Originally published at: https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2020/02/26/tournament-talk-las-vegas-wintertime-southeast-asia/
With Wintertime Open and the Las Vegas Challenge in our rearview mirrors, and The Memorial on deck this coming weekend, we can safely say that the 2020 season is underway, right?
Sure, we haven’t had the top touring pros all in one spot yet. And sure, Asia Open, Samui Swine, WTO, and LVC aren’t capital-t Tour events, but to steal a phrase from our friends at Central Coast, let’s talk some disc golf.
Loving the Pacific Rim Openers
Jacky Chen’s performance at the Asia Open is one of the most fun stories to start a season in a long time.
The 22 year old’s 1040-rated debut showing in his native Taiwan could easily be the script for a Mighty Ducks style Disney movie: hometown kid shows up, unsponsored, under the radar, and bests not only the “local” star, Manabu Kajiama, but the three American ringers including the reigning USDGC champion, James Conrad.
It would be nice to have UDisc Live stats available to go a little more in-depth about his skills, but Chen more than passes the eye test, and clearly passed the only test that really matters: the scoreboard.
Among those that Chen topped in Taiwan was Philo Brathwaite.
Brathwaite is a fan favorite around the globe, and he probably deserves to have more media attention than he gets. Maybe that’s partly on us?
For those who only know him for signature Destroyers and internet-breaking albatrosses, the Californian has been on the scene since 2005 and 1000-rated or better since 2008. He has played at least 20 tournaments every year since 2012 and, in recent years, many of them have been overseas, specifically in Southeast Asia and Europe. The Disc Golf Guy has been especially good at capturing Philo in his element.
Philo Brathwaite Drava Forester Ace
Brathwaite isn’t usually challenging for the win at elite series events, although he isn’t immune to a lead card. And while his slow pace and hard on himself attitude can at times make him appear more serious than he actually is, Philo is a true ambassador for the sport, and watching his slimmed-down bag on the round one coverage at LVC was a joy.
Philo Brathwaite Round One Las Vegas Challenge
Spotlight is not as Bright at Oak Grove
In recent years, the Wintertime Open has signaled the end of the offseason and ended the drought of disc golf video content that runs from the end of the preceding touring season until the team at Central Coast posted round one from Pasadena.
This year, that was not the case. Between JomezPro, CCDG, Par Save Productions, GK Pro, Gatekeeper and others, there was plenty of tournament and compilation footage released that a footage-famished-fan could find something worthwhile to watch. This is without mentioning the Discraft media machine that was Paul McBeth, Hannah McBeth, and Brodie Smith, or Simon Lizotte’s vlog. That’s a long way of saying that the WTO definitely lost some of its buildup.
The course is historic, yes. Is it challenging for the top players? Not exactly. The course has some unique holes, but is it visually appealing or the sort of track that designers should cue off? I’m not a course designer, but probably not.
It’s more of a spring training game, or that first day that pitchers and catchers report to camp. The WTO is wonderful for all kinds of reasons, but with so much other content and more exciting tournaments happening elsewhere, this year’s edition felt more like the Grapefruit League than opening day.
Forgive us our Sins
The LVC also suffered from some identity issues this year.
If one were to click over to the PDGA event page and then to look at the field of players, one could easily be forgiven for thinking the LVC was still on the National Tour. One might scratch their heads and say to themselves, “Huh, no McBeth or Pierce, wonder why? Four grand for Sexton and $2,500 for Allen seems like a pretty decent pay day.”
Maybe it’s the lack of tour points to go towards that end of season payout. Maybe it’s the title sponsor.
So how do these “off-tour” events continue to grow and develop and make a name for themselves? We are also assuming that all events and TDs are interested in expanding their event, which is not always the case. The Disc Golf Pro Tour has launched their Silver Series, which will help address some of those issues by incentivizing touring pros to check out events like Throw Down the Mountain, the 303 Open, and Maine State Championships.
Perhaps we will see similar secondary Tour options — through the DGPT, PDGA, or even a new organization — continue to help give A-tiers more exposure in the future.
Up Next
Looking ahead to the Memorial, AKA the Hyzer Olympics, we’ll be back on capital-t Tour, and there are plenty of storylines to get excited for.
How will Paul McBeth look playing through an ankle injury? Will Eagle McMahon be back to 100%? How about AJ Risley? Will Ricky Wysocki, who looked good in Vegas, be able to keep it up? How will Paige Pierce look with her new plastic? Can Catrina Allen continue to let her game off the tee make up for C1X putting woes? How many water bottles will be hit, and how does the course look with some changes put in place?
2020 is off to a great start.