Tournament Rundown - WACO

Round 1: It was a blustery day in Waco, TX for the first round of the Waco Annual Charity Open. Anyone who teed off after 9 AM was dealing with 20-30 MPH wind gusts to go along with steady winds in the teens and 20s. Gavin Rathburn escaped the day in first place, 2 strokes up on Nikko Locastro, Bradley Williams and 15 year old Gannon Buhr.

Round 2: It was more of the same in round 2 with winds whipping around throughout the late morning and into the afternoon tee times. Nikko took the lead and never looked back with his 9 under round playing on the lead card. Cale Leiviska clawed back into contention with his 10 under round despite losing his bogey free round with a bogey on the 18th.  

Round 3: With the wind dying down over 70% of the field was able to play under par in the final round compared to 58% in round 2 and 54% in round 1. Nikko continued where he left off in the previous round by finishing 8 under and up by 3 strokes on Cale Leiviska to win the tournament. Leiviska, who had a respectable 9 under round, just couldn't make up enough ground coming into the day 4 strokes back. 

Storylines of the weekend:

• Hole 15 could arguably be the toughest hole on the Disc Golf Pro Tour. There were 5 birdies on this hole all weekend and those all came in the first round. 
• This course could be the toughest course on the tour. The weather made it that much worse. Five holes (9, 12, 15, 17 and 18) resulted in averages over par for the entire three rounds of the tournament.
• 15 year old Gannon Buhr started the tournament hot playing his way onto the lead card on Saturday. He stumbled a bit as the weekend went on and finished tied for 11th. 
• Brodie Smith returned to where his pro career started, finishing tied for 47th. Not ideal but an improvement on last years tournament where he finished tied for 80th.
• After becoming the Number 1 player in the world Eagle McMahon had a very rough tournament. The young star was +1 through the first 2 rounds. He then finithe weekend with an -8 round.

“The Usual Suspects” Finishes:

• Jeremy Koling: T18th
• Paul Ulibarri: T14th
• James Conrad: T34th
• Greg Barsby: T78th
• Cale Leiviska: 2nd
• Chris Dickerson (Pick to Win): T7th
• Eagle McMahon: T47th