Cover Photo By: Corduroy LeFevre, Photographer for Innova Champion Discs. 

It’d be more than fair to say that if Tim Selinske were still with us, he’d certainly be proud of his good friend Barry Schultz. The Masters division played both of their rounds today at Nevin Park to kick off the 2015 Tim Selinske US Masters Championships. Schultz came out of the gates with a great first round and then turned on the burners for Round 2, finishing with a lights-out 51 (-13) to take over as the overall leader.

These fellas might be playing in the Masters these days, but they are just as good at disc golf now as they ever were. The PDGA Ratings mastermind, Chuck Kennedy, stumbled upon some pretty interesting statistics this afternoon as he watched the hole-by-hole scores come in on pdgalive.com. Let’s go back in time shall we, to 2002.

At the 2002 PDGA Pro Worlds, a lot of the names that finished towards the top after Round 1 this morning here at the 2015 US Masters were competing against each other in the Open division for the world title, 13 years ago. And not much has changed. They’re all still incredibly talented disc golfers now, just as they were then.

After shooting the hot round this morning, recent Masters division Ledgestone Open winner and PDGA Board of Directors member Kevin McCoy teed off first for the second round joined by Ken Climo, George Smith, and Barry Schultz. McCoy and Smith got off to a slow start, losing strokes to Climo and Schultz early in the round. Schultz in particular was on fire, finishing the front nine bogey-free with seven birdies.  

Schultz was in the zone. He carded six more birdies on the back nine to finish with an astounding 13 under par, bogey free. Despite having less than desirable starts, McCoy and Smith both finished strong. McCoy held his spot on the lead card heading into the round tomorrow, tied with Ken Climo for 3rd place. Smith, although losing his place on the lead card, definitely deserves some props. Smith’s last six holes went as follows: birdie, birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie, eagle!   

George Smith says, birdie...nope. I'll take another eagle please. Boom! pic.twitter.com/aceBabOOCz

— PDGA Live Scoring (@pdgalive) August 28, 2015

George Smith finished eight under par in the last six holes alone, including an eagle on Hole 16 and this eagle on Hole 18 to finish.

Meanwhile, on the chase card, Brian Schweberger was making big moves, slowly birdieing his way up the rankings. Schweberger would eventually turn in a scorecard with 11 birdies, bogey-free. It was a score good enough to jump all the way to 2nd place when everything was said and done at the end of the day.  

The Grandmasters division is extremely close as well, after both having played two rounds at Bradford Park this morning/afternoon. Dennis Janney leads by two in Grandmasters after shooting back-to-back hot rounds of 44 and 46. Stand McDaniel and Laymon Gray share the title of 2nd place and they’ll be joined by Roger Reyes tomorrow morning at Nevin for Round 3. They’ll all have to fend off the 12 players behind them that are within single digits of catching the lead card.

6X Pro Women’s World Champ Elaine King leads the Masters Women’s division by five over 3X Pro Women’s World Champ Des Reading. A three-way tie for 3rd place rounds out not only the lead card tomorrow but the entire Masters Women’s division. Debbie Scott, Michelle Green, and Lesli Todd are all gridlocked, four back from Reading.

The A-Pool (Masters) and the B-Pool switch courses tomorrow, with the B-Pool playing two rounds at Nevin and the A-Pool playing two rounds at Bradford. Bradford is no where near as long as Nevin, meaning the players with big arms won’t have as much of an advantage as they may have today at Nevin. The opposite goes for the B-Pool, where power combined with precision can help move players up the ladder.

Follow along all day with live scores on pdgalive.com complimented by updates, pictures, and videos via @pdgalive on Twitter. Tomorrow is moving day here at the 2015 Tim Selinske US Masters Championships, as only one round will remain heading into Sunday.

 

A video posted by PDGA (@pdga) on Aug 28, 2015 at 10:49am PDT

Schultz parks his approach from three feet down in a ditch to card an easy birdie. He practiced that throw several times in the days before the event, knowing there would be a chance he'd end up having to throw it during the round.