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Go to the Gallery

The baskets are gone, tees cleared and the parks are quiet once again following the running of the 2008 Victorian Disc Golf Open last weekend. 19 players in total made it out for this debut event with two travelling from interstate (NSW and ACT) and many players from both Melbourne and Geelong. The weather held out all the way to the final round with a little light rain coming in at the end but all in all some great weather for an autumn event.

This was the first of what will hopefully be an annual event for Victorian Disc Golf. There is currently a proposal being prepared for the establishment of a permanent basket course in Eastern Park. For the time being the Geelong Disc Golf Club utilised portable baskets to run the event with 12 DGA Mach Lites and 6 DGA M-14 baskets (modified with an additional row of chains). Eastern Park showcased a full 18 basket layout utilising a large area of the park with some lengthy holes while Drysdale Reserve provided a far more technical course with shorter holes using 12 baskets and 18 tee locations.

Saturday – Eastern Park

Tournament staff began arriving at Eastern Park at 7:00am to start setting up the course, including putting out tee signs, markings, OB rope and the Hole 8 island green barrier. By around 10:30am several players had started to arrive for practice. For many it was their first look at the 18 hole Eastern Park course based on Andrew Ferguson’s original design.

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Tournament HQ

As players began coming in from their practice rounds the smell of a BBQ lunch welcomed them back to tournament HQ. A quick players meeting to clarify the rules and players were sent out onto the course for a shotgun start by 1:45pm. Tournament staffer and local Golfer Cassie Anderson did the honours of signalling the start of play with the air-horn.

The Eastern Park course proved intimidating for many players, particularly the Island Green on Hole 8 which saw a few players re-teeing several times from the drop-zone. Only a single player (Greg Bowers) was able to card a birdie on the hole which averaged a score of 4.95 in the first round. Other highlights include Andrew Dowdy taking a 3 on the 195m downhill hole 6, Luke Williams hitting a huge recovery putt on Hole 18 and Greg Bowers fantastically 1920’s golfing attire.

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VDGO Mini Baskets

It seems that the long fairways of Eastern Park greatly suited Andrew Dowdy’s rollers allowing him to shoot the hot round of 59. On his tail were Drew Muller (60) as well as Greg Sparksman and Ben Ayres (both 61). Chunzi Xu scored an excellent 74 besting several of the men’s division scores.

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The Well Dressed Man

After the first round players were immediately sent out to play the front 9 for the second round due to the ever shortening day. This resulted in quite a bit of movement near the top of the field with Greg Sparksman shooting a solid 29 to move up to second place. Andrew Dowdy went from strength to strength with a 26 while Greg Bowers kept himself in the running with a 26 also. Coming out of day 1 Andrew Dowdy was holding a significant 5 stroke lead over Greg Sparksman in second with Ben Ayres and Drew Muller tied for third.

For those who like the technical stuff, the SSA (Scratch Score Average) for Eastern Park worked out at 52.05, which is what you would hope to score if your PDGA rating was 1000. Play continued right past sunset with light fading on several players. A large group of players then headed off for a well earned meal by the waterfront. Of course, some were itching to start the Night Owl Cup which would begin in just a few hours.

Night Owl Cup

Well into the night at around 9:00pm about 10 players descended on Eastern Park armed with illuminated discs and insanely bright baskets. After quite a lengthy setup it was quite something to look around a totally dark Eastern Park and clearly see baskets lit up. Several baskets were even easier to see than they were during the day. In the spirit of fun a single large group began the first of hopefully many ‘competition’ rounds of Night Golf. It was just total madness. The LEDs attached to the discs were extremely bright and easy to see.

Most players started out with a number of par holes, however hole 4 onwards stared to separate the field a little (not that anyone really cared). Occasionally an LED would get dislodged from a Disc on a tree collision but powerful torches located the discs in short order. It was pretty clear from Hole 2 that some friendly ribbing on the tee was to be expected with Ben wishing Jarrath ‘Good Luck’ in the middle of his backswing. From this point on heckling was expected and required for all players while teeing off.

Coming into the last hole there was a three-way tie for first place between Drew Muller, Jarrath Sweetten and Andrew Dowdy. All taking a 3, play moved back to hole 1 where Drew had a nice drive and putt to secure the win with a birdie. All told everyone finished just before midnight and went back to their accommodations pretty exhausted.

Sunday – Drysdale Reserve

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Luke on Hole 12

Amazingly, after the big night, most players managed to find their way back to Drysdale Reserve for day 2 and some new challenges. Play commenced at 10:45am with another shotgun start to save time. For many, it was their first look at Drysdale and for regulars three new holes held some surprises.

Once again, significant movement in the upper ranks took place immediately after the first round of the day, except of course for Andrew Dowdy who shot a superb 54 managing to extend his lead to 10 strokes over Drew Muller who moved up to second place with a solid 57. Luke Williams decided to get in gear and make a move coming in with 56. The Drysdale course really started to see some fracturing in the scores with a distinct group forming in the lead.

While the new scores were tallied players nervously waited for the shuffle to take place while tucking into the provided lunch for the day. The groups then set out on the final round with Andrew Dowdy’s position seemingly very secure. Starting out with a birdie on hole 1 didn’t hurt, however at Hole 6 Luke decided to start his run at the top spot taking four consecutive birdies between Hole 6 and 9 closing the gap by four strokes. Drew kept pace with 3 birdies on the front 9 as well now sitting only 1 stroke back. Andrew continued to bleed strokes on the back 9, taking a 5 on hole 17.

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Andrew on Hole 8

In the end Luke was able to close the gap by 8 strokes with a course record 53 however it just wasn’t enough to take away the huge lead Andrew had built up right from the first round. Drew again kept pace in the end tying with Luke for second place. Outside the lead group, some other highlights where Chunzi Xu taking a 3 on the difficult Hole 12 which averaged a score of 3.8, Peter Helyer taking a 2 and CTP on the tight windowed Hole 3 and Jarrath Sweetten’s huge birdie on Hole 15 in the second round.

Drysdale Reserve was praised by many players as being an excellent course with a lot of variety between both technical and longer more open holes. Player’s favourite holes included the elevated tee for Hole 12 and Hole 13 which required a well placed drive to setup for a good second shot. The super tight Hole 5 and Hole 11 gave several players trouble as did the Hole 3 window shot. Again, for those into the stats, the SSA for Drysdale Reserve was