Saturday – Ams at Morley

Crazy weather was part of the story on Saturday, as a blustery morning round at Morley saw a 5-way tie at 57 in the Advanced division between Michael Homan, Shane “VooDoo” Dehner, Mike Tyberg, Tracey Crowder and Justin Martinez. But on this Saturday, it was all about the second round. Morley uber-local Josh Damron and SLO youngster Peter McBride smoked the course with a pair of 1020-rated 53′s on the way to a 1-2 finish. Big Josh was the only player under par at Morley on Saturday (1-under) and took the MA1 win and a shiny new basket. Peter took second at 1-over, while Homan slipped to 3rd at 2-over. LA Steve Valencia, A.J. Risley, Shane Dehner and Mike Tyberg tied for fourth. Kim Cottrell took the win in Advanced Women on the wings of a 912-rated 66 in the first round, holding off a late-charging Shonda Garcia.

Did we mention yet that Dan Shorkey had a good weekend? It started on Saturday with a seven-throw win over second-place Steve Fawcett in Advanced Masters. Dan put together 992 and 984-rated rounds and had the second-best score of the day for all divisions at even par. Dan also took home a nice new basket courtesy of Snapper Pierson. Local thespian Paul Morgavo finished in 3rd at 11-over, Anthony Bassett and Tom Millard tied for 4th at 13-over and Roger Snider finished 6th (14-over), ending his string of SoCal MM1 victories at four. Mark Hauser had the best score both rounds amongst the Grandmasters to finish in 1st at 9-over, followed by Christian Cullen in 2nd at 13-over.

Ben Neely also had the best scores both rounds in his division (61/957 and 59/965) , which therefore led to his win in Intermediate at 6-over par. Daniel Vega was two shots back to take second place. Chris Armacost, Taylor Mate, Paul DesMarais and Brian Vallance tied for 3rd. Chad “Tomahawk” Nichter played way above his rating (883) in winning the Rec division, with consistent rounds of 62 (948-rated) and 61 (947). He beat Chris Goodrich (13-over) by 4 and the 3rd-place pair of William Cooper and James Barnes by nine. Shannon Wylot braved the elements to take Saturday’s Junior division title.

Sunday – Pros at Kit Carson

For some strange reason, pro disc golf events have a hard time filling up in San Diego. Maybe it’s because Micah Dorius lives down here? No matter – TD Mark Verrochi had a plan for filling the field: add a trophy-only option! The result was an Open field of 59 players and a tidy payout of $600 to winner (who else?) Micah Dorius. Micah had identical rounds of 49 (and was the only player to shoot under 50 both rounds) on the way to a 12-under total of 98, one shot better than up-and-comer Max Nichols in 2nd place. Steve Rico came down south from Sylmar to capture 3rd (9-under) and Mike Lust had an impressive showing with two 1000+-rated rounds on his way to 4th (8-under). There was some grumbling out on the course from pros who were frustrated with the heavy pedestrian traffic and the inexperience shown by some trophy-only players, but it provided a great payout for the winners and a great experience for these newer players.

Kim Cottrell made it two wins in two days by taking the Open Women title over Cristina Scantlin, and Allison Wylot walked away with the Masters Women title.

And don’t forget about Dan! Dan Shorkey also made it two-for-two for the weekend, running away with the Masters division title by eight strokes (7-under) over Paul Morgavo (1-over). These two guys were playing trophy-only, so the cash payout fell to 3rd-place Todd Mitchell (4-over) and 4th-place Mike Westerman (also 4-over). Shorkey also had the best score for the day amongst all trophy-only players, which earned him another little golden basket trophy (and I think a new full-size basket?). The Grandmasters division was hotly-contested, with Marcus Cisneros and Greg Olsen tying for first at 2-over. Greg conceded the win to Marcus, who got both the trophy and $195. Tied for third two strokes back were Randy Wylot, Steve Killian and Allen Risley. Perennial San Diego Pro Glenn Triemstra jumped out to a big lead in the first round and held on to win the Senior Grandmasters division with a 2-over total, besting upside-down guru Tom Clickner (9-over). Phil Ganshert, who had the lowest PDGA# of the day (777) took last cash in an oldest dude division that was larger (8 players) than the older dude division (7 Grandmasters) and old dude division (7 Masters). Let’s hear it for the Senior Grands!

