Feldberg & Reading lead the Memorial

The first stop of the PDGA National Tour kicked off Thursday, March 6th as 205 professional disc golfers converged on Phoenix, AZ for the 2008 Memorial, presented by Discraft. Hosted by the Arizona Disc Golf Club and sponsored by Discraft, this event has consistently been one of the top tournaments on the PDGA tour each year. Tournament director, Dan Ginnelly, and his hard working staff treated the players to a warm welcome and a very nice players package yesterday as they checked in at Dukes Bar & Grill adjacent to hole 12 at Vista del Camino Park in Scottsdale.

This year's format will see the competitors play one round each day beginning with todays opening round at Vista del Camino park in Scottsdale, followed by a Friday round at scenic Fountain Hills before returning to Vista for the finals on Saturday. The Men’s open final group is scheduled for a 2:00pm tee off on Saturday and a large gallery is once again expected to follow the action.

In the Open division, Dave Feldberg came out of the gates fast with a blistering round of -11 this afternoon at Vista to take an early lead on Barry Schultz by a single stroke. Feldberg’s unofficial 1080 rated round was very impressive considering the windy conditions that ruled the day. Paul McBeth and Markus Kallstrom were just off the pace at -9 and -8 respectively.

In the Women’s division, Des Reading jumped out to an early one stroke lead over Carrie Berlogar and reigning world champion, Valarie Jenkins with a steady +4 at Vista.

James Hagen (-6) leads the Masters by one stroke over Rory Self and Dean Tannock with tournament director Dan Ginnelly and a host of others just two off the lead at -4.

Kathy Hardyman and Suzette Simons are all knotted up at +11 to lead the Masters ladies. Jeff Homburg leads the Grandmasters by one throw over Harvey Brandt and Marty Hapner. Danny Jeffards has a comfortable 8 throw lead in the Senior Grandmasters division.

Going into tomorrow’s second round at Fountain Hills, Feldberg and Des Reading will look to extend their single stroke leads over the field before moving back to Vista for Saturday’s final round.