Hey everyone, well this will be my last post for this adventure and I bring to you all the pictures that were taken during the week at the Worlds Event. My only regret is not taking more pictures of our time there but it is often hard to slow down enough to capture it all in pictures when you are trying to enjoy the moment. If you have any questions or comments submit them and I will cover it here.
First Day
Second Day
Third Day
Fourth Day
Fifth Day
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Worlds is over and we have a new champion
Saturday was an exciting day of golf, but due to the fact that we went out to the casino Friday night we missed the semi-finals. The Pro Men played their semi-final round at Water Works and it was a shoot out. Nate Sexton shoots a 46 to come from behind and tie Dave Feldberg for 5th place. Nate Played very solid golf all week and every round he played was above his rating. Nate also improved on his earlier round of 47 at Water Works and commented that he had a chance at the 44 but played more conservative to ensure a solid finish.
We finally managed to climb out of bed and get going in time to grab some breakfast and make our way over to Blue Valley for the Finals. When we got to the park there was already crowds of people there wandering around and visiting the vendors. We made our way over to hole 1's fairway after a few near collisions with some idiot from North Carolina who could not follow directions from the parking attendants who were telling him were to park. He decided to back down on us and nearly hit us until everyone started screaming at him and the horn was blaring in his ear. Then he tries to pull a u-turn in the middle of a crowded street and nearly backed down on us again. We were a little upset with this fellow but it would not disturb our state of bliss, we were at the Final round of the 2009 Worlds Disc Golf Championships and we were there to see some awesome golf shots and a new champion to be crowned.
We were sitting on the fairway of hole 1 watching the tee shots, the hole is 809 feet long so its a difficult task to get close on this hole. We were able to catch the battle in Adv Women as Maureen Higgins came from behind on the final nine holes to wrestle the championship away from Rebecca Frazer who looked like she had it all wrapped up before the semi-finals. We learned of a little drama that had taken place all week between the Frazer girls and Maureen so we started rooting for the underdog and she pulled it out. Next up we watched the Adv Men battle it out to see if David Wiggings Jr was going to be able to catch Matt Keatts. The so called talked about predicted next Amateur Champion had trouble during the week closing the gap on the leaders, while the lead changed hands a few times David never had the lead. Sure David is only 14 years old and it is hard to root against a kid, but when everyone tells you he is going to win you kind of like to believe that someone will take him down. In this case we never had to worry about David walking away with the title as he was playing catch up all week. He played some solid golf on the last 3 rounds to get into the finals but that is when his gas tank hit empty as no one could catch Matt. Matt played a flawless final 9 holes to shoot a 26 and slam the door on anyone trying to make a move. Matt made zero mistakes on his last round and from his play appeared to be the obvious champion.
Next came the Pro Women who we did not really catch much of, they teed off right after the Adv Men and because it was obvious after the semi-finals that unless Valarie was abducted she was going to be crowned a 3 time World Champion. So after the Adv men finished up we made our way back to hole 1 to catch the Pro Men square off. Now if you were following the scores online you saw Avery give back 11 strokes in rounds 5 & 6 to Josh Anthon but keeping his composure to take back 3 strokes in the Semi-finals at Water Works. Now we were thinking Avery has got this in the bag at Blue Valley for the final 9 given that the first three holes have two big arm holes, and he has a 2 stroke lead. But it would not be that easy. Josh put on a clinic on how to come from behind and square things up. Hole 1 Avery tees off first and does not get all of his power into the shot and he gets into trouble with groans from the crowd. While Josh tees off and crushes his drive to a perfect location on the fairway. Avery had to play out of the trees to the fairway while Josh laced his second shot to within 15 feet of the blind downhill basket. Avery laid up for the four while Josh cashed the putt for a 3, now the difference was only 1 stroke. Hole 2 is a 513 foot downhill shot and Avery gets off a great drive and gets back the stroke he gave up on hole 1. Hole 3 is a big arm hole, it plays 693 uphill with tough footing in the fairway if you get aggressive. Avery and Josh both get off the tee in good position, but on the up shots Josh catches a limb and only gets about 150 feet on the shot, Avery crushes his second shot up hill but comes up a little short. Avery finished the hole with a 4 and Josh with a 5, so the lead is now 3 strokes. Hole 4 ends up a push with both paring it. Hole 5 was a 330 foot uphill with a low ceiling of the tee, Josh and Avery both get inside the circle but only Josh makes the putt, the lead is now 2 strokes. Hole 6 is a short downhill shot with the basket on a plateau between two downhill sections. Josh parks his shot while Avery falls short. Josh makes his putt and Avery lays up, difference is now only 1 stroke. On hole 7 Josh parks his drive on the short uphill hole while Avery drives into the hillside, and we are all tied up. Hole 8, Josh parks his drive while Avery nearly aces the hole to end up a little long, but he makes the comeback to push the hole. Hole 9 both players tee off conservatively and push the hole. We go to sudden death.