The next big tournament to be held in the San Diego Area will be The Challenge @ Goat Hill on Saturday, June 30th.  This 2-round PDGA-sanctioned, SoCal Series event will feature tee times for all players and some challenging new pin positions on the Goat Hill layout.  You may have a chance to check out these new pins at the May Goat Hill monthly on May 20th.  And to keep your game in tune, the alliterative May Morley Monthly, Monday Montiel Doubles, Tuesday Kit Carson Doubles, 9@9 at Cal State on Wednesdays and Wednesday and Friday Morley Doubles should do the trick.

But of course – please come out to the work parties at Brengle Terrace Park in Vista – Saturdays and Sundays from 7am to 3pm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the Open division, Carlo Pelg shot a lights out 46 and broke the course record by two strokes, using only three mulligans. Micah Dorius had set the record last year with no mulligans.  Carlo’s 12-under round beat 2nd place finisher Brad Armstrong by five shots, with Luke Christensen and Deano Porter two more throws back.  Kim Cottrell squeaked out a win in the Women’s Open division with a 74, one shot ahead of Shonda Garcia and two over Allison Wylot.

Golden Sombrero Top 4, from left: Patrick Paramore, A.J. Risley, Daniel Lichtman, Carl Renda

A.J. Risley won the Advanced division with a 6-under 52, three shots better than a group of four golfers at 3-under (Matt Howard, Daniel Lichtman, Patrick Paramore and Jon Yergler).  The Advanced division was the center of competition for the Golden Sombrero title, the overall crown for the 7-event GS series.  Going into this tournament, Carl Renda held the lead, followed by A.J., Daniel and Patrick, so these four played on the same card at Mission Bay. A.J.’s margin of victory over the others allowed him to jump into the winner’s spot for the Golden Sombrero, with Daniel taking second, Carl third and Patrick fourth.  A.J. took home his fourth gold-painted sombrero and a Discatcher Pro basket with the win.

The Intermediate and Recreational divisions both featured close competition.  Brian Vallance shot a 2-under 56 for the win in Intermediate, one shot ahead of Hans Degner and Doug Larhette.  In Rec, Brett Camack beat out a field of 30 disc golfers with another 2-under 56, one throw better than Daniel Flores.  Juniors David Kyhlstedt and Shannon Wylot won the under-13 Boys and under-10 girls divisions, respectively.

There was great chemistry among players throughout the tournament. The SDSF Pro shop @ KCP set up a table with awesome selection of discs and apparel. They also gave generously to the raffle. Play It Again Sports in Pacific Beach donated golf discs and a bag to the raffle, as well as a disc and mini for the top three finishers in each of the 7 divisions.  This tournament wrapped up the Golden Sombrero Series, in which 293 players played in seven events across Southern California (Redlands, San Marcos, Los Angeles, Beaumont, El Cajon (Sycuan), Wrightwood and San Diego), raising $8, 545 for charities that feed the hungry.

Last year’s rain prevented carts, but this year the weather was cool and clear throughout the round, allowing many players to take advantage of riding in a cart.  The set up and tear down of the temporary course was well choreographed by the many volunteers that helped throughout the night. Many thanks to Mission Bay Golf Course for the opportunity to hold the tournament and congrats to TD Randy Wylot for a well-run event.

Full Mission Bay results at PDGA.com.

Full Golden Sombrero Series Points.

