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Moving Day in Sweden

Moving Day in Sweden

Round 3 of the Scandinavian Open

Friday, July 10, 2015 - 15:20

Round 3 of the 2015 Scandinavian Open, presented by Latitude 64º, saw competitors breaking out a piece of equipment that they haven’t needed or even thought about all week, sunglasses. Yes, the sun finally made its first appearance today in Skellefteå which is odd considering that there is normally 22 hours of daylight in northern Sweden this time of year. The morning started out wet just as it has been all week but by late morning the bad weather finally lifted and with it so did the spirits of the 158 competitors from 11 nations in attendance who had slogged through two days of rain.

Catrina Allen #44184 continued her strong consistent play in the women’s division by matching her first round score of 2-over par to extend her lead by one over Sarah Hokom #34563 to 8 throws. Allen played strong throughout and had extended her lead to 10 throws at one point with birdies on holes 8 and 9, but Hokom came on strong with birdies of her own on holes 12 and 17 to close the gap on the back nine. Hokom finished the round with a very respectable 3-over. Valarie Jenkins #17495 improved on an uneventful front nine with birdies on holes 15 and 17 to finish at 4-over on the day, good enough to take over third place all by herself. Sofie Sandström #35321, who started the day in a tie for third with Jenkins, struggled to find a birdie and finished at 7-over to drop back into fourth place. Going into Saturday’s final 18-hole round, Catrina Allen sits at 9-over for the event. Sarah Hokom is eight throws back at 17-over, Valarie Jenkins is 23-over and Sofie Sandström is 25-over. If Allen continues the consistent play that has gotten her the lead, she will be tough to catch but don’t count Hokom out just yet as she is a very capable player in her own right.

Moving day lived up to its name in the Open division and there was no bigger mover than 3X PDGA Pro Worlds Champion Paul McBeth #17523, who started the day in third place just one throw behind the co-leaders, Nikko Locastro #11534 and Jeremy Koling #33705. McBeth did what McBeth does. He went into McBeast mode and began his round on a torrid pace with birdies on ten of the first eleven holes to grab the lead. He wasn’t through there though as he added 5 more birdies on the remaining 7 holes to finish at an astounding 15-under par on the round and the leader by 6 throws going into the final round on Saturday. Jeremy Koling tried his best to keep pace with 7 birdies of his own on the front 9, but bogeys on holes 12 and 17 set him back and he would finish the round at 8-under and in second place. Nikko Locastro struggled with a 7-under round to drop back into third place, and Nate Doss #11794 finished at 9-under remaining in 4th place.

Saturday’s final round lead card will be Paul McBeth -33, Jeremy Koling -27, Nikko Locastro -26, and Nate Doss -25. Will Schusterick #29064 made a big move to the top of the second card with an 11-under round on the day which included a rare eagle 4 on the 350m/1148ft, par 6 hole #1, to put him at -24. He will be joined by a contingent of Europe’s best players which include Germany’s, Simon Lizotte -22, Denmark’s Karl John Nybo -20, and Skellefteå’s own Jesper Lundmark -18.

Will anyone have what it takes to catch Paul McBeth and Catrina Allen? Find out here. Hole-by-hole scoring will be up and running once again for Saturday’s final rounds on pdgalive.com and live streaming coverage of the Open division lead card will be broadcast here at PDGA.com courtesy of the 2015 Scandinavian Open, presented by Latitude 64º, live from Discgolf Terminalen in Skellefteå Sweden!