Main Menu

McBeth and Allen Hold Narrow Leads at the Maple Hill Open

McBeth and Allen Hold Narrow Leads at the Maple Hill Open

Friday, June 26, 2015 - 01:05

Cover Photo By: Zac Cobus #20165

The long awaited first round of the 2015 Maple Hill Open is officially in the books and as expected, it was truly a great day of disc golf. Maple Hill Gold is the kind of place where unexpected names can reach the top of the leaderboard but that wasn’t the case today. Two very familiar names will sit atop the lead card tomorrow, current PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Champions Paul McBeth #27523 and Catrina Allen #44184.

There is one thing unfamiliar about this situation. What in the world is Paul McBeth doing in the lead? That might sound like a ridiculous question, but stay with me here. 

McStats

2008 was the first year that Paul McBeth started competing in multiple PDGA National Tour events, hitting the road at 16 years old with his first event of the year being the 2008 Memorial Championships He competed in six total NT events that year, and in 2009 competed in six more. By the end of the 2009 season and still only 18 years old, he had racked up seven top ten finishes.

It wasn’t until 2011 that he snagged his first NT win at the Memorial Championships. If you look at the 33 NT events he’s competed in since, you’ll notice an interesting pattern. Paul McBeth, now with 14 NT victories on his resume, is almost never in the lead after Round 1. In fact, of the 33 NTs since his first win in 2011, he’s only been the leader after Round 1 four times! One of which was just a few weeks ago at the 2015 “Steady” Ed Memorial Masters Cup, a lead that he shared with Nate Doss #11794.

mcbeth-2011-memorial.jpg

Paul McBeth throwing a drive at the 2011 Memorial Championships.

Now, it’s only fair to mention that he went on to win three of those four tournaments, but it is an interesting piece of statistical data nonetheless. It begs the question, are some players better off on the heels of the leader, fighting for a comeback win? Are the magical rounds that McBeth so often puts together, scratching and clawing his way to the top (e.g. the 2015 Beaver State Fling), somehow fueled by NOT being in the lead? The data might suggest this as a possibility, but only time will tell.

McBeth’s round of 50 this afternoon (unofficially rated at 1086), although impressive, didn’t give him much of a cushion. Ricky Wysocki #38008 finished just one throw back at 51, with Paul Ulibarri #27171 and Dan Hastings #33504 tied for 3rd place after both carding a 52 for the day. Max Nichols #21870 will tee off at the top of the chase card tomorrow one throw shy of being tied for 3rd, followed by a slew of other competitors that are well within striking range of not only catching up to him, but catching up to and taking the lead away from McBeth as well.

Open Women's Division

In the Open Women’s division, Catrina Allen also holds a lead of just a single throw, but with a lot more separation between the lead and chase card scores. Having finished top five in each of the four times she’s been here, including her second ever National Tour win at the Maple Hill Open in 2012 (titled The Vibram Open at that time), Catrina is no stranger to the spotlight at Maple Hill. But unlike the years past, she has a new threat to deal with, 20 year old up and comer Jessica Weese #50656.

weese-mho-round-1.png

Jessica Weese lining up a forehand approach at Maple Hill.

Weese, coming off her first National Tour victory two weeks ago at the 2015 Beaver State Fling, has been on fire this year. Her ability to throw powerful and precise forehands gives her a leg up on the rest of the field at Maple Hill and her backhand and putting ability is becoming just as big of a threat. With only three practice rounds in the days leading up to her first official round ever on one of the most difficult courses in the world, she finished one throw off the lead with a score of even par, unofficially rated 1006!

Joining Allen and Weese on the lead card is Paige Pierce #29190 during arguably her most dominant year thus far in her career as a professional disc golfer. Pierce finished with one throw more than Weese, carding a 61. With scores that close on the lead card at Maple Hill, we can expect to see several lead changes during Round 2 tomorrow.

For the next two days, the women get the pleasure of sleeping in as their division, comprised entirely of threesomes, will be the last groups to tee off for both Round 2 and Round 3 starting at 2:10pm EDT. The lead card is scheduled to tee off at 3:30pm EDT pending no unexpected delays or backups.

The weather looks gloomy, but the good news is that it should be a rain-free gloomy. Hole-by-hole scoring will be available for every single player in both divisions once again tomorrow on pdgalive.com and the SmashBoxxTV crew will be bringing you more live streaming disc golf action.

Make sure to follow the PDGA on Facebook and Twitter for updates, links, pictures, and videos and feel free to view or download any of the high-resolution images from Round 1 on the PDGA Flickr page.