Feldberg Ousts Orum in Skylands Sudden Death Playoff. 

One thing that has become readily apparent throughout this entire PDGA disc golf season is that saving your best for last can often win you the tournament.  And that applies, not only to the last round of play, but to the last hole.  

The Skylands Classic at Blue Mountain repeated that theme, as Dave Feldberg (Springfield, Oregon) and Matt Orum (Mobile, Alabama) navigated the seemingly impossible 20-hole final day course configuration in a breath-taking 60 throws.  That was seven throws better than fellow finalist and the leader going into the final round, Nikko Locastro.  That difference was enough to push Feldberg and Orum into a sudden death playoff, where Feldberg’s pinned tee-shot on the first hole was enough to help him capture a fourth National Tour title during this 2010 season.  Orum almost pushed the playoff to, at least, a second hole, but his putt from 40 feet skipped off the left side of the tray leaving Feldberg only to drop-in for the win.  

While any playoff is exciting, it the was the 72nd (and last) hole of regulation where the real drama occurred.  Carrying a one-throw lead into the 875 feet, par 4 hole that starts on top of what is a tubing hill in the winter at Blue Mountain and ends at the bottom of the run, Locastro’s second throw went out-of-bounds.  Facing an imminent playoff with Feldberg and Orum, who both needed to execute surgical approaches that stayed in-bounds on the tightly roped-in putting area, an already dejected Locastro shockingly missed a routine 15-feet putt that would have kept his hopes alive for recovering from his last round let-down at the Skylands Classic.  By missing that putt, however, Locastro was forced to watch Feldberg and Orum duel it out on the one-hole sudden death.  

These sudden twists of fate have become somewhat routine on disc golf’s biggest stages, as Locastro was on the receiving side of such a last hole gift, when Dave Feldberg misplayed the final hole of the Nasu Shiobara course at the Japan Open allowing Locastro to eventually win that PDGA major in dramatic fashion.  Even just two weeks ago, Locastro again was able to take advantage of some laggard play on the last hole of the Vibram Open, by having, ironically enough, Orum and Feldberg throw out-of-bounds on their approach shots to give the 2009 PDGA Player of the Year the win in Massachusetts.  And now with the stunning finish at the Skylands Classic at Blue Mountain, the last has again helped disc golf’s best to become first.  

In the Women’s Open division, Valarie Jenkins captured her fifth PDGA National Tour title of 2010 with a solid final round to best Des Reading by three throws.  Reading and Jenkins were leap-frogging over one another at the top of the leader board all weekend, but it was the decisive final round that gave Jenkins the win.  For their efforts, Valarie collected the first place $675 prize, while Reading won $450 for her efforts.  

Jay Reading captured his second Master’s division win of the 2010 NT campaign, besting the reigning Masters PDGA World Champion, Brad Hammock, by seven throws to claim the $565 winners check.  And Leroy Jenkins distanced himself from the rest of the Grandmasters field with a 19-throw margin of victory in that division.  

For all the scores and ratings from this last National Tour stop of 2010, please check out the Skylands Classic at Blue Mountain Tournament page.  

#####