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Jessica Hill, Izak McDonald Leading the Way at the 2015 Am Worlds

Jessica Hill, Izak McDonald Leading the Way at the 2015 Am Worlds

Friday, July 24, 2015 - 05:18

It’s hard to believe that we’re only three days in to the 2015 PDGA Amateur Disc Golf World Championships for a large majority of the 750+ players that comprise 17 divisions spread out among the nine courses being used. A minimum of 90 holes of disc golf have already been completed with at least another full round to go! If you think with that much golf in the books that the scores should be quite spread out, we’d probably agree, and in the case of 2015 Am Worlds, we’d both be wrong.

Only six of the 17 divisions have a competitor sitting in 1st place with a double-digit margin separating them from the rest of the pack. It’s a pretty incredible stat for a disc golf tournament that is just as much about endurance as it is about talent. In the divisions where the gap between 1st and 2nd is 10 or more, the race for the title is still far from over, but with only Friday’s round(s) remaining before the semis and/or finals it’d take a serious meltdown from the leader or a serious comeback from someone below him/her for a changing of the guards.

Jessica Hill, Not Looking Back

After an incredible Round 5 on Thursday afternoon, Jessica Hill #64874 of the Advanced Women’s division (FA1) is one of the few that is not only leading, but in the lead by a lot. The ladies of FA1 spent all day at Vicksburg Recreation Area playing the short tees in the morning and the long tees in the afternoon. Hill began the day as the overall leader and although she seemed frustrated with her performance during the morning round, her final score of 55, matched only by Tabatha Ashley #57029, put her ahead of 2nd place Samantha Socia #55347 by nine. She was apparently quite unsatisfied with this, which leads us to Round 5...

Hill was the only woman to card a score from the long tees in the 50s, finishing at 58 (one over par), with the next best score being a 66 by Autumn Grace #50514. Unofficially rated at 960, Hill’s round allowed her to add an additional 13 to the gap between herself and second place, still held by Samantha Socia, meaning she now holds a lead of 22 or more over the rest of the field. The women have one final full round tomorrow at Spinski’s Original before cuts are made for the semis and finals on Saturday. 

Kids These Days...

The top two spots in the Advanced division are currently held by competitors that could legally compete in the Junior Boys 16 & Under division (MJ2), and they aren’t new to the spotlight either. 14 year old Izak McDonald #49631 leads the field of 281 and 15 year old Anthony Barela #44382 is in 2nd place, just one throw back. If those names sound familiar, it’s because they were both on the lead card for the final round of the 2015 US Amateur Disc Golf Championship earlier this year.

Barela took home the USADGC title by a margin of five and is now battling against McDonald once again, joined by Battle Creek’s own Seth Badger #47816 and Jared Dow #48760. Badger and Dow are tied for 3rd place just five throws off the lead. Heading into their last full round before the semis, the Advanced division takes on the monstrous Timber Ridge course for the first time on Friday. The lead card is scheduled to tee off at 1:50pm EDT, and we’ll be keeping you updated with live scores and tweets.

Adam Hammes #57365 with a nice birdie putt on Hole 9 at Meyer Broadway South.

The Junior Boys of the 19 & Under (MJ1) and 16 & Under (MJ2) divisions have close competitions as well. Austin Turner #54049 now leads in MJ1, jumping to four ahead of Marc Burnett #22546. 15 year old DJ Baldwin #39066 of the MJ2 division carded an incredible 1023 rated round to start the day and followed with a 982 rated round that moved him into a lead of three over Adam Hammes #57365. Both MJ1 and MJ2 will be playing one round on Friday, taking on the 24-hole layout of Coldbrook before the semis on Saturday at Oshtemo.

Follow the live hole-by-hole scores tomorrow on pdgalive.com complimented by pictures, videos, and updates coming in via @pdgalive on Twitter. Only two days remain of the 2015 Am Worlds here in Kalamazoo, MI and we can’t wait to see what the last full day of action brings before the fields are cut for the semis and finals on Saturday!