Back on hole 1 Avery Jenkins is first to tee off, he gets all of his power into the shot this time and flips it over onto the right side of the fairway far short of his typical drives. Josh on the other hand uncorks another great drive and clears the corner on the left. Both guys throw their 2nd shots and are out of the circle. Avery lays up his 3rd shot for a tap in 4 while Josh looking at a 50 foot down hill putt runs it and just misses the chains. Josh ends up about 18 feet long but makes the uphill comeback. On hole 2 Avery crushes a drive down the right hand side of the fairway that fades just before the OB road to put him within 40 of the basket, but still uphill of it. Josh ends up catching a little of the tree guarding the basket and falls about 80 feet short, he does the smart thing and lays up the downhill putt to leave him with a 10 footer. Avery walks to his disc to check out his options, he backs off it then re-addresses the putt and lays it up under the basket for the push. They move on to hole 3, 693 uphill shot. Avery changes his game plan on this throw and instead of hyzering around the corner he goes straight at the pond to try and land on the flat portion just before the OB line. If you can get to this location you would have an easier second shot to get the Hyzer all the way to the basket. Avery's drive comes up about 3 feet short of the flat area and lands on the steep part of the slope. Josh throws his drive in almost the exact same spot as before. Avery is first to throw and he gets off a Hyzer shot that runs out of gas before the green and falls about 65 short of the uphill basket. We ran ahead to see the shots come in so we did not see Avery's throw but someone else said that when he tried to throw the shot he fell on the slope and still got the shot off. They were amazed on how much power he got on the throw seeing him fall as he released it. Josh on the other hand, throws the Hyzer cleanly around the corner this time to put him 80 feet out with an up hill putt. Both players miss the long up hill putts and we move on to hole 4. Hole 4 is the 611 foot uphill drive that flattens out for the last 300 feet or so. Both players get off crushing drives but Josh has better position. Avery has to throw a side arm shot from the right side of the fairway through a gap in the trees about 80 feet in front of him and carry the remaining 140 feet to the basket. Avery releases a clean throw and lands 10 feet long of the basket. Josh throws his up shot from a position directly in front of the tree gap and flips it over a bit and lands 15 feet to the right of the basket. They push the hole and move on to hole 5. Hole 5 was the hole that Avery could have sealed his fate during the final 9 had he made his putt inside the circle and this time he was not taking that kind of chance. Avery throws his tee shot about 15 feet short of the pin but in a very good spot, almost the same spot Josh threw his in the final 9. Josh on the other hand, throws his shot a little low and ends up about 40 feet below and to the right of the basket. The crowd at this point is in a frenzy running up the fairway to get around the basket to see if this will be the final hole. They nearly close off the green before Avery and Josh can get inside to inspect their position. With the crowd circling the green now around the back side of Josh and Avery and about 30 feet on the up hill side of the basket, Josh steps up to his putt. Josh does not look nervous, he lines up his putt with a slight bit of annhyzer in his wrist and lets it fly; the disc is on line but does not have enough power and it hyzers out just before the chains. The crowd starts to go wild and cheering for Avery as he addresses his 15 foot putt. I am not sure what Avery was thinking before his putt but I am guessing that is was something along the lines of "I may have missed some key putts in the final 9 but this putt right here will put it away." Avery releases his putt middle chains and it hits middle chains, the putt sticks and the crowd goes wild. There are so many people rushing in to congratulate Avery that Josh can not even get to his putter. Valerie, his sister and three time World Champion, runs out from the crowd and jumps into Avery's arm to congratulate him and a few seconds later both his mom and his dad are there as well.
