Brandon Oleskie sizing up the tee shot on the Toboggan's hole 13. Photo by Jessica Jaworski.

On June 3rd, 2016, Michigan’s own Brandon Oleskie #84911 finished his opening round of the 2016 United States Amateur Disc Golf Championship (USADGC) bogey-free with seven birdies for a score of 55, the lowest score of the day matched only by eventual 2016 USADGC Champion Gavin Rathbun #60436 and co-2nd place finisher Adam Hammes #57365, both of whom have now turned pro.  

This afternoon on the Toboggan, almost exactly one year later, Oleskie has done it again, carding another bogey-free round with seven birdies to finish at 55 on the day. This year, however, Oleskie sits alone at the top of the leaderboard. After a disappointing finish in 2016, Oleskie is now looking for redemption.

Oleskie picked up a few key birdies on the course today that helped propel him to the lead position. He was one of only two players all day to card a birdie two down the steep slope of hole 1 and one of only two once again to card a birdie up the steep slope of hole 10. These two holes are great examples of just how important each-and-every gettable hole on the Toboggan can be.

Illinois’s Dylan Lhotak #41076 sits one off the lead, tied for second place with Minnesota’s Alec Anderson #46872, both of which spent several hours as the clubhouse leaders this morning as they waited for more and more players to finish their rounds. While going over his round near tournament central after turning in his scorecard, Lhotak stressed the importance of getting 2s on the Toboggan. “I left a few out there today,” said Lhotak. “Like, hole 14, that’s one I usually get. I only got one 2 all day.”

987-rated Dylan Lhotak from Lockport, Illinois teeing off in perfect weather up the massive hill of hole 13. #USADGC #TobogganDGC #slowmo pic.twitter.com/LoTM5isHTB

— PDGA Live Scoring (@pdgalive) June 2, 2017

Dylan Lhotak throwing hot fire up the steep slope of hole 13 to eventually card a birdie 3.

Joining them will be Chicago’s Anthony Ippolito #33451 who finished as the only competitor with a score of 58, leaving him two back from 2nd and three off the lead. Other than a bogey on hole 4, which is considered a par by most (a 2 is virtually unheard of), Ippolito threw a solid, clean round picking up birdies on 3, 5, 8, 13, and 16.

Looking beyond the lead card, it’s a tight race, to say the least. One stroke shy of 4th place sits a 10-way tie for 5th. One stroke beyond them sits another 10-way tie for 15th. But wait, there's more. One stroke further and now we’re talkin' a 12-way tie for 25th. Crunch the numbers – there are 32 players that were within three strokes of making the lead card. The trend continues on and on for each additional stroke taken during the round. No one is safe. Not on the Toboggan. Not at a PDGA Major. 

We couldn’t have asked for a better start to the 2017 USADGC. The weather was perfect, the course is looking better and more beautiful than it ever has before, and the intensity of the competition has only just begun.

Video Coverage Coming!

Last but not least, we are extremely proud to announce that for the first time, the USADGC lead card and the always-amazing Toboggan will have post-production video coverage, filmed and edited by Central Coast Disc Golf, brought to you by the PDGA!

Stay tuned for USADGC Round 2 live scores and updates on pdgalive.com. Tee times and results can be found all weekend at www.pdga.com/usadgc.