Day three of the 27th Annual “Steady” Ed Memorial Masters Cup presented by DGA dawned cool and clear, but by mid-morning both the sun and the competition were heating things up on DeLaveaga Disc Golf Course in Santa Cruz, California.

In the third round, Hole 8 gave up its third Ace in as many rounds -this time to Derek Penfield of Eugene, Oregon.

First to tee off in Round Three were the Senior Grandmasters (60+) and for the third time, Dr. Rick Voakes of Bowling Green, KY shot a four-over 85 across the 27 hole course to win the division by 44 throws.  DeLa course designer Tom Schot of Capitola, CA had an off day, but he still finished in second place ten throws ahead of the hard-charging Jeffrey Brown of San Diego, CA who vastly improved his score over his first two rounds by shooting a very solid 90.

As was expected, the Grandmaster (50+) division was a heated battle.  After 25 holes of the third round, J. Michael Barry of Los Osos, CA had taken the lead away from Doug Werner of Fremont, CA, but Doug fought back on the last hole, the fabled “Top of the World”, by carding a Birdie 2 to force a tie and a play-off.  After a long wait for the MPO division tee-times to clear Hole 1, J. Michael and Doug started their sudden death play-off.  Doug was unfortunate to clip a mando tree with his drive, and despite a valiant effort with an off-balance second shot forehand, he carded a bogie four and J. Michael’s easy par crowned him as the Grandmaster winner.

Also as expected, the Master’s (40+) division had a lot of drama coming down to the wire as well.  The lead card started off with John Baldwin of Scotts Valley, CA holding a 2-throw lead but with all three of the rest of his group within only three throws.  A double-bogie 5 on Hole 18 cost John the lead as Patrick Brown of San Francisco picked up two throws and took over the lead.  But John fought back with a Birdie 2 on Hole 19 to tie.  Over the next seven holes, John and Patrick would match each other throw-for-throw to maintain the tie.  Meanwhile, the hard-charging Phil Arthur of Woodstock, GA started recording deuces and after the 26th hole he had caught the leaders, and Phil, JB, and Patrick were all looking down from the lead together as they stood on the tee of Hole 27.  Under the intense pressure, all three ran into some trouble coming down from the “Top of the World” and it turned out that if any one of them had carded a par they would have been the winner, but Phil ran into a little extra trouble as his second shot went OB, and when it was all over, John Baldwin and Patrick Brown remained tied for the lead having shot Par and -2 respectively, and Phil Arthur and Jason Tyra of Grass Valley were tied for third only a single throw back, both having also shot -2 .  Again, the sudden death playoff was a bit anti-climatic as it only needed a single hole of play as John’s par to Patrick’s bogie gave John Baldwin the hard-earned Master’s win.

The FPO division started the day with Sara Hokom of Caldwell, ID leading by eight throws over Catrina Allen of Phoenix, AZ and Val Jenkins of Capitola, CA.  Kathy Collins of Grass Valley, CA was fourth on the lead card, an additional nine throws back.  Kathy had the best third round of the ladies, shooting an outstanding one-over 82 ending her round with 12 straight pars capped off with a birdie deuce on the “Top of the World” Hole 27.  Over the course of the third round, Val was to prove to be the biggest threat to Sarah’s lead cutting it down to only three throws after 9 holes of play and then again after 12 holes, and then again after 19 holes.  But each time Sarah fought back, and from the 24th hole on, the lead of 6 strokes would remain for the win.  Catrina didn’t have as large a swing during the round but she also ended up gaining two throws on Sarah to end up remaining in a tie with Val for second place.

The Men’s Open division had more than its fair share of drama as well.  On Day One, three players - Will Shusterick of Nashville, TN, Nate Doss of Capitola, CA, and Eric McCabe of Emporia, KS had all shot amazing 10-under 71s to share the lead.  On Day Two the pace slackened a bit, and Paul McBeth of Phoenix, AZ found that his hot round of 9-under was good enough to put him only 1 throw back in second place behind Nate, who’d carded an 8-under 73.  Eric was in third place two further throws back, and Will was another two throws back in fourth.

In round three, Nate would end up carding another 8-under 73 to secure second place in the tournament.  Will would match his first round performance with another nice 10-under 71 to move up and take third place.  “The Champ” Ken Climo of Clearwater FL, would record an outstanding 11-under 70 to vault from twentieth to seventh place.  But the hot round on the final day went to Paul McBeth who threw zero bogies and 13 birdie deuces to record an amazing 13 under par to take home his second National Tour title of the year, winning by four throws at -30.  Paul has now won the first two of six National Tour Elite Series Points events in 2012 and finds himself in a great position in the “Drive to the Championship” points race.

While all the final scores were being tabulated and prizes prepared, the crowd was wowed by a free-style session that broke out led by “The Champ” Ken Climo, Magnus Petersen, who just recently relocated to California from Norway ( “For the Frisbee” as he says,) and local Tom Sahlit, who was one of the many tournament staffers.

Magnus Petersen Freestyling

Prior to the tournament divisional awards, two special awards were presented as a solar eclipse lent a special flair from the cosmos.  First, Tournament Director TJ Goodwin presented Dave “Daviar” Thomas (no, not the Wendy’s guy) with a volunteer award for all of his hard work on the DeLa course as well as “for all of his mentoring on how to be a TD.”  Second, previous award winners Marty Hapner, Tom Schott, and Ken Climo, along with a heartfelt speech from Nate Doss, presented the DGA “Steady” Ed Memorial Trophy to the entire Jenkins family – Leroy, Sharon, Avery, and Valarie, for their outstanding lifetime achievements and continued demonstration of the ideals and values of the father of the sport of disc golf - “Steady” Ed Headrick.  It was a very emotional presentation and many were wiping away tears of joy from both celebrating the Jenkins family, and remembering “Steady" Ed's legacy.

The Jenkins Family - Avery, Sharon, Leroy, and Valarie (L-R)

The 27th Annual “Steady” Ed Memorial Masters Cup presented by DGA was a huge success thanks to the great efforts made by Tournament Director TJ Goodwin, his right-hand, Russ Jacobsen, and a huge number of dedicated volunteers who prepped the course, spotted on holes, drove the shuttle van, directed parking, made lunch runs, put water out on the course, etc. etc.  The presenting sponsor, the Disc Golf Association, was also ever-present with General Manager Scott Keasey and Sales Manager Derek Kotval on hand helping out the entire weekend from dawn to dusk as well as visits from other DGA staff and Farina Headrick as well, who always brightens any disc golf gathering with her presence.

One really cool highlight for the players and spectators alike, was a large flat panel TV at Tournament Central all three days that scrolled all the Tournament Scores and Lead Card Live Scoring from the PDGA Website all at the same time!  Spectators and players done with their rounds could see the lead card scores coming in from each hole on the course and the players really enjoyed that within minutes of turning in their scorecard, they could see their scores and unofficial round ratings up on the “Tournament Media Center.”  Within 20-30 minutes of the last card being turned in they could also see their next day’s tee time before they even left the course for some dinner!

The Tournament Media Center displaying Scores, Live Scoring, Presenting Sponsor, & Prizes

Watch for more exciting disc golf action as the PDGA National Tour Elite Series sponsored by Vibram Disc Golf returns in less than two weeks from the 30th Annual Kansas City Wide Open on Friday, June 1st through Sunday, June 3rd.