine bogeys. Fajkus kept things closest with Allen but was derailed when the stretch from holes 14-16 resulted in two bogeys and a triple bogey.
For Allen, she rode the highest fairway hit percentage and scramble rate in the field to victory, as well as finishing with the second lowest OB rate of the field. This was Allen’s first Disc Golf Pro Tour win of 2018 and should help move her closer to the top of the tour point standings. She is currently in third behind Paige Pierce and Sarah Hokom, neither of whom played the event.
Bjerkaas is able to walk away from Ogden with her highest finish in an A-Tier or better event this year. Keeping things in bounds went a long way for Bjerkaas, and she did her best to provide the highlights as well.
Leading the weekend with bridies was Weese, who paced the field in birdie percentage (15-percent), parked shots (7-percent) and reaching Circle 1 in Regulation (26-percent). While she was landing greens consistently, her aggression also got the best of her, causing OB strokes to accumulate and pile up quickly. A couple less two-putts would have also gone a long way; Weese ranked 11th in Circle 1 putting.
Round Three 2018 Utah Open – Jessica Weese Hole 10
Allen averaged 963-rated golf over three rounds. Bjerkaas averaged 32 points higher than her rating for the weekend.
Kona Panis, Colleen Thompson, Ellen Widboom, Amy Bilodeau, Karina Nowels and Tina Stanaitis rounded out the top 10.
The tour heads next to the Great Lakes Open in Milford, Michigan and the famed Tobbagan course. The event, in its first season on the DGPT, begins on July 6th.
