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JohnE Be Good...Really Good

JohnE Be Good...Really Good

Saturday, April 26, 2014 - 22:18

As someone who’s walked with, tweeted about, and wrote articles about the lead cards at dozens of PDGA National Tour and Major events all over the country, it’s never been easy for me to answer a fairly simple question. It’s one that I’m asked at least once a week during the disc golf season. “Which players are the most fun to follow?”

By the end of the day today, after walking with the competitors on the lead card of rounds three and four of the 2014 Tim Selinske US Masters Championships, the answer has never been easier. What makes the answer so easy comes down to one simple thing. The Masters players, plain and simple, have more fun. I can’t tell you the exact reasons why they do, but follow them around for a few holes and you’ll eventually agree.

It’s not all that uncommon to hear competitors on the same card joking around and poking fun at each other during a round, but on the lead card at an extremely important and prestigious event the mood isn’t usually that casual. Today broke that precedent for me as a fan of the sport and as someone whose job it is to cover the events of the day. World class disc golfers like Ken Climo #4297, Barry Schultz #6840, Brian Schweberger #12989, Patrick Brown #25713, JohnE McCray #9852, and a handful of others can take any awkward moment that most players would get upset and frustrated by and turn it into a laugh from the players and the gallery alike.

If there was anything that ousted the fun had by everyone on the courses today, it was the competition. The morning round was played at Hunter Park and Barry Schultz appeared as invincible as he had on day one. He started the morning with a seven throw lead over the second place contender and 13X world champion Ken Climo and would finish the round with an even larger lead. What we weren’t aware of at the time was that on the cards below them, JohnE McCray and Patrick Brown would be shredding the course. After the round three scores were totaled, Brown and McCray had moved into second and third place overall by shooting unofficially rated 1035 and 1053 rounds, respectively.

When the morning round began, McCray was 11 throws short of Schultz overall. Schultz played a fantastic fourth round, finishing 6 under par and making very few mistakes, but it wasn’t enough to stop McCray from gaining some serious ground on the current Masters PDGA World Champion. McCray carded 10 birdies and an eagle during the second round today at the Blackhawk course, finishing the day in second place with only 3 throws separating him from Schultz to start the final full round tomorrow morning.

The lead card has once again changed for tomorrow’s round. Brian Schweberger, who has been on the lead card the entire tournament, was bumped down to the chase card by Ron Convers #9648. Convers started the day on the lead card and carded an amazing 315 foot ace in front of a huge gallery, but it still wasn’t enough to keep him on the lead card after the afternoon shuffle. The same story goes for local Tulsa pro Sam Nielsen #11175, who dropped down to the chase card after a hot round by "The Champ" Ken Climo, who will now start tomorrow morning back on the lead card where he was earlier in the day today.

Assuming the weather doesn’t end up the way it’s been forecasted for tomorrow there will be one more full round at the Blackhawk course and then a final round for the top four players in the Masters division in front of what should be an enormous gallery. We’ll keep you posted all morning with live hole-by-hole scores and throw-by-throw commentary on PDGAlive.com. Check out the results page to see where your favorite players are sitting going in to the final day of the 2014 Tim Selinske US Masters Championships and take a look at all the high-resolution pictures available from the day on the PDGA Flickr page.