Sun Valley Open 2009

The annual PDGA event held at Sun Valley golf course came to a conclusion this past weekend. This year’s event was one of the biggest ones yet, with over 140 players and a plethora of spectators there in support. One reason why this was one of the biggest events in Sun Valley’s history was the presence of some of the top pros in the sport. Joining local pro favorites Carlo Pelg, Micah Dorius, and Chris Vilmorin in the Open division were big-name pros Dave Feldberg, Paul McBeth, Steve Rico, and Bobby Musick. All and all, there were 9 players in attendance with rating over 1000 battling it out in the Open division.

But, the pros didn’t steal all the spotlight…there were a group of amateurs that deemed themselves the “Ironmen of the SVO”. San Diego Aces members Ben Rutherford, Robert Martin, Patrick Paramore, and Paul Morgavo were among these Ironmen that played EVERY round on each day. They played all three rounds each day with little to no break in between. They were able to do this by competing in both the Advanced and Intermediate divisions. One of them, Rutherford, finished in the top 10 in BOTH divisions. Nice job guys! Click on the following links to see the official results of the event: Pros/Adv and Ams.

Finally, the event ended with the traditional $1000 skins match where the top four scores from the weekend got paired up with four lucky raffle winners. The four teams competed for five holes – each hole worth a $200 skin. If a hole is not won outright by a team, the skin ($200) gets pushed to the next hole. So with everyone at the course watching, the four teams kept it suspenseful and ended up pushing on all five holes of regular play. It was then to be decided in a sudden death hole playoff, with the winning team taking all the cash! The decisive hole was a safari tee location for SVO hole #1. San Diego Aces member Carlo Pelg stepped up on the elevated tee and lasered his drive between two palm trees landing the disc well inside thirty feet, by far the best drive of the bunch since the other three teams were all just outside the circle. Pelg’s teammate, Patrick Paramore, sealed the deal nailing a high pressure putt to win the $1000 for his team. It was an exciting conclusion to a truly great event. Fun was had by all!

– SD Aces Sun Valley Rep. Aaron Van Matre