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The Race To The Swimmin' Hole

The Race To The Swimmin' Hole

Sunday, July 6, 2014 - 08:59

After another long 12 hour day of disc golf at the Maple Hill Open, a majority of the field has now been cut. The 72 men and 12 women that survived the 3-day battle of heat, rain, and wind will play one last 18-hole round on the Maple Hill Gold Course. The competitors that have made it to this point are all guaranteed to cash but for many of the players cashing was never really a concern. The touring pros that have made this sport their career don’t come out to make the cut. They come out to win.

The man and woman that do take home the gold today get to take part in a long-standing tradition here at Maple Hill. Together, they'll head down the valley that makes up the fairways of holes one and two towards a pond in the middle. The pond generally serves only one purpose; swallowing discs thrown from the tee pad(s) of hole one. With the gallery standing around them, cheering them on, they'll take the plunge.

The conditions on the course yesterday were far better than the day prior, with wind being the main variable instead of heavy and seemingly endless rainfall. Oddly enough, the scores were about the same in the wind as they were in the rain, statistically. The hot round was once again a 52, this time shot by Ricky Wysocki #38008, and the scores from the rest of the field were generally comparable to the scores that came in during a day where it literally didn’t stop raining for 10 straight hours.

Of the four players that started out on the lead Open division card, Jeremy Koling #33705 was the only one that played well enough to remain there. Devin Frederick #16287 finished the round at even par and is tied for fourth place with Cameron Colglazier #47407, so he’ll start the final round tomorrow on the chase card as Colglazier bested his third round score by a single stroke. Koling played confident and consistent golf in the wind and will start the final round today as the overall leader of the event.

Meanwhile, a few cards back, Wysocki played the type of disc golf that we’re used to seeing from him. He finished the round with nine birdies and one bogey, three strokes better than the second hottest round shot by Matt Orum #18330. Wyocki's effort on the course yesterday propelled him up to the lead card this afternoon, for the first time all weekend.

The last group to tee off yesterday was the Open Women’s lead card consisting of Paige Pierce #29190, Catrina Allen #44814, Val Jenkins #17495, and Sarah Hokom #34563. Pierce started the day as the card leader with all three of the aforementioned ladies tied for second place just one stroke back. Pierce started to open up her lead early, carding the only birdies on holes 4 and 6. Her birdie on hole 6 was definitely the major turning point of the round, giving her a well-deserved cushion ahead of her competition that would remain for the rest of the day. 

When the round was all said and done, Pierce had built up a five stroke lead over Allen and an 11 stroke lead over Jenkins and Des Reading #15863, both of which are now tied for third place going into the finals.  The women's lead card tees off today at 9:30am EDT. The men’s lead card will follow a few hours later at 2:00pm.

Watch the final round of the Maple Hill Open live on SmashBoxxTV’s YouTube channel and check PDGALive.com for hole-by-hole scores for all of the competitors remaining in the event. If you’re looking for high-resolution pictures from the previous rounds, stop by the PDGA Flickr page.