A perfect* round for the ages earns a SportsCenter package
December 29, 2018 by Christopher Wiklund in Awards with 0 comments
Was there ever any doubt about it? Of all the noteworthy and remarkable things that happened in 2018, Paul McBeth’s 18-under at the Great Lakes Open back in July is head and shoulders above the rest. That’s why his second round at the GLO is your 2018 Men’s Performance of the Year.
“Everything just clicked for me that round,” McBeth told Ultiworld Disc Golf. His statement is also a nominee for UWDG’s Understatement of the Year.
“I was able to put everything together and be aggressive and make the sorts of throws I know I’m capable of. I wish there had been more top pros there since some people have said things like, ‘Oh if Ricky or Eagle were there.’ I think if they were I still would have been able to do what I did and people would be able to see how impressive that round really was.”
McBeth was 10-down through nine holes thanks to an eagle on the 726-foot par 5 hole 2. When he pared hole 10, thoughts of a WACO round where he started equally hot but slowed down began to creep in. Birdieing out the rest of the back nine put those fears to rest.
That round, and indeed all weekend, holes 9 through 12 played as the most difficult holes on the course. During his historic second round, none of those holes were birdied by more than 10-percent of the field. McBeth was one of six players to birdie hole 9 — the most challenging hole on the course by birdie percentage — where only 4-percent of the field was able to notch the two. He was also one of 15 to get hole 11, and one of seven to birdie hole 12.
McBeth was 100-percent from Circle 1 and Circle 2 on the day, 4-4 from distance including a 50-footer on hole 18 to ice it, and only missed C1 or C2 in regulation on one hole.
Perfection is a funny word in that it can both be an objective measure of a thing and a subjective statement of quality. One could argue that his par on hole 10 disqualifies us from calling the round perfect. We would direct those people to the scoreboard which reads 18-under through 18 holes and suggest that they take a day off from toiling in the salt mines.
For his perfect troubles, McBeth got his own segment on SportsCenter, a commemorative disc, and gave us what will be the gold standard by and against which all great rounds will be judged.
“Putting on 18 I definitely had some adrenaline going. Part of me was thinking that, you know, 17-down is great but people won’t remember it the same way. Hitting that putt cemented it,” McBeth said.
He’s right. Had McBeth not hit that putt we might be talking about Eagle McMahon’s 17-under at the Konopiště Open, or Chris Dickerson’s Disc Golf Pro Tour Championship run, or Ricky Wysocki’s second round at the MVP Open. But we aren’t. Paul McBeth shot an 18-under. @ us.
