Main Menu

Hokom Increases Her Lead, New Faces Jump to Open Lead Card at Vibram Open

Hokom Increases Her Lead, New Faces Jump to Open Lead Card at Vibram Open

By: Marty Gregwah #28647
Saturday, June 25, 2016 - 08:12

Technically, it wasn’t “moving day”, but Round 2 of the 2016 Vibram Open sure felt that way. The scores were all over the place, with the competitors constantly climbing up and then falling back down the rankings. With the field being cut in half after Round 3, consistency for today’s round at Maple Hill will be the key to having a chance at playing in the Finals on Sunday.  

Coming off a surprising start in the Open Women’s division, one had to wonder if the current leader Sarah Hokom #34563 had what it takes to stay ahead of her competitors. Not because of any sort of lack of skill, but because she is fresh off an 8-week long break from disc golf due to injury. Well, wonder no more.

Coming off an unofficially rated 997 even par (60) for Round 1, Sarah began Round 2 with a lead of three over Catrina Allen #44184, four over Val Jenkins #17495, and six over Paige Pierce #29190. Slicing and dicing her way through the Maple Hill Gold course with her precision forehand drives, there was simply no way for any of the women to gain much ground.

Hokom plays the risky over-the-water forehand route on Hole 5 and parks it.

By the end of the front nine, Sarah had added two more strokes to her lead over her closest competitor, Catrina Allen, with Val and Paige right on her heels. The back nine saw a wide variety of back-and-forths between the foursome, where birdies and bogeys were had by all.

A streak of bogeys on holes 14-16 by Sarah gave the other women a chance to tighten it up, but Sarah was not deterred, finishing with back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18.

By the end of the round, the only one to have moved up was Val, turning in a three over par (63) that moved her from 3rd place to now tied for 2nd with Catrina who finished at four over par (64). Sarah also finished at +3, thus increasing her lead over the field from three to four heading into Round 3 this morning.

Val Jenkins slow-mo drive for her approach on the par 4 Hole 10.

Paige remains in 4th place, six off the lead. At Maple Hill, a six stroke swing can happen in a matter of two holes, easily. It’s still anyone’s game. The chase card and beyond are eight or more strokes behind, but they have their own battles to fight if they want to make the cut for the finals tomorrow.

As we saw on the lead card in the Open division today, the impact that the Maple Hill Gold course can have on the best players in the game is matched by very few. Whether you’re on the lead card or somewhere in the middle of the pack, you will absolutely drop in the rankings if you aren’t on top of your game physically, but more importantly, mentally.

Maple Hill is incredibly good at breaking down your mental game. Anyone who is fortunate enough to have played it will always tell you that they absolutely love the course, with most of them coming off the 18th green completely demoralized. Simply put, it’s just plain hard.

One of the best examples of this came from watching Paul McBeth #27523 yesterday. Even the highest rated player in the world was shaken up by Maple Hill, visibly frustrated by the time he reached the back nine. When was the last time you remember seeing him finish OVER par for a round? Plagued by tree kicks on his tee shots, and often forced into running long putts to save birdie or par, Paul finished the round with four birdies, five bogeys, and nine pars.

Paul McBeth attempting to save par on Hole 14 from inside a group of shrubs.

Playing with Paul on the lead card yesterday was Devan Owens #25168, Nate Doss #11794, and Alex Geisenger #52063, all of which began the round tied for the lead at eight under par. As live scoring showed, that was all about to change, and rapidly.

By the time the lead card was finishing the front nine, several players from the chase cards and below were charging. Cale Leiviska #24341 and Michael Johansen #20300 had already moved up to inside of the top five positions. Nate Sexton #18824 and Bradley Williams #31644 were making moves as well.

With only the back nine remaining, Alex Geisenger was at one point the only player from the lead card that was still in position to be on the lead card the next day. That all changed on Hole 13, where Devan Owens parked the downhill par 3 off the tee for a tap-in birdie.

Owens caught fire. His spike forehand over the water on Hole 14 left him with a 40’ death putt facing the water, and he nailed it. On the heavily wooded Hole 15, parked. On the 530’ Hole 16, parked. With 17 and 18 being two of the easiest par 4 birdies on the course, he was likely to finish the round with six straight birdies.

Devan Owens gets his fourth birdie in a row on the 530' Hole 16 with a parked flex anhyzer drive.

To secure their spots on the lead card for Round 3, both Alex and Devan needed to birdie the 18th. After perfect drives, Devan stepped and parked his putter to under the basket. After crushing a driver to inside of 130 feet of the green, Alex had the chance to do the same.

Alex ran a sidearm at the green, smashing it into the rock wall that protects the pin with more power than it needed. His disc flipped up and bounced over the wall and he was forced to make his next throw from the drop zone. After narrowly missing the putt from there, he would tap in for a disappointing bogey.

Devan Owens is the only player from the Round 2 lead card that remains on the lead card for Round 3 this afternoon. He is locked in a 3-way tie for 1st place with Michael Johansen and Brad Williams. Nate Sexton and Cale Leiviska are one off the lead, with Nate rounding out the lead card for Round 3.

Coverage begins at 8:30am EDT for the lead card women and will be followed by the men’s coverage starting at approximately 2:30pm. Roughly half the field will be cut today, making this round do or die for many. Follow the live scores on pdgalive.com complimented by Instant Stats on udisclive.com, powered by UDisc. As always, photos can be found on the PDGA Flickr page.

Live streaming coverage of the Open division lead card will begin at 3:00pm on the Disc Golf Pro Tour YouTube channel, brought to you in part by the PDGA.

2016 Vibram Open, Maple Hill, Disc Golf Pro Tour