Cover photo of Catrina Allen #44184 and Cam Todd #12827 by Stuart Mullenberg of The Flight Record.

Coming off a day of relentless downpour and gusting winds, everyone was happy to finally catch a break in Emporia just in time for the third and final round of the 2016 Glass Blown Open (GBO). Taking place at the GBO’s signature course, Emporia Country Club, and complimented by sunshine, it was bound to be an eventful day for the largest disc golf tournament in the history of the sport.

Eventful it was. Let’s start with the Open Women’s division, all of which had tee times sandwiched in the middle of the much larger Open division so that for the first time during this year’s GBO they were given the opportunity to sleep in. It should be noted however that having a late tee time isn’t always an advantage. Had they teed off in the afternoon instead of first thing in the morning yesterday, they would have played a majority of their round in the cold, wind, and rain, instead of just the cold and wind.

There isn’t much of a story to tell in the Open Women’s division. It began with Catrina Allen #44184 leading after Round 1, followed by Catrina Allen dominating during Round 2, and finished with Catrina Allen doing much of the same. She teed off with a nine stroke lead this afternoon at the Emporia Country Club and ended the day 17 strokes ahead of her closest competitor, Paige Pierce #29190.

To add to that, Catrina had a chance to be the only women to take a par on the ridiculously difficult par Hole 18, a par 4 that starts with a 300’ drive over water that finishes uphill at over 850’. Unfortunately, she missed her par putt from 15’ leaving herself with a 10’ bogey putt. Instead of going for it, she simply tossed her putter to under the basket, drawing a laugh from the gallery and eventually tapping in for a double bogey. That said, her round of two over par (65) was still seven better than anyone else in her division.

That'll do it folks! Catrina Allen wins by...a lot! That's back-to-back NT wins for 2016! #GBO2016 #gbomoment pic.twitter.com/9URmHb4xYV

— PDGA Live Scoring (@pdgalive) April 30, 2016

The Open division was quite the opposite. Cam Todd #12827 and Paul McBeth #27523 began the round as co-leaders, but they had so many top players within a few strokes of the lead that there was no telling who would end up on top.  In nearly perfect weather conditions, Todd and McBeth went toe-to-toe the entire round. Wysocki started a bit slow but got hot late in the day, narrowing the gap in threatening fashion.

Even the second card and third card players were giving chase. Eagle McMahon #37817 and Devan Owens #25168 both played amazingly well, finishing at 19 under par overall and putting the pressure on the lead card players as they headed into the last few holes.

McBeth got off to a great start, carding birdies on holes 2-5, putting himself ahead of the field by two or more. Todd came back on Hole 5 with an incredible approach to snag a birdie, taking McBeth’s lead down to just one. On holes 7 and 8 the momentum quickly shifted towards Todd who was on the good end of dual two-throw swings as McBeth inexplicably found OB off the tee and carded bogies on each while Todd carded birdies on the same.

After trading birdies over the next few hoes, the pendulum swung in the other direction as Cam barely missed landing in bounds on the short hole 13, coming to rest on the cart path just 12 inches from the green. Because his disc never crossed over the safe area, he was foced to throw again from the tee. This time he parked his drive for a tap in bogey while McBeth made his putt for two to narrow the gap to a single throw off the lead. On the very next hole McBeth would tie it up with another birdie on the 766’ par 4 hole 14, while Todd took a par. 

The pendulum swung again on 15 with Todd taking the lead right back with a park job and tap-in birdie while McBeth found the chastity belt in an attempt to maintain pace with a birdie of his own. 

Both players found the water at the island green of hole 16 and, after an interminable wait on the par 5 17th, they headed to the 18th for the final showdown. Todd’s one throw lead still felt like it was up for grabs, especially after McBeth out-drove the other players on his card by at least 75’. After Todd played a safe second shot leaving himself with an easy lay-up for par, all eyes were on the 4x World Champion, with everyone expecting a text-book last-minute McBeth comeback.

McBeth let go of his second shot and watched with the spectators in disbelief as his disc hit the branches of a tree and dropped 80' short of the basket leaving him with a long shot to save birdie. His attempt was wide left and Cam walked up to his disc and quickly tossed a putter to right under the basket.

That was all it took. The 42 year old 2001 PDGA Pro Worlds Champion had sealed the deal, playing smart and consistent golf for three straight days and making almost every putt he looked at.

Cam Todd’s last victory on the PDGA National Tour was during the tour’s second year back in 2004, when Todd won the Discraft Great Lakes Open in a 3-way sudden death against Mike Randolph #6138 and Chris Heeren #18464. At 42 years old, Cam Todd still has what it takes to win against the best players in the world.

Congrats to all of the 2016 Glass Blown Open winners! This event goes down as the single largest in PDGA history, bringing nearly 1200 players together for three days of fierce competition. We can only imagine that the 2016 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships in Emporia this August will bring more of the same.