It’s On!! North vs. South Challenge This Weekend

North vs. South Trophy

Coming to a disc golf course near you this weekend: the 3rd installation in the San Diego Aces North vs. South Challenge.  This is the last competitive event of the year on the San Diego disc golf calendar, and in previous years it has turned out to be a fun and exciting weekend of disc golf for those involved, either playing or spectating.  San Diego’s version of the Mason/Dixon line is somewhere around the 56 freeway, and 20 golfers from above will meet 20 from below in a series of match-play rounds played on four different courses – 2 North, 2 South (of course).

Team Captains Daniel “Big D” Lichtman for the South and A.J. Risley for the North have put together their teams through a process of open challenges and cash under the table, coming up with rosters of players who meet three important criteria: 1) play great disc golf, 2) live in the correct region, and 3) have nothing better to do the weekend before Christmas but drive all over the county to play disc golf.  And from the looks of the rosters, they have found just that.  So far the trash-talking has been rather mild, but come Saturday you can expect all stops to be pulled out, as each team of plastic-aholics does their best to defend their honor on their own home turf. 

The format of the event goes like this: on each day two matches will be played, one singles and one doubles.  Saturday’s rounds will be played at Morley Field (singles) and Sun Valley (doubles), with Sunday’s rounds being played at Kit Carson Park (doubles) and Montiel Park (singles).  Each team consists of 5 “Open” players, 2 Women’s division players, one “Master” (over age 40) and 12 “Amateurs”.   Match-ups will be determined by the team captains, who will do their best to pit players of similar skill level against one another.  Each round played will be 18 holes, scored in match play style, where the score is determined by the number of holes won outright by a player or team.  The North vs. South championship will be determined by combining all of those Won-Lost-Tied outcomes.

The schedule for the weekend is as follows:

Saturday, December 18th:

• Morley Field (Singles) 8:30am tee-off, shotgun start.  Players must check in by 8:00am.
• Sun Valley Golf Course (Doubles) 1:00pm 1st tee time. All matches start on Tee #1, there will be tee times assigned.

Sunday, December 19th:

• Kit Carson Park (Doubles) 8:30am tee-off, shotgun start.  players must check in by 8:00am.
• Montiel Park (Singles) 1:00pm tee-off, shotgun start. 
• North Victory/South Consolation celebration (Stone Brewing?) immediately afterwards.

Two other important events are happening in conjunction with the North/South Challenge.  Voting for the 2011 San Diego Aces Board will be going on, withthe ballot box following the matches around the county.  If you have not been able to vote online, you can do so at each of the courses listed above, while the match is being played at that course (If you want to vote online, e-mail rizbee@teamrizbee.com to arrange that).  Also, 2011 membership sign-ups for the Aces will be available at all four locations.  New club discs (Innova Champion Destroyers, Orcs, TeeBirds and KCPro Aviars) and new 2011 bagtags will be available.

The rosters: