The 2008 United States Disc Golf Championship, in Rock Hill, SC. continues to establish itself as one of the top professional events in the sport of Disc Golf each year. This year's 10^th anniversary of The Championship has ushered in a new champion among disc golf's elite, Nathan Doss.

Nate played the extremely challenging Winthrop Gold Course very consistently all week long and shot a course record 55 on Thursday. The very competitive field this year was one of the largest the USDGC has ever seen making Nate's feat that much more special. The week was full of excitement with Monday qualifiers, two record breaking rounds of 55 (Avery Jenkins carded the other), distance competition under the lights, beautiful weather, and huge galleries.All these things make the USDGC a must attend event for players or spectators.

Winthrop Gold's 2008 layout brought new challenges and ideas to take this course to a different level, thanks to designer Harold Duvall.The first thing one might notice after arriving is that the famous ropes that everyone has come to love and despise, appeared to be a little different this year. Not only did they seem to be tighter but also different colors!The yellow ropes continued to mark the regular OB, and the new Red BunCR ropes marked what we called Hazard.The BunCR concept is pretty simple, if your shot is outside the rope you throw another from the same lie. It is a distance penalty instead of extra strokes, hence the CR in the spelling, which indicates Casual Relief. Some believed this fairly new concept, which has been previously used at the 2007 World Championships and the Player's Cup, would make the course much easier but the scores were not indicative of this belief. These special rules and innovative progression contribute to keeping The Championship on everyone's mind all year long.

Nate Doss Celebrates his US Championship victory

This year the overall feel of the event was larger, more spectator areas/VIP benefits, larger galleries, extensive press coverage, and numerous volunteers. If you have not been to the USDGC as a spectator, player, or volunteer you should start making plans for October 2009! The PDGA would like to congratulate Nate Doss on his first USDGC win and all those that qualified and competed!

For additional coverage, check out the USDGC website: USDGC.com

Photos of the event by PDGA Media can be viewed here: www.flickr.com/photos/7987020@N02/collections/72157607671209349/