Originally published at: https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/2018/07/17/weekend-rewind-hammes-walker-notch-wisconsin-wins/
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With Eagle McMahon and the Konopiště Open taking most of the past week’s attention, let’s not forget the A-Tiers across the United States last weekend, as we had a couple big performances worth highlighting.
In Wisconsin, more than ten 1000+ rated golfers dotted the Silver Cup Open field. Adam Hammes used a final round hot round of 15-under par 68 to snatch a come from behind victory over defending champion Cale Leiviska, who finished three strokes behind in third, and second place Kevin Jones who was one stroke off the lead in the end.
Hammes averaged below his rating over three rounds but used two eagles on the final day to propel him to the win. Brian Earhart and Nate Perkins were fourth and fifth respectively.
An impressive performance on the Open Women’s side saw Madison Walker picking up the ‘W’ with a 5-under par 222 total. She was victorious by seven strokes over second place Hailey King. Holly Finley finished third ten strokes off the pace. Walker’s win was not the surprising result, however – that was Sarah Hokom shooting 37 points below her rating and ending her tournament in a tie for fourth, 18 strokes behind Walker.
Sarah Hokom Silver Cup Instagram
One of the premier tournaments in the Rocky Mountains happened out at The Bloom in Colorado. Known for its unique baskets and terrain, it also gave us one of the weekend’s bigger upsets with Nate Metzler defeating defending champ Joe Rovere in a sudden death playoff. The A-Tier win was Metzler’s first, and first above a C-Tier. He and Rovere finished the tournament at 25-under par 170 total, with Metzler getting the win on the second playoff hole.
Andrea Eaton took Open Women by one stroke over Kaylee Kincaid. It was Eaton’s first Open Women’s win of the season, and first ever A-Tier victory.
In Ohio, the Brent Hambrick Memorial Open may not have been a PDGA National Tour stop this year but it still drew a big swath of talent. Chris Dickerson avenged a 2017 second place finish to win his 19th tournament of the season. In the Final 9, he held off a resurgent James ‘Snappy’ Cole, who had just shot a 1079-rated final round, Drew Gibson, and Max Nichols to finish two strokes clear of the pack. Garrett Gurthie was fifth, one stroke off the Final 9 group.
Open Women was a two-player battle in the end between Jessica Weese and Rebecca Frazer, with Weese distancing herself by a three-stroke margin to take the win. Her 983-rated second round was tied for her second-highest rated round of the season.
The Taneycomo Throwdown in the Las Vegas of the Ozarks saw Andrew Presnell edge Nikko Locastro by one, finishing at 29-under par 151 after three rounds. James Proctor was the other podium spot, and first and fifth place were only separated by five strokes. As a relative local, Presnell has to be happy to get a big win that close to home.
Notably, Zoe Andyke and Dustin Keegan grabbed wins at the Grande Ronde Open in Oregon, as did Barry Schultz at North Carolina’s High Country Throwdown.
With those results in the books, looking ahead to this coming weekend’s action, Paul McBeth should be angling to add to his Disc Golf Pro Tour point standings lead at this weekend’s Idlewild Open. With Ricky Wysocki, currently second in points, electing to stay in Europe for The Open in Ale, Sweden, and McMahon, currently third, taking the weekend off his chances are good. But he’ll be up against returning champion James Conrad, and Dickerson who’s coming off a win and looking for his 20th of the season in Kentucky.
Simon Lizotte, Jeremy Koling, K.J. Nybo, and Devan Owens will keep things interesting in Sweden.
Catrina Allen will be returning early from Europe to fight for some DGPT points. She’ll have a full field that of 19 women to compete with, including a rested Paige Pierce, who’s probably ready to bust out of her midseason slump, a motivated Hokom after a tough weekend, and Walker and Weese who are riding high after their A-Tier wins.