Allen Takes Lead With 8-Stroke Swing at Sunset Hills
Allen Takes Lead With 8-Stroke Swing at Sunset Hills
Tattar, Pierce move up to lead card
The second round of the 2019 PDGA Pro Disc Golf World Championships saw the Open Women’s division leave the narrow fairways of Northwood and head into the great wide open of Sunset Hills. On a day significantly windier than usual, Catrina Allen played it nearly to perfection.
When Allen took to the tee of hole one, it was after watching Eveliina Salonen throw tee off ahead of her. Salonen’s 1025-rated 7-under par at Northwood the day prior left Allen, Valerie Mandujano, and Erika Stinchcomb in a three-way tie for second place, six off the lead. Allen slowly but surely began chipping away at Salonen, using her years of experience to play through the elements properly and finish two ahead of Salonen by the day’s end.
“I kind of feel like it’s a place where you just birdie or par, but I think it was windier than the last couple of tournaments that I’ve played here and a lot of the holes I stepped up to, I changed discs because of the wind,” said Allen.
Allen is leading in virtually every metric through the first two rounds except when it comes to her putting percentage from inside of 10 meters - a stat that she isn’t bothered by.
“I always use the excuse that if you have more putts you have a chance to miss more putts,” Allen said jokingly. “I’m not nervous or feeling not confident. I feel like they’re just not going in. I’m hitting the cage or the top of the basket, but I did finish with two good putts today.”
While Allen was making moves to the top of the leaderboard, Paige Pierce was doing much of the same from the third card, to her own disbelief.
“It felt quite bad actually, so I was surprised,” said Pierce. “It was quite windy out there so not a lot of people were scoring and just a couple under moved me up. I’m gonna take it and run with it. I’m just ready for tomorrow. Ready to attack Northwood, correctly.”
Both Pierce and Estonia’s Kristin Tattar finished with 4-under par 57s and that’s all that was needed for them to join Allen and Salonen on the lead card for round three at Northwood. Pierce still has a ways to go to catch Allen, but she’s heading into the remaining three rounds as if the event is only just beginning.
“I’m seven off the lead but its three more rounds and that’s what tournaments usually only start at, three rounds,” said Pierce. “It feels like we’re about to start a tournament and I’m giving them a seven stroke head start. That’s kind of how I’m looking at it.”
While Allen and Salonen held on to their lead card positions, Stinchcomb and Mandujano fell off. But that’s not always a bad thing.
“The top of chase card, that’s my favorite spot to be,” said Stinchcomb. There’s less pressure but you’re still right in the mix. I love it!”
Stinchcomb got off to a great start, playing the course exactly as she had labeled it the day prior, “birdie or die”. Her front nine including six of them, five of which came in a string on holes four through eight. A bit of nerves combined with the frustration of backups left her feeling the stress of the limelight on the back nine.
“We hit those backups and I kind of just felt a little lethargic,” Said Stinchcomb. “I had a hard time getting back into it. In the end I just kind of lost focus there on a couple of shots, kind of hurried them, and maybe started to feel those nerves because I wasn’t doing as well.”
Stinchcomb remains optimistic and proud of her play thus far heading into Thursday’s round three.
“I can keep my head held high,” Stinchcomb said. “It was my first lead card. It’s at worlds. Plus, I stayed under par. I’m very happy, even with a sub-optimal finish.”
Joining Stinchcomb on the chase card will be Finland’s Henna Blomroos, who shot the second best score of the day with a 6-under par 55, knotted up in a three-way tie for sixth place with Sarah Hokom and Callie McMorran, both of which finished with 4-under par 57s. Ellen Widboom jumped up eight spots with a 5-under par 56 to grab the top slot on the third card while defending champion Paige Bjerkaas did just the opposite, dropping eight spots with a 1-over par 62.