Angel Garcia represents at Am Nationals

Each June, top amateur disc golfers from around the U.S. converge on Milford, Michigan with their eyes on a big prize – the U.S. Amateur Disc Golf Championship.  “Am Nats”, the name given to the event by players, is quite a tournament to win, because it means you have conquered “The Tobbogan”, an 8,824 ft., par-62 monster of a course that many call the best in the world.  This year’s winner was Ben Calloway, from Davenport Iowa – a solid player who finished 4th earlier this year at the Bowling Green Amateur mega-tournment.  Calloway fired two 1,000+ and a 999-rated round to win by 2 strokes over a field of 155 other golfers.

But the big news for San Diego disc golf fans is the performance of Aces member Angel Garcia, whose final-round 56 equaled the hot round of the tournament, and moved him up to 4th place, finishing just four shots behind Calloway.  Angel’s 56 allowed him to pass 10 players on the final day of the tournament – no small feat.  And that’s after moving up from a tie for 23rd place after the first round.  Angel adds this great performance to the list of other top finishes he has had this year – winning the Advanced Amateur division at The Memorial in Phoenix and the Green Valley Open in Yucaipa.  Angel is sure to return to San Diego with lots of Discraft Schwag (Discraft is the main sponsor of Am Nats).

Following Angel’s example of charging up the leaderboard, Aces member A.J. Risley also finished strong with a 1002-rated 59, which moved him up 36 spots to 32nd place.   A.J. was 93rd after the 1st round and 68th after the second round, but was able to finish “in the cash”.  Along with fellow Aces Carl Renda and Dale Chambless, he’s now driving home before hitting the road again for the Beaver State Fling in Oregon.