Sunday is an event that has been much-anticipated: the return of Ice Bowl disc golf to Mission Bay Golf Course.  TD Randy Wylot reports that he has a full field and long waiting list for this event, which will be the deciding event for the Golden Sombrero Series crown…er, sombrero.  Randy has teamed up with Snapper Pierson to design a challenging 18-hole disc golf course on this executive length ball golf course.  One cool thing about this tournament is that it will be played under the lights.  Players must check in at 3:30p on Sunday in order to get things teed off on time, as the tournament has a short window of opportunity to play.  Because of the tight time frame, players will only be allowed one mulligan per hole and it can only be used on the tee.  Proceeds from this event will go to the San Diego Food Bank.  Randy may still be in need of portable baskets for the event. If you are playing and can bring one, please do.

As mentioned earlier, this tournament will decide the Golden Sombrero Series winner.  First place in the series will win an Innova Discatcher Sport basket and the fabulous Golden Sombrero trophy hat.  Carl Renda is the current leader in the series with 198 points collected from four events.  Players receive points in events based on the number of players that they beat, with their top four point-total events counting toward the title.  A. J. Risley is currently in second place with 189 points, which means that in order to pass Renda for the series title he would need to beat nine more players than Renda does on Sunday.  Dan Lichtman is currently in third place with 173 points, but probably has the best shot at catching Renda since his finish on Sunday will likely earn him more points than his current low score of four (20 points from Beaumont).  Lichtman would need to beat 4 more players than Renda in order to catch him.  Confusing?  You betcha, but that’s part of the fun.  You can find the current GS Series points standings here.

As for the competition, Saturday was “Beanieman” Carl Renda’s chance to shine, as he picked up his first win in a PDGA-sanctioned event.  Renda and 2nd place finisher Daniel Lichtman tied with totals of 79 after 36 holes, but Carl was able to cinch the victory in a one-hole sudden death playoff. Patrick Paramore won a CTP contest to break a three-way tie, one stroke back for 3rd place with A.J. Risley and Paul Morgavo.  Angel Garcia was the remaining member of a rather idiosyncratic lead card, finishing one more stroke back at 81.

In the Intermediate division, Matt Howard took first place with a two-round total of 84.  Kevin Christie found that the low-ceiling Olive Glen layout suited his style of play, as he took second place with an 88.  Josh Hesser (who also did quite well in the raffle) won a playoff with Glen Kluge for 3rd place (89) and Phil Jordan carded a 90 for 5th place.  Shonda Garcia fired a very respectable 106 to win the Ladies’ division.

Some disc golfers tend to look down their noses at mulligan-aided Ice Bowl victories, but for many in attendance at this and other events, a win is a win.  Patrick Paramore had this to say about Renda’s win: ”Considering that we all used mulligans and were limited to 3 per hole, Carl did rightfully win this XC-tier event. He made some crucial putts that gave him the edge.”  Witnesses to Saturday’s rounds further pointed out that the tournament winner was probably not the top mulligan-user of the day.  But he was definitely the one who used the necessary amount at the right times.  And you would be hard-pressed to find critics at the San Diego Food Bank.  Food bank officials have stated in the past that each dollar donated can feed three hungry people, which means that there are 5,000 people who will get to eat a meal because of Saturday’s mulligan-hounds.  Take that nay-sayers.

The Sycuan Ice Bowl and the earlier San Marcos Ice Bowl were two stops on the 7-event 2012 Golden Sombrero Series of Ice Bowl tournaments.  This is the fourth year of the series, and this year’s collection of events will set records for charitable donations.  So far, the Golden Sombrero events have raised $6,570 (Redlands – $927, San marcos – $1,000, Chavez Ridge/L.A. – $2,538, Beaumont – $355, Sycuan – $1,750).  Remaining events include Wrightwood on Sat., Feb 25th and San Diego/Mission Bay Golf Course on Sunday, Feb 26th.

Full results can be found here.  Full Golden Sombrero Series standings can be found here.

