Jenkins and Reading Victorious at Greater Tulsa Open
The Greater Tulsa Open (GTO) brought in its first National Tour this past weekend. The event saw people from all over the country return to the Sooner State for some top caliber play within the Tulsa Zoo area known as Mohawk Park with two 18 hole courses. The courses had undergone so much work over the last couple of weeks in preparation that concern about the venue's top courses was weighing heavily on the staff heading into the Wednesday night before the event. Wayne Forrest tournament director, and countless volunteers made the best of the area as the destructiveness of the Ice Storms, and rains not seen in Oklahoma in close to a hundred years had flooded areas of the park that no one was aware of. This created new obstacles for the players to compete with and forced some shots that no one had anticipated.
Though Saturday saw lots of play from all divisions, when the dust finally settled in Oklahoma, Avery Jenkins had won the First National Tour in Oklahoma in the Open division, and his first NT victory of the year. Des Reading had managed to move into the sole position of first place on Sunday, and with solid play from Courtney Peavey she overtook "Burl" who started off the day on top, and Valarie Jenkins who had some trouble keeping it in the fairway, and was left out of contention on the top card, which allowed the up and coming Liz Lopez to take 4th place as she shed all amateur events this year, and has been steadily showing the field why, her play was solid. Des and Courtney set the tone for the Women's card, and Des was able to take control over the round about midway through to keep her on top and winning her 5th tournament of the year, she again showed class and perseverance on The Judge and continues to play at a high level that many of us only dream of achieving!
Mitch-Mac (Mitch McClellan) of Oklahoma had managed to win in a playoff from fellow Oklahoman Ray Walker who had bested Mitch Mac on 2 out of 3 rounds, but after the first round, Mitch was up 2, and was able to take away another victory this year to add to his long lived disc golf days, and very proud of winning in his home state for sure!
In the Grandmasters division, the battle heading into Sunday looked tough and tight. Daryl Johnson and Scott Wilkinson were battling all day Saturday, and then on Sunday Daryl was able to hit some tough shots, and some good lines, and Scott had a couple of putts that just missed and Daryl was the winner throughout the event.
It should be said that the courses were full of challenges that clearly made some errant shots even more painful to look at and shoot out of. The fact was that after the first round at BlackHawk, a very tight and technical course through heavily wooded fairways for the most part, where precision was key they must head to a more open RedHawk. There was about 25% of the field that were able to shoot under the threshold of 54 strokes at BlackHawk. Those that had a good round in the morning found issues with a more wide open, and very condensed front nine in the afternoon round at RedHawk. It did not deter Jeff Leyland though, as he moved from the 6th card to the second card by shooting a hot 45 round in the afternoon, and Ken "Tank" Franks shot a solid 46 to change the leader cards around a bit, and made for interesting golf on Sunday.
Jay "Yeti" Reading started off with the lead, as his rounds were solid on Saturday to give him a 2-stroke advantage over the field, and he was the man to catch. The first hole was not kind to Jay as he hit a tree midway on his initial drive, and though was able to get a 3, the rest of the cards around him moved ahead. Avery was able to shoot a "bogey free (no 4's)" on the front 18 of Blackhawk as Sunday saw the mixture of the 2 courses called “MoHawk Judge” a 27 hole 11,000'+ layout. Avery was able to pretty much secure the win by hitting a 50' putt on the 25th hole, where he narrowly avoided a stream on a tight roller, it was a beautiful shot that put pressure on the rest of the group. The problem was that Eric McCabe was on FIRE on the second card, where he shot the same hot round of the day on the Judge with a 76, and the leader card was concerned with his score, and had to watch their backs.
As we head into the final hole, a hybrid of #17 & #18 on the Red Hawk course, the goal is to make it through the front wall of trees and leave yourself with a solid upshot of 250'-300' away. The field was backlogged here, and it was determined that Avery had a 2 stroke lead, but Dave Feldberg who had trouble all weekend had managed to catch up to Yeti. Yeti had played solid, but had a few errant shots that just put him out of reach for his first win of the season, and Eric McCabe had caught the leader card, and there was a three way tie for 2nd place. Lets go with Eric and how he did. Eric was able to keep his disc just under the trees, and was able to clear out to leave himself with a solid 280' shot to the basket, that had OB all around protecting it. His second shot though stayed right, and left him with a 70-80' shot to save 3, with pressure mounting and a galley watching, he CANS it, SOLID chains, and is triumphant. His 3 puts the pressure on the leader card, but mainly Yeti and Dave, as Avery had to play smart, and Tank needed to keep his game on to get the USDGC invite (he would) that Stan McDaniel got the previous weekend from him.
Yeti’s shot is a little light, and leaves himself tough, he then throws his upshot short right, and though his attempt to hang on to the 3 is right there, it tails away and he is forced to leave the battle. A valiant effort from Jay, a few strokes, and tough play, but it was not enough. Avery, and Tank do pretty solid, and Dave leaves himself a little short. Here is the interesting part, Dave knows that Eric hit the putt, he now knows that Yeti is looking about 90' away, and he must decided what to do......HE GUNS IT, he goes for the 325'+ shot and decides to make a move, his shot though is high, hits slightly above the basket, and a tree, falls to the ground, screaming, and heading out of bounds, when all of a sudden.......TWONG.....and back into the putting area for a 35' putt. A spectator behind the basket but slightly inside of the OB rope got tagged from Dave's shot (Hit the front tire of his bicycle), and instead of having to shoot a 50' come backer for 4, he is left with a 35-40' to keep pace with Eric. Dave nails it, and is able to hold onto a second place tie with Eric, and Jay has to feel the pain of being close, but mot making it through the endurance test known as the Judge.
Avery played solid on the course, hitting lines and keeping pace ensuring that he was in a position to win. His composure on a few missed shots, clearly showed why he is one of the best at this game, errant shots were not followed by mistakes, but rather followed up with shots that "fixed" the errant shots. His tact and demeanor throughout, as well as hitting some great lines, clearly showed he is an example of what good disc golf is too look like.
The folks at Oklahoma have had a hard time to get things ready, and had to deal with issues that most events don't worry about, but the play on the course is what we all want to know about, and this event did not distract from that. The Judge played long, hard, and tiresome in what appears to be a good test of patience, and consistency. The winner in Avery clearly showed again why he is one of the top players, and his blue TeeRex seemed to find lines that only someone that good could find. It was a joy to watch, and entertaining to see as those players, all of the top cards, and divisions competed the entire time, not one person withdrew, and though the ticks were thick, the fairways were tight, and rough was full of ice and rain storm debris, the disc golf in Tulsa known as the GTO surely showed that the “Judge” had other thoughts on player verdicts for Sunday, then the 2 hawks had on Saturday. The turn over of leaders was crazy and exciting, and surely will only continue here in the Midwest, as many players head to Des Moines (First Class Challenge), Minnesota Majestic, and then to the Kansas City Wide Open. Disc golf is just starting the summer season, and many players will compete to the last hole, do yourself a favor, and get out there and watch it if you are not playing in it!