Sudden Death Final Putt
We finally managed to climb out of bed and get going in time to grab some breakfast and make our way over to Blue Valley for the Finals. When we got to the park there was already crowds of people there wandering around and visiting the vendors. We made our way over to hole 1's fairway after a few near collisions with some idiot from North Carolina who could not follow directions from the parking attendants who were telling him were to park. He decided to back down on us and nearly hit us until everyone started screaming at him and the horn was blaring in his ear. Then he tries to pull a u-turn in the middle of a crowded street and nearly backed down on us again. We were a little upset with this fellow but it would not disturb our state of bliss, we were at the Final round of the 2009 Worlds Disc Golf Championships and we were there to see some awesome golf shots and a new champion to be crowned.
We were sitting on the fairway of hole 1 watching the tee shots, the hole is 809 feet long so its a difficult task to get close on this hole. We were able to catch the battle in Adv Women as Maureen Higgins came from behind on the final nine holes to wrestle the championship away from Rebecca Frazer who looked like she had it all wrapped up before the semi-finals. We learned of a little drama that had taken place all week between the Frazer girls and Maureen so we started rooting for the underdog and she pulled it out. Next up we watched the Adv Men battle it out to see if David Wiggings Jr was going to be able to catch Matt Keatts. The so called talked about predicted next Amateur Champion had trouble during the week closing the gap on the leaders, while the lead changed hands a few times David never had the lead. Sure David is only 14 years old and it is hard to root against a kid, but when everyone tells you he is going to win you kind of like to believe that someone will take him down. In this case we never had to worry about David walking away with the title as he was playing catch up all week. He played some solid golf on the last 3 rounds to get into the finals but that is when his gas tank hit empty as no one could catch Matt. Matt played a flawless final 9 holes to shoot a 26 and slam the door on anyone trying to make a move. Matt made zero mistakes on his last round and from his play appeared to be the obvious champion.
Next came the Pro Women who we did not really catch much of, they teed off right after the Adv Men and because it was obvious after the semi-finals that unless Valarie was abducted she was going to be crowned a 3 time World Champion. So after the Adv men finished up we made our way back to hole 1 to catch the Pro Men square off. Now if you were following the scores online you saw Avery give back 11 strokes in rounds 5 & 6 to Josh Anthon but keeping his composure to take back 3 strokes in the Semi-finals at Water Works. Now we were thinking Avery has got this in the bag at Blue Valley for the final 9 given that the first three holes have two big arm holes, and he has a 2 stroke lead. But it would not be that easy. Josh put on a clinic on how to come from behind and square things up. Hole 1 Avery tees off first and does not get all of his power into the shot and he gets into trouble with groans from the crowd. While Josh tees off and crushes his drive to a perfect location on the fairway. Avery had to play out of the trees to the fairway while Josh laced his second shot to within 15 feet of the blind downhill basket. Avery laid up for the four while Josh cashed the putt for a 3, now the difference was only 1 stroke. Hole 2 is a 513 foot downhill shot and Avery gets off a great drive and gets back the stroke he gave up on hole 1. Hole 3 is a big arm hole, it plays 693 uphill with tough footing in the fairway if you get aggressive. Avery and Josh both get off the tee in good position, but on the up shots Josh catches a limb and only gets about 150 feet on the shot, Avery crushes his second shot up hill but comes up a little short. Avery finished the hole with a 4 and Josh with a 5, so the lead is now 3 strokes. Hole 4 ends up a push with both paring it. Hole 5 was a 330 foot uphill with a low ceiling of the tee, Josh and Avery both get inside the circle but only Josh makes the putt, the lead is now 2 strokes. Hole 6 is a short downhill shot with the basket on a plateau between two downhill sections. Josh parks his shot while Avery falls short. Josh makes his putt and Avery lays up, difference is now only 1 stroke. On hole 7 Josh parks his drive on the short uphill hole while Avery drives into the hillside, and we are all tied up. Hole 8, Josh parks his drive while Avery nearly aces the hole to end up a little long, but he makes the comeback to push the hole. Hole 9 both players tee off conservatively and push the hole. We go to sudden death.