Saturday’s participants

Seventy-five disc golfers met at Kit Carson Park this last Saturday with one goal in mind: to leave the course that day with one of the coveted San Diego Aces black bag tags.  The black color is reserved for tags 1 through 10 each year and competition is fierce for these tags.  This year, our bag tag supplier (Little Flyer) had run out of the black mini discs used to make the tags when we ordered 2012 bag tags back in November, which meant that when the first 2012 tags were distributed back in December, the top ten tags were not included.

Which brings us to Saturday.  With the ten black tags in hand, a bag tag melee was organized where players would surrender their current tags before going out to play one round, with the tags to be redistributed based on the results of that round.  Interest was so high that thirty-five players signed up to be 2012 S.D. Aces just before the round.  Many players showed up early to take part in a quick work party aimed at cleaning up trash from around the course.  Twelve of those players received prizes from a work-party-only raffle, including Innova discs, hats, towels and shirts.

 

The prizes...

Saturday morning was especially windy for Kit Carson, and the scores reflected it.  Even though some players are known to brag about shooting “double-digits-down” on a regular basis at KCP, the best score of the day was a 46 (8-under) carded by Pro Master player Mike Westerman.  Mike took home the #1 tag by shooting one stroke better than Luke Christiansen and Stephen Heaps, whose 47′s got them tags #2 and #3.  Justin Kirk and Chris Vilmorin earned tags #4 and #5 by shooting 48′s, and four players (Tom Vincent, Christian Cullen, Nick Newton and Pete Rudart) took tags #6 through #9 by tying at 49.  Tag #10 went to Chris Armacost, who tied with four other players at 50, but had started the day with a lower tag and hence got to leave with the lowest tag in the group.  Full results can be found here.

The winners!

These players’ names have been added to the top ten tag holder list on the Aces website and will remain there until new tag holders are reported.  You can report top ten tag triumphs by sending an e-mail to rizbee@teamrizbee.com (he updates the website).  It is quite possible that some of these tags have already changed hands, because several of these players immediately defended their tags at Sunday’s Goat Hill Monthly (Westerman, Vincent, Rudart and Armacost).  That’s the spirit!

photo courtesy of Lee Beecher

Sixty players filled the course on Saturday for the 5th Annual San Marcos Ice Bowl, and by all accounts the event was a great success.  Most importantly, over $1,100 and 200 lbs of canned food were collected for the chosen charity, the North County Food Bank.  It was a great field of players, consisting of experienced tournament PDGA pros, first-time players, loosey-goosey amateurs, recreating Marines, two father and two-son trios, a mother-daughter pair, a father-daughter pair and a husband-wife pair.  Ample mulligan purchases and use led to some great scores, with Daniel Lichtman taking 1st place in the Men’s Open/Advanced division with a score of 75 for 36 holes, holding off challenges from Carl Renda (78), A.J. Risley (80), Travis Cutler (82) and Dennis Keane (83).  Allison Wylot continued her domination of the Women’s Open/Advanced division, winning again with a 2-round total of 101.

Kevin Christie took home the icy trophy in Men’s Intermediate/Recreational, tying Corona’s Darrell Degner with a score of 80 for two rounds and then winning the darkness-infused CTP playoff.  Steve Brueker (83), Kyle Becker (84), Brendon Tayag (84) and Chad Nichter (85) also posted great scores.  In the Ladies’ Int./Rec. division, first-time tournament player Laura Elliott (124) outlasted Maxine Cook, and newcomer Dakota Sessler (132) won the Junior’s division.

There were side games, too.  Carl Renda won a CTP playoff with Kevin Beath to take home the Hole-in-One basket.  Carl had aced Hole #7 (sidearm) and Kevin aced Hole #8 (lefty backhand skip) in the first round.  Andrew Mills won the long putt contest and its first place Ice Bowl hoodie, while Shannon Wylot won the Juniors long putt contest.  Laura Elliott was the winner of Disc Golf Bingo and received a full-color Ice Bowl stamp Roc.

