Originally published at: https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2019/07/21/mcbeth-makes-five-strokes-fifth-european-open-wine/
Photo: Jari Mäki-Kuutti – European Open
Well, safe to say we didn’t see that coming.
For the fifth time in a row Paul McBeth is your European Open champion. Winning the first PDGA Major of the 2019 season brings his career major total to 14.
In our round three recap we said that it would take a combination of something special by McBeth, and something tragic from both Ricky Wysocki and Eagle McMahon for McBeth to make a run at the title. That’s exactly what happened.
McBeth mentioned that recap as extra motivation in his win. What does that mean for Wysocki and McMahon?
Wysocki started the day one stroke up on McMahon, and five ahead of McBeth. By the time the lead card reached the turn, McBeth had closed the gap. On hole 10, Wysocki took a double bogey six, and McBeth took a share of the lead with a birdie. He overtook McMahon for the solo lead on the next hole.
McBeth’s lone bogey on the day came on 18 when he was ahead by three strokes, otherwise he played clean and steady golf. He was 100% from inside Circle 1X on the day, and matched his stroke count — 54 — from rounds one and two, finishing with a final round best 10-under par to push his final score to 33-under par 223 total. He improved on his third round by seven strokes and averaged 1048 golf over four rounds.
For the event, McBeth was first in the division in C2 in regulation, 81%, and fairway hits, 88%, and second in C1 in regulation, 56%, and parked shots, 19%.
McMahon hung in there, and would ultimately hold onto second place, but he took four bogeys on the day including back to back one overs on holes 11 and 12 which killed any momentum he was hoping to build. A late birdie on hole 18 moved him back into solo second, but his 4-under par final round was only 1003-rated, not the effort you want to post while chasing a major.
Wysocki finished tied for third, and had a tough round. He went two down with three birdies and a bogey over the front half of the day, and the back nine didn’t go any better. Wysocki went even over the back half with a double bogey on 10, three birdies and a bogey on 18. Wysocki would finish his weekend with a 987 rated, 2-under par round.
Albert Tamm tied Wysocki for third at 30-under par 226 total. His 1042-rated 55 was good enough to help Tamm to his best career finish at an A-tier or higher.