2018 MVP Open: Round 2 Recap - An unofficially 1108 rated day

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Where do we even begin? Round two of the MVP Open at Maple Hill has delivered in fantastic fashion. There’s a heavy scramble at the top of the leaderboard, with Ricky Wysocki, leaping 29 spots from a tie for 30th to first place. In second place, playing from the chase card, is Paul McBeth, in third place is Calvin Heimburg and rounding out the lead card is James Conrad, leaping nine spots. Oh, and there were also four aces today. Oh, and I should have mentioned as well Ricky put up what is the new course record at Maple Hill after the changes to holes 10 and 18, the only round that can arguably challenge the greatness of Paul McBeth’s 1121 round in Round 4, the final round of the 2013 Vibram Open.
 
Before we go any further, check out the ace Wysocki stacked on top of being 5 for 7 to start the day. Go watch that right now:

​Wysocki is one of two players on the lead card to finish the round clean today. Carding 9 Birdies and that sweet, sweet 320’ ace. After starting on the 10th card, Ricky Wysocki has rightfully reminded everyone that he’s won this event twice before and you better not count him out after a -1 down on day one. He finished today 100% putting inside Circle 1 and 50% putting from Circle 2 including a 50’ putt from inside the conifers on the right of hole 10 to card yet another birdie. I caught up with him after the round and it was obvious that the man was focused. He knew he needed to start the day hot. Give himself the opportunity for birdie and capitalize. Hole 8 was certainly a momentum builder, but the 5 prior birdies weren’t even on his mind. Down the final stretch, Ricky smashed his drive up 18’s deceivingly steep fairway. He lined one of the must trustworthy sidearms on the tour and let fly. Right out of his hand he was disappointed and the crowd’s reaction matched for just a split second. In a sudden burst of elation the crowd erupted as Ricky’s shot, that looked short, hopped up the railroad tie and finished in bounds. A low miss brought Ricky his first par in 5 holes to finish what will go down in history as one of the greatest rounds of all time.
 
Paul McBeth finished today seven under par, which is fantastic golf. It’s 1060 golf. Try being the number one rated disc golfer in the world a throw 12 over your rating. I caught up with him as he finished his round with a bogey on 18 (he bookended his day with bogeys on 1 and 18). He had out driven Wysocki’s drive (from a good hour or two before) by a couple leaps and bounds and lined up what turned out to be the first forehand he threw of the entire day. Just a little bit long, he brushed back the gallery  on the bleachers as he crashed out of bounds. Before that fateful flick, he was tied with Wysocki at 14 under for the event. You might say he didn’t need that one shot, but when you’re battling the second best rated player in the world for one round, every single shot matters. He was incredulous that at the end of the round he had hit all the hard birdies today but missed some of the easy ones. But at Maple hill you take what you can get and make something of it. Like this putt for birdie on hole 16:

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Hole 16: @paul_mcbeth is looking for a share of the lead. Tune in now to see how the live card is doing during round two of the @mvpdiscsports Open http://www.dgpt.com

A post shared by Disc Golf Pro Tour (@discgolfprotour) on Aug 25, 2018 at 2:46pm PDT

Calvin Heimburg is holding down third place right now on his own at 12 under par throwing two 53’s in a row at 6 under par each. As I write this article he is crushing drive after drive off of one’s tee-pad for the distance competition finals as the top qualifier. He’s tied for first in Birdies at total 17. But 5 bogeys are holding him back from the lead. He’s making his money on the throws though as he’s in first place for making circle 1 and Circle 2 in regulation at 50% and 72% respectively. The green seems to be the source of his trouble as he’s only 87% inside the Circle.
 
James Conrad will round out tomorrow’s lead card with his preliminary rated 1068 round at 8 under par. He’s in fourth, tied with Nate Sexton at a total 11 under par. Conrad makes the last card of the day though because his 8 under beats Nate’s 5. Conrad finished clean of bogey’s on the entire day with a 100% Scramble and sealed the deal with a 100% rate inside the circle. Sexton faced trouble on the front with a couple self-proclaimed dumb mistakes, but he came back strong on the back including absolutely parking hole 18 with a backhand drive and then the smoothest of forehands to nearly under the basket.
 
On the ace highlight reel today there were two early, on five by Able Virgile, then a minute later a drive on four drew chains. And one minute later chains again as Jeremiah Libby aced four. Further down the stretch, Trevor Harbolt hit hole 8, helping him jump 37 spots today with a respectable 57. Then, of course, Ricky did too.
 
There’s simply too much action to cover here today. So make sure you scour the internet for all the coverage you can find because we have 6 camera crews on site this weekend. If you can make it tomorrow, start driving now because the festivities are underway and tomorrow is looking gorgeous. Otherwise, make sure to tune in for live coverage tomorrow afternoon at 3:15 PM EST as the lead card tees off for the final round.

This article written by DGPT Editor & Writer Zach Podhorzer.