Action continued at the Open at Belton on Saturday where calmer conditions brought some impressive scores in both the MPO and FPO divisions.
Continuing to battle it out at the top of the pack, Paul McBeth and Ricky Wysocki went stroke for stroke for most of round two until McBeth birdied the second to last hole of the round to go up by one on Wysocki. Both players shot an incredible 1070 rated -14 which puts McBeast and Sockibomb in 1st and 2nd place headed into Sunday’s final round; a battle that will capture the attention of viewers from across the globe.
Not to be outdone in the MPO division was Calvin Heimburg who shot the hot round of the tournament thus far with a -16 (1086 rated) 47. Heimburg’s scorching round catapults the young but experienced pro from Florida into a tied for 3rd position with Alex Russell to round out the lead card.
In total, 21 of the 117 players in the MPO field shot rounds of -10 or better proving that in calmer conditions, The Open Course at Heritage Park is one of the more attackable courses on tour.
For the second day in a row, 1 albatross was carded on the par 5 hole 13. Saturdays double-eagle came from none other than Canada’s young-gun Thomas Gilbert who currently sits in 34th place after a much improved -11 on Saturday. While the majority of players finished under par on the 399ft tightly wooded 13th which averaged 1.1 strokes under par in round 2, some struggled. Paul Ulibarri who carded the only double-eagle (2) on the hole yesterday finished with a bogey (6) in round two which gives him an average score on the hole of a birdie (4) which is just below the scoring average on hole 13 for the weekend which currently sits at -.93 strokes under par.
In the FPO field, Catrina Allen bounced back in a big way after a slow start to the tournament in round 1. Allen, who is the highest rated player in the field and last year’s 2nd place finisher at the Open at Belton finished round 2 with a very strong 1028 rated -9 (54).
Last year’s champion in the FPO division Valarie Mandujano started strong in round 1 but fell back on Saturday after a score of 67 (+4) setting her back to 5th place. Mandujano will have to make up some strokes on the lead card to have a chance at a repeat win.
Joining Catrina (currently at -6) on the lead card will be Missy Gannon (-3), Kona Panis (-1), and Heather Young (E). Gannon’s impressive (-5) round two moved the Beacon, NY native from 5th to 2nd going into Sunday.
The action continues tomorrow in Belton, TX for the final round. Scores and stats are available on UDisc Live and live coverage begins on Disc Golf Network and free on the DGPT YouTube channel at 2:15 pm CST.