Because of the great numbers of mulligans used during play and the mysterious missing scorecard from round 1 that delayed the start of round 2, playoffs and awards were conducted in the dark.  It was quite a sight to see – dozens of people huddled on the basketball court using flashlights and cell phones to read raffle ticket numbers, and everyone in good cheer.  Over 30 raffle prizes were handed out, including Ice Bowl-stamped discs and t-shirts, several discs and shirts from SoCal Disc Golf Association, a variety of prizes (hats, t-shirts, towels) from Innova Disc Golf and two gift certificates from Goat Hill Golf Course.

With this win, Daniel takes a 1-point lead in the overall Golden Sombrero points race, one point ahead of Carl and two ahead of A.J.  Many thanks to all of the players and to our sponsors and contributors: Innova Disc Golf, SoCal Disc Golf, San Diego Aces, City of San Marcos, Goat Hill Golf Course, Tina’s Deli.  Full results available here.

The San Diego Aces have agreed to install disc golf baskets and tee pads at Brengle Terrace that are property of the club – the Aces purchased these items when Emerald Isle Golf Course removed its disc golf course.  The club will be soliciting donations and sponsorships to help defray some of the installation costs, and is looking to its members to supply the labor to put the baskets, tee signs and pads in place.  The Aces Board of Directors is currently ironing out details of the agreement with the city of Vista.  Once that process is completed work will begin on the course.  Stay tuned for our call for volunteers!

See more about this in the story reported in the North County Times.

The competition consists of four rounds of match play disc golf, played over two days, two courses per day.  According to sources close to one of the team captains (OK, it came from a team captain, so that’s pretty close), Saturdays rounds will be at Kit Carson Park (8 am start) and Goat Hill (1pm start).  Sundays rounds will be at Sun Valley (8am start) and Morley Field (1pm start).  Players are responsible for paying their own greens fees at Goat Hill, Sun Valley and Morley Field.  There is no truth to the rumor that any of the courses will let the South team trade in their spiffy team shirts for greens fees.  Singles matches will be played at Kit Carson on Saturday and Morley on Sunday, with doubles matches played at Goat Hill on Saturday and Sun Valley on Sunday.

Scoring?  No details have been released on how the matches will be scored.  Standard match play rules call for players to compete for the best score on each hole, with the winning player/team receiving one point.  We’ve heard some people muttering about keeping score by totaling the number of holes won by each player…we’re not sure.

What’s at stake?  Well, obviously bragging and trash-talking rights for the next year.  There’s also a rumor about a trophy, but very few people have ever seen it if there is one.  That’s because the South team has won every time so far and team captain Dan Lichtman keeps the trophy at home in his kitchen, using it to hold down the napkins he brings home from El Pollo Loco.

Along with the disc golf competition, two other events will be going on in conjunction with the Challenge.  The 2012 S.D. Aces Board Election will be held this weekend.  The online portion of the election has been going on since last Friday night.  Members who have not voted online (we have a list) will be allowed to vote in person at each of the courses this weekend, while the voting is going on.

Also, this weekend will be your first chance to join or renew your membership for 2012 and be able to receive a 2012 bagtag and 2012 membership disc.  Bagtags have arrived, and the first 50 members to sign up will be given a chance at the top 50 tags.  The new discs will be picked up from the Innova factory on Friday and will be available this weekend.

This weekend’s rosters:

Team rosters

If you do not have an e-mail address or prefer to vote in person, a ballot box will be available this weekend at the courses being used for the North/South Challenge.  On Saturday, matches will be held at Kit Carson Park in the morning (roughly 9am-11am) and Goat Hill in the afternoon (roughly 1pm-4pm).  On Sunday, matches will be held at Sun Valley in the morning ((roughly 9am-11am) and Morley Field in the afternoon (roughly 1pm-4pm).  Bios for most of the candidates are available here.

If you have further questions regarding the election, please contact Aces Vice President Randy Wylot, at wylot@sbcglobal.net.