Another afternoon of championship level disc golf action has come to an end as round three of the Fort Steilacoom Open is now officially in the books. Lakewood, WA has treated us well since we arrived a few days ago and today was no exception. The conditions at the park were as close to perfect as we’ve ever seen on the National Tour this year. The wind was calm, the sun was shining, and most importantly, the chance of precipitation was a mind-boggling zero percent.

After two days and three full 18-hole rounds of disc golf, this tournament is shaping up to have one of the most exciting final rounds of the year. The Open Women’s division will take on the Northwest course tomorrow morning with Val Jenkins #17495 still ahead of the group by at least six strokes. If she plays like she did today, it will be difficult for anyone to catch her. Val nailed putt after putt today from 20 feet, 30 feet, 40 feet, 50 feet, etc. It didn’t matter. By the end of the round it felt like as long as she was inside of 100 feet, she was going to make it. For the most part, that held true. 

Paige Pierce #29190 started the day seven strokes down from Val and quickly began narrowing the gap with a streak of birdies on the front nine. She did everything she could to catch her and at one point had reduced Val’s lead to four. For every great drive or putt that Paige had, Val had an answer. Paige finished the round with the best score in the Open Women’s division, barely ousting Val’s round by a single stroke. She’ll start the day in second place tomorrow six back from Val and she’ll be joined by Catrina Allen #44184 and Jessie WestBell #36076 once again on the lead card.

While the women were duking it out on the Southeast course, the men in the Open division were taking part in one of the closest battles of the year. Will Schusterick #29064 started the day in the lead with three strokes over Dana Vicich #26228, Ricky Wysocki #38008, and Nate Sexton #18824, all of which were tied for second place. As the hole-by-hole scores started coming in on PDGALive.com, it quickly became apparent that Will was going to have play the round of his life to maintain his position at the top of the card. At the end of the day Ricky Wysocki would take over as the leader after shooting the hot round of 10 under par, unofficially rated at 1057. Side note; the same score was also shot by Chris Becker #42894 propelling him from near the bottom of the division all the way to 30th place.

If all of that wasn’t exciting enough, don’t worry, there’s more.  The Masters division lead card has manifested into a serious super-group. Tomorrow we’ll see four of the best fighting for the title. Patrick Brown #25713 is the current leader but he’ll have to fight off Jay Reading #15864 just a stroke back, with Jonathan Baldwin #18114 and Daniel Lilley #22415 also in range.

The fourth and last full round starts tomorrow morning at 8:00am PDT. The Open division will take on the Southeast course and the other divisions will all be playing the Northwest course. The top four men in the Open division will advance to the finals, a nine hole layout featuring holes from both courses. 

Follow the action all day long on PDGALive.com, featuring live scores and updates with commentary, pictures, and videos coming in from @PDGALive on Twitter. Looking for more pictures from the Fort Steilacoom Open? There are dozens of them available for download on the PDGA Flickr Page. Get ready for another exciting final day on PDGA National Tour! We’ll see you tomorrow!