The Memorial Championship - Final Round Recap
March 2, 2020 by Bennett Wineka in Recap with 0 comments
Final Round 2020 Memorial Championship
The divisions played out much differently, with the FPO champion running away with the contest, and drama continuing until the last hole on Vista del Camino on the Open side.
Open Women
- After a record-setting performance on Saturday, Paige Pierce posted a ho-hum, fourth straight 1000+ rated round to close out a dominating Memorial win at 32-under par, 14 strokes ahead of second place Jennifer Allen.
- Pierce’s victory was well in hand going into the final round at Vista del Camino, but the Texan still shot the hot round 5-under par 55. She led the tournament in every major UDisc Live driving category, and was third and second in Circle 1X and C2 putting, respectively.
- This was Pierce’s seventh Memorial Championship (2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020).
- Jennifer Allen held off a charging Henna Blomroos to maintain her second place finish. The difference was a two-stroke swing in Allen’s favor on the short hole 17.
Heard
“It’s not necessarily about a message to somebody else, it’s more just I’m trying to get better everyday. And I think the message is, ‘Keep going,’ because I still missed putts, I still went OB. There’s room for improvement in all of us so keep pushing the boundary.” – Paige Pierce, on her big win.
Statline
Pierce’s average 1025.5 round rating at the event was higher than several of the 24th place finishers in the Open division, including Paul Ulibarri and Nikko Locastro.
Open
- Calvin Heimburg erased a one stroke deficit during the final round to beat defending champion Eagle McMahon by two strokes for his first Disc Golf Pro Tour win of his career.
- The big moment of the round came from a quick layup for par on hole 13 by McMahon with Heimburg up one, just on the heels of a Heimburg’s conversion of an edge of the circle birdie look on the elevated basket on hole 12 while simultaneously obstructed by a tree to give him the advantage. Heimburg would stretch his lead to two with five holes to play and held on despite some nervy plays.
- For the weekend, Heimburg was no worse than third in the UDisc Live major driving categories, and led the field in fairway hits (92%) and C2 in regulation (90%). He connected on three C2 putts during the final round Sunday.
- McMahon has never finished outside the top seven at the Memorial in four tries, and has finished first or second at the event in the last three years. He had a chance to make things interesting on the final hole but played a zero-turning, big hyzer straight into the water off the tee.
- Paul McBeth was only one stroke off Heimburg’s hot final round of 11-under par, but put himself in too much of a hole Saturday to even challenge for a high spot on the podium, settling for third, five strokes off the lead. He had to do his own work to keep Väinö Mäkelä and Drew Gibson at bay. Those two tied for fourth at 40-under par.
- The only player to get the birdie on hole 18 both rounds at Vista was Ricky Wysocki, who finished tied for 16th, 15 shots behind Heimburg. Wysocki, who has almost every trophy in the cabinet and often spends offseasons in Arizona, has never won the Memorial.
Heard
“Well, I got up there, I just didn’t put the putter in the basket. I was like 24 feet and just missed. I must have been nervous, I don’t know. I didn’t feel nervous but I missed it.” – Calvin Heimburg, on not getting up-and-down for birdie on hole 15 and letting McMahon get within one stroke of the lead.
Statline
For the third consecutive year, the winner of the Memorial is also a first-time DGPT winner. Heimburg follows McMahon (2019) and Simon Lizotte (2018).
