Goat Hill Monthly brings out great golfers…and wind

Center City Golf Course in Oceanside hosted its first disc golf tournament this past Sunday (April 3, 2011), a 2-round battle/party for 61 players from San Diego County and parts north.  Philo Brathwaite of Tujunga came down I-5 and walked away with 1st place in the Open division, topping 24 other players in that division with scores of 55 and 54, for a total of 109.  Philo’s opening 55 gave him a three shot lead over Chris Brophy and Dan Duron, and his second-round (and tournament course record) 54 gave him a 5-shot victory over Steve Rico and Duron.  Kevin Cocks of San Diego won the 22-player Men’s Advanced Amateur division with a 2-round total of 119, a 2-shot advantage over first round leader Mark Verrochi (57), Daniel Lichtman and Kyle LaMontagne.  Austen Stringfield of San Marcos carded a total of 135 to win the 9-player Men’s Intermediate Amateur division and Natalie Cook of La Mesa won the 5-player Womn’s division with an impressive 2-round total of 133 (played from the Goat Hill front tees).

The schedule for the event was very optimistic – starting at 12:30 pm and playing 2 rounds of 18 holes.  While the lead Open and Women’s groups finished in the dark, most players were able to finish before the sun had gone completely down, and all (OK, most) were happy to have been able to get in 2 rounds of disc golf on the long, hilly Goat Hill layout.  Center City Golf staff had a BBQ grill running to sell burgers, hot dogs and brats to players, and 32 San Diego Aces participated in a bag tag melee to add some extra spice.  Josh Damron, who tied for 4th in Open walked away with tag #9, partly because of his ace of the 447ft. 18th hole in round 2.

The event was a lot of fun, with many players calling for a re-run next month and in future months.  We’ll see if we can make that happen!  Full scoreboard of the monthly is available at DiscGolfU.com.