Back on hole 1 Avery Jenkins is first to tee off, he gets all of his power into the shot this time and flips it over onto the right side of the fairway far short of his typical drives. Josh on the other hand uncorks another great drive and clears the corner on the left. Both guys throw their 2nd shots and are out of the circle. Avery lays up his 3rd shot for a tap in 4 while Josh looking at a 50 foot down hill putt runs it and just misses the chains. Josh ends up about 18 feet long but makes the uphill comeback. On hole 2 Avery crushes a drive down the right hand side of the fairway that fades just before the OB road to put him within 40 of the basket, but still uphill of it. Josh ends up catching a little of the tree guarding the basket and falls about 80 feet short, he does the smart thing and lays up the downhill putt to leave him with a 10 footer. Avery walks to his disc to check out his options, he backs off it then re-addresses the putt and lays it up under the basket for the push. They move on to hole 3, 693 uphill shot. Avery changes his game plan on this throw and instead of hyzering around the corner he goes straight at the pond to try and land on the flat portion just before the OB line. If you can get to this location you would have an easier second shot to get the Hyzer all the way to the basket. Avery's drive comes up about 3 feet short of the flat area and lands on the steep part of the slope. Josh throws his drive in almost the exact same spot as before. Avery is first to throw and he gets off a Hyzer shot that runs out of gas before the green and falls about 65 short of the uphill basket. We ran ahead to see the shots come in so we did not see Avery's throw but someone else said that when he tried to throw the shot he fell on the slope and still got the shot off. They were amazed on how much power he got on the throw seeing him fall as he released it. Josh on the other hand, throws the Hyzer cleanly around the corner this time to put him 80 feet out with an up hill putt. Both players miss the long up hill putts and we move on to hole 4. Hole 4 is the 611 foot uphill drive that flattens out for the last 300 feet or so. Both players get off crushing drives but Josh has better position. Avery has to throw a side arm shot from the right side of the fairway through a gap in the trees about 80 feet in front of him and carry the remaining 140 feet to the basket. Avery releases a clean throw and lands 10 feet long of the basket. Josh throws his up shot from a position directly in front of the tree gap and flips it over a bit and lands 15 feet to the right of the basket. They push the hole and move on to hole 5. Hole 5 was the hole that Avery could have sealed his fate during the final 9 had he made his putt inside the circle and this time he was not taking that kind of chance. Avery throws his tee shot about 15 feet short of the pin but in a very good spot, almost the same spot Josh threw his in the final 9. Josh on the other hand, throws his shot a little low and ends up about 40 feet below and to the right of the basket. The crowd at this point is in a frenzy running up the fairway to get around the basket to see if this will be the final hole. They nearly close off the green before Avery and Josh can get inside to inspect their position. With the crowd circling the green now around the back side of Josh and Avery and about 30 feet on the up hill side of the basket, Josh steps up to his putt. Josh does not look nervous, he lines up his putt with a slight bit of annhyzer in his wrist and lets it fly; the disc is on line but does not have enough power and it hyzers out just before the chains. The crowd starts to go wild and cheering for Avery as he addresses his 15 foot putt. I am not sure what Avery was thinking before his putt but I am guessing that is was something along the lines of "I may have missed some key putts in the final 9 but this putt right here will put it away." Avery releases his putt middle chains and it hits middle chains, the putt sticks and the crowd goes wild. There are so many people rushing in to congratulate Avery that Josh can not even get to his putter. Valerie, his sister and three time World Champion, runs out from the crowd and jumps into Avery's arm to congratulate him and a few seconds later both his mom and his dad are there as well.
Sudden Death Final Putt
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