Hailey King took down the GMC this weekend, her third PDGA Elite Series win of the season. Photo: DGPT

(Recap via Disc Golf Pro Tour)

An exciting day for disc golf, as the fourth and final round of Discraft’s Green Mountain Championship presented by Upper Park Disc Golf brought us some great play and down-to-the-wire excitement in both divisions.

As the last event of the DGPT regular season, competitors who made the final round cut were all hoping to end it on a high note, hoping to make a push into the DGPT Championship, to move up a grouping for an extra bye, some prize payouts, and of course, the trophy.

With the weather cooperating for a beautiful day of calm wind and bright sun, players hit Brewster Ridge and Fox Meadow Run for one last time this weekend, with the leader in both divisions having to stave off a great round from someone trying to chase them down.

Chris Dickerson picked up his first Elite Series win of the season in Vermont. Photo: DGPT

In the MPO division, it looked like Chris Dickerson (-41) was going to run away with the tournament, coming in with a bogey-free tournament, shooting the hot round each day, and a five-stroke lead over second place.

However, Ricky Wysocki (-38) had other plans. Wysocki quickly started piling on birdies, as did Dickerson, and when Wysocki took two bogeys in a row on holes 8 and 9, it looked like it was all over for the two-time World Champion. Wysocki followed those up with five-straight birdies, while Dickerson took his first bogey of the tournament on hole 11, and a double-bogey on hole 16. Now Ricky was just one stroke back heading into the final hole. Dickerson played calm and consistent, throwing a perfect drive and upshot, leaving Ricky’s only hope of winning by throwing in a long upshot, which unfortunately found its way OB.

Dickerson’s seven-under final round was good enough for him to claim his first DGPT regular-season win, while Wysocki would finish in second.

MPO Final Round Notes:

• Ricky Wysocki (-38) lead with a 72% birdie conversion rate, Eagle McMahon (-24) was next at 61%
• McMahon shot the hot round of the day, -10, to jump up 19 spots on the leaderboard, to finish T-7th
• Paul McBeth (-30) was 100% and 3-for-3 scrambling
• Only 7 players were 100 from C1X, but Ricky Wysocki was the one who gained the most strokes on the field putting, with 3.78
• Paul Ulibarri (-22) was the lone MPO players without an OB stroke on the day

In the FPO, Hailey saw her lead deplete as Sarah Hokom (-6) opened the day with a birdie on Hole 1, while King took a double-bogey on hole 2.

As Hokom strung up four birdies in five holes down the middle stretch, King was able to earn a few birdies, but also took a pair of bogeys and a double-bogey on hole 13.

Heading into the last three holes, Hokom had a two-stroke lead over King. But King was able to regain her focus and birdie both hole 16 and 17, while Hokom took pars on both. Tied heading into the last hole, both players had solid drives and upshots, but Hokom’s putting game finally faltered, as she missed a putt from C1 and took a bogey, while King was able to play for par and win the tournament by one stroke. 

This is King’s first DGPT Elite Series event win of the season, but she has won 2 PDGA National Tour events, the Dynamic Discs Open, and Texas States.

FPO Final Round Notes:

• Hailey King (-7) lead the field with a 39% birdie conversion rate, Sarah Hokom (-6) was 2nd with 33%
• Missy Gannon (+15) and Kat Mertsch (+22) were the only players who were 100% from C1X
• King gained the most strokes from Tee to Green, with 6.10, a whole stroke over Hokom who had 5.07
• Hokom lead with 2.47 strokes gained putting, but Gannon gained the most from C1X

PDGA Elite Series action continues on Sept. 23-26 at the 2021 PDGA National Tour Finale - Music City Open in Nashville, Tenn.