The Beaver State Fling, presented by Keen Footwear, teed off today under beautiful skies on the twin Riverbend courses at Milo McIver State Park in Estacada, Oregon.

Situated along the scenic Clackamas River only 45 minutes from Portland, the beautiful park should be on every serious disc golfers list of must-play courses. The event has garnered a national reputation for quality and consistency thanks to the hard work and dedication of the Stumptown Disc Golf Club and loyal support by local sponsors Keen, Next Adventure, and a host of others.

Round one teed off on Friday morning with 76 Open division competitors cutting their teeth on the challenging West Course which comes in at 8,511 feet and par 61. Nate Doss and Will Schusterick started out hot posting a 1066 rated, -10 to grab an early one throw lead over Kyle Crabtree at -9. Philo Brathwaite continued his recent strong play, coming off last week’s SuperTour win at the High Plains Challenge, to card a -8 to make the lead card, with a host of others at -8 nipping at their heels.

Over on the East Course, Sarah Hokom carded a 990 rated even par round of 61 to take the lead in the 22 woman strong Open Ladies division. Catrina Allen posted a +1, Paige Pierce a +2, and Des Reading a +3 to stair step the lead card going in to round two.

Following lunch the Open men moved over to the East Course where Tim Skellenger shot a 1067 rated -10 on the par 61 layout there to move into a three way tie for the lead at -18 for the tournament with Nate Doss and Will Schusterick, who both carded a -8. Dave Feldberg also carded a -8 and sits two throws back at -16 on the day.

Meanwhile the Open Ladies and other age based pro divisions tested their mettle on the West Course layout where Catrina Allen continued her stellar play with a 1003 rated -1 on the round to pull back to even par on the day and a five throw lead over Sarah Hokom, who struggled somewhat with a +5. Val Jenkins shot even par for the round to move into a tie for third place at +6 for the day with Paige Pierce, who carded a +4 that round.

Phil Arthur leads the Masters division at -5 for the tournament with Jon Baldwin, Patrick Brown, James Hagen and Mike Niemi all two back at -3 on the day. Jim Oates, at -7, holds a four throw lead over Rick Bailey in the Grandmasters division and Tom Bontempo (+20) leads the Senior Grandmaster division by two throws over Bruce Sisson (+22).

The event will nearly double in size on Saturday when the Beaver State Fling Amateur SuperTour Event kicks off with 141 additional amateur competitors will join the 152 professionals at Milo McIver Park and the tournament format changes from shotgun start to tee times for all divisions. Event activities will also kick into high gear on Saturday with entertainment from Oregon’s own JD Platt’s K-9 Kings Flying Dog Show, a disc golf Flymart, putting and long drive contests, Sweet Plastic’s epic mini disc golf course and the Beaver State Fling’s huge fundraiser raffle.

The Beaver State Fling is the fourth event of the PDGA National Tour Elite Series presented by Vibram Disc Golf. Paul McBeth and Valarie Jenkins currently lead the NT standings in their respective divisions and adding a third NT victory to their point totals would make it very difficult for anyone else to catch them for the series title.

Stay tuned to PDGA.com all weekend for articles, results, video highlights, and live scoring.