Photo of Jason Butina at Token Creek during Round 1. Photo by A.J. Risley.

The 2016 Am Worlds main event began yesterday as the 576 players from nine countries and 40 states/provinces took to the courses around Madison, WI. The morning round was dreary, as overcast and light rain made the courses and tee pads slippery. That wouldn’t last long, as the afternoon brought plenty of sunshine, high temperatures, and even higher humidity.

Because of the complexity of the schedule for such an enormous event, some divisions played only one round yesterday while others played two. Furthermore, the size of the Advanced division means they’ve been split into three pools; A-Pool, B-Pool, and C-Pool. Consequently, even though they’ve all played one full round thus far, it’s impossible to say who is really in the lead until after their second round today in which all three pools will have played the same two courses.

This complexity will remain throughout the week, but it gets a little bit easier tonight after “The Great Shuffle”, where the A, B, and C-Pools will be reorganized by score, e.g. the lowest 1/3 of the scores will become the new A-Pool, etc. The pools were originally sorted by rating, so those that make the move from the B-Pool and C-Pool into the new A-Pool tomorrow morning will likely mean they are playing well above their PDGA Player Rating.

Speaking of the A-Pool, two players emerged from the field as the leaders after their afternoon Round 1 at Vallarta-Ast DGC (Token Creek); Jason Butina #43919 & Ryan Conto #53664. Both Jason and Ryan played amazing golf, finishing at 13 under par on the 27-hole par 88 layout of Vallarta-Ast. Like many of the courses here in Madison, Wisconsin, Vallarta-Ast is a beautifully manicured wooded course with grass fairways and dense rough.

Butina is a 16 year old that’s only been playing for four years, and he is now sharing the lead on the sport’s biggest stage. “I've been playing for 3 years and this will be my 4th season! I never thought I would be at the top of a world championship but it's good to see the hard work pay off,” said Jason. “I also don't think I would be here without all the help from friends like Alex Geisinger #52063, Terry Rothlisberger #57493, and Tommy Locke #50875 back home for everything they've done! And also I have Adam Hammes #57365 on the bag!”

Ryan Conto is a local, but being local doesn’t have much to do with shooting a lights-out round of 13 under, with 14 birdies and one bogey. “Ryan is a great player and a great man!,” said Jason. “I don't think it was only a local advantage, and I won't be counting him out this week!”

Big putt by Ryan C, as the MA1 start their round here at Token Creek. pic.twitter.com/N95MNyBlll

— PDGA Live Scoring (@pdgalive) July 12, 2016

Big putt from Ryan Conto #53664 at Token Creek during Round 1.

Joining them on the lead card this morning at Bird’s Ruins, a much more difficult course with more punishing rough is Ian Burchett #60435 who finished at 12 under par, and Kaleb Silverberg #42438 who is one of three players that finished at 11 under par.

The B-Pool and C-Pool played Bird’s Ruins for their first round, with Joey Erno #56600 of Appleton, Wisconsin coming out on top of the B-Pool with a 10 down and Marcus Kinsman #55362 of Maple Hill, North Carolina taking the lead in the C-Pool shooting the same score. We can only assume they’ll be two of the many players that will make the move to the A-Pool after the Great Shuffle this evening.

Wisconsin’s own Rebecca Heiam #68592 is tied for the  lead in the Advanced Women’s division with Mixed Doubles winning team member Kristy Moore #56553, who’s now looking to add a second world title to her trip to Wisconsin. The women take on Elver Park today, another wooded but beautifully manicured course here in the Madison area.

There is a lot more excitement to come and as they say, there’s a lot of golf left. A hot opening round or a terrible opening round doesn’t mean much when there are four days of disc golf to play before the cuts to Semis and Finals. There are some showers in the forecast over the next day or two, but the players will fight through it.

Follow the live scores and tweets on pdgalive.com all week, and make sure you have all the latest updates and info by following the 2016 Am Worlds page on Facebook. Stay tuned for the madness that the Great Shuffle brings tonight. Results as well as every other bit of information you could ever want is always available at pdga.com/2016amworlds.