Originally published at: https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2019/09/11/green-mountain-championship-preview-another-run-smuggs/
Photo: Alyssa Van Lanen – DGPT
The final regular season event of the Disc Golf Pro Tour will kick off this Thursday at Smugglers’ Notch Resort in Vermont. The 2019 season has been full of trials, tribulations, and travails for the tour, yet Smugglers’ Notch remains a much-loved property. Green Mountain Championship TD and new DGPT CEO, Jeff Spring, has promised that the course will have some new elements and surprises for players and fans alike.
Smugglers’ Notch was last featured on the DGPT in 2017, but fans will remember seeing Fox Run Meadows and Brewster Ridge during the 2018 Pro World Championships and 2019 Pro Masters Worlds. Since the tour was last in Vermont we have crowned, or rather, recrowned, world champions Paul McBeth and Paige Pierce. McBeth won the 2016 DGPT Championship at Smuggs, but have never captured the GMC, even withdrawing from the event in 2017 due to injury, and Pierce has only won once, also in 2017.
Would you like to know who has won at Smuggs? Ricky Wysocki. Wysocki has won four of the last five GMCs, averaging 1057-rated golf in Vermont, not including 2018 Pro Worlds where he averaged 1041 over five rounds. Wysocki was winless since the San Francisco Open before last weekend’s Nantucket Open, and he will be wanting to find some of that Green Mountain magic going into the home stretch of the 2019 season.
Paige Pierce has been, speaking objectively, on fire since *checks watch* May, but Smugglers’ Notch has not been overly kind to Pierce over the years. Since the 2015 season when the capital-T “Tour” started making regular appearances, Catrina Allen is the only Open Women’s player who has won more than once in Vermont.
If you are in a pool and looking for a dark horse, Kristin Tattar is your pick. Tattar just won the Canadian National Championship by seven strokes over Pierce and, get a load of this, has been playing off the charts all summer, especially since coming stateside. At the European Open she finished fifth, at Worlds she finished sixth, and she took second at both the DDGC and MVP Open. She has gained 10 ratings points as of the latest update and is now 966-rated.
Past Winners
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The Courses
Brewster Ridge DGC Gold: 7,760 feet, par 61
Brewster Ridge offers a challenge reminiscent of Idlewild or Maple Hill, and will require players to stay out of the thick rough and densely forested areas off the fairway. The course rulebook only identified four holes where OB is a factor, instead the course punishes bad shots with natural OB. Both Open and Open Women will play the course for rounds one and three, Thursday and Saturday.
Fox Run Meadows: Open – 9,345 feet, par 63; Open Women – 8,165 feet, par 63
Fox Run is a completely different vibe than Brewster Ridge, as long, narrow fairways are the name of the game. OB comes into play on every hole, and players will be more concerned with their landing zone at this course, much like Winthrop Gold or Lake Eureka. Both fields will play Fox Run for rounds two and four, Friday and Sunday.
For full comprehensive maps and scorecards, click here.
Extended Forecast
It seems like we’re seeing a trend of frontal passages near the beginning of events continue into the Green Mountain Championship. A cold front will stall in southern New England Wednesday evening and into Thursday morning. This may allow for a few morning showers in the Jeffersonville area. Much nicer, and cooler, conditions can be expected on Friday as high pressure moves nearby. Another cold front should move through the region on Saturday. This will once again lead to a chance of showers. The re-emergence of high pressure should once again bring nice conditions for championship Sunday.
Thursday: AM showers possible with a high around 70°. Northerly winds around 5 to 10 mph possible.
Friday: Temperatures in the low to mid 40s to start the day should warm to around 71° by the afternoon. Winds will turn out of the southeast while blowing around 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday: Southwest wind around 10 to 15 mph will be possible, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Temperatures should warm into the low to mid 70s as showers move through the region.
Sunday: Highs will once again warm to the low to mid 70s as the wind calms throughout the day.
How To Watch
JomezPro, Gatekeeper Media, and GK Pro will be on hand providing post produced coverage of MPO1, MPO2, and FPO1. Smashboxx will be on site providing live coverage of both MPO and FPO. FPO coverage will start at 9 a.m. Eastern, MPO at 2:30 p.m.
