Cover photo courtesy of OpenDiscGolf.com. Photos by European Open staff photographer Eino Ansio.

It was supposed to rain and thunder during the opening round of the 2015 European Open in Finland today, but the only storm on the course was Paul McBeth #27523. He caught lightning in a bottle when he aced Hole 9 with a 102 meter downhill forehand skip ace. Add 10 birdies and no bogeys and McBeast now sits at 12 down (52) after 18 holes of 1084 rated golf, unofficially, on The Beast course.

Will Schusterick #29064 matched Paul’s 10 birdies and was one of the very few players among the international field of 144 to go bogey free, which grabbed him 2nd place. Ricky Wysocki #38008 is the 3rd of the big USA dogs positioned near the top, lying within striking distance, four back of Paul’s torrid pace.

Paul McBeth #27523 hits a forehand skip ace on Hole 9 of The Beast at the 2015 European Open.

A trio of flying Finns played sizzling golf in front of the home crowd today, though they might not be the names you expected – 986 rated Mikko Fyhr #28836 is tied for 3rd with Wysocki while Arttu Sikanen #8573 and Teemu Nissinen #39696 share 5th together with Oregon’s Nate Sexton #18824. Among Europe’s elite disc duffers, Denmark’s KJ Nybo #28903 lurks closest at six down and six back.

They say you can’t win a golf tournament on Day 1 but you can certainly lose it, and the scoreboard is dotted with big names who now have tons of work to do in order to get back in the hunt. Gregg Barsby #15857 also delivered 10 birdies but his round was derailed by two single bogeys, a double bogey, and a triple bogey snowman on the par five Hole 8.

Nikko Locastro #11534, who finished right behind McBeth and Schusterick at the 2015 Scandinavian Open last weekend, and Germany’s WhizKid Simon Lizotte #8332 are a full 10 throws out of 1st place. California’s Stevie Rico #4666 is 11 back, while local favourite and 2014 European Champion Seppo Paju #36744 never recovered from a double bogey on the relatively easy opening hole, finishing the day at even par.

Paige Pierce #29190 teeing off at The Beast.

Among the women, the cream rose quickly. Tomorrow’s All American top card will consist of the last four ladies to win the PDGA World Championships.  Idahoan forehander Sarah Hokom #34563 shot an unofficially 987 rated +2 to grab the Round 2 tee box. Val Jenkins #17495 is right behind her one off the lead and Catrina Allen #44184 is only two back. Rounding out the lead card tomorrow is Paige Pierce #29190, who would have tied for the lead had she parred rather than quintuple-bogeyed Hole 18.

They are predicting rain tomorrow – it was pouring when we got back to the hotel 13 km from the course this evening – and while that probably won’t affect Paul, Will or Ricky, it should make for higher scores in general and a bunch of big moves up and down the leaderboard.  

Make sure you tune in as soon as you get out of bed tomorrow as the exciting disc golf action will be well under way considering the seven hour time difference between Finland and Eastern Daylight Time. The lead Open Women’s division card tees off at 4:10am EDT with the Open division lead card following at 6:50am EDT.

The amazing media coverage that Jussi Meresmaa and his deep team have organized continues tomorrow, including the rocking nightly Inside Show on The SpinTV broadcasted live on YouTube after each round at 3:00pm EDT. Live scoring for every player will be up and running bright and early in the morning on the European Open Online Leaderboard with pictures and videos available as well via @pdgalive and @opendiscgolf on Twitter.

Cheers, we will back at you from Nokia, Finland tomorrow for Round 2 of the 2015 European Open!