My Friend is a World Champ

This week my good friend and disc golf buddy Austin Pfaff traveled to Emporia, Kansas to the 2013 PDGA Amateur & Junior World Disc Golf Championships and came home the 19 & under Junior champ.

From the opening round until the final putt Austin was in control of his own destiny. He played exceptional golf the entire week never letting anyone challenge him for the win.

On the first day of competition he threw a 1026 rated 49 (-6) opening round at the par 55 Jones West DGC. He was tied for the lead with Omar Williams.

On day 2 of competition the morning round was at the par 55 Peter Pan course. Austin threw a 1014 rated round of 48 (-7). He took the lead at -12. That gave him a 5 stroke lead going in to the afternoon round. He then shot a 1000 rated 57 (-4) at the par 61 Emporia Country Club blue course. Austin finished day two increasing his lead by one at -16.

On day 3 Austin threw his fourth consecutive 1000+ rated round at the par 55 Peter Pan course. His 1032 rated 45 (-10) caught the attention of the PDGA calling the round "Stunning". His total of -27 increased his lead to 15 strokes.

Austin may have had a bad Egg McMuffin to begin day 4. His opening round at Jones East was his first under 1000. He shot a (-4) 56 rated at 991. Colten Montgomery made a run shooting 53 (-7) and went from 4th to 2nd. Going in to the afternoon round Austin was still leading at -31 and Colten -17 was still 14 strokes behind.

In the afternoon Jones East round he cam back to form shooting the low round of 53 (-7). The 1024 rated round moved him even farther out of reach with a 23 stroke lead at -38.

In the semi-final round he threw 1012 rated round scoring 48 (-7) taking him to -45 for the finals. 

The players for the final 9 were Austin Pfaff (-45), Colton Montgomery (-23), Jake Laubner (-16) and Jacob Files (-16). The final round was played at the Emporia Country Club and it was just a formality until Austin putted out the last hole to win the championship.

He fininshed up the great run of disc golf rounds with a 943 rated 29 to end with a total 385 (-45). Colten Montgomery finished 2nd at 406 (-24), Followed by Jake Lauber at 414 (-16) and Jacob Files at 416 (-14).

Austin scored a rating of 1000+ on five of the six full rounds with his highest rated round at 1032.

 Austin on the Champions podium

 Celebrating the win!

 Photos courtesy of Jenn DeVries

Great Way to Start the Year

Austin and I traveled south to Richmond and teamed up to play the Hangover Dubs Tournament. at Gillies Creek Park.

The morning round we both played good. I was even able to contribute 3 solid tee shots for birdies. We  had no bogeys and were both hitting our putts. I even hit a high sweeping hyzer putt from about 45' to save the birdie.

We ended up at 9 under par. One stroke ahead of the second place team, Allen & Patrick.

The second round didn't go as well in the beginning. We weren't hitting our drives as well and had to make a couple of long putts to either get the birdie or save par. We did have a couple of missteps. On 18 we both gacked our tee shots but Austin made an amazing shot out of the woods to save par. By the middle of the round we were 2 shots behind. Allen & Patrick were really hitting some shots. If one missed the drive the other ended up parking his tee shot for the deuce.

We slowly battled back and with two holes left we were one behind for the round and tied for the lead. On the last hole I throw a low straight shot that skips up about 12' short of the basket. Austin go for the chains and over shoots. The other team's best shot was about 20' behind the basket on a slight uphill grade. They had been making some great putts all day and all they had to do was hit this one to stay tied for the lead. First putt misses wide and the second putt hits the basket. I hit the birdie to tie the round at -6 and a one stroke win finishing at 15 under.

Allen & Patrick played great all day. They were right there all day long and were a fun team to play against.

We won some sweet Prodiscus discs and custom engraved beer glasses. For the first time playing this course I played way above my usual self and hit several great tee shots and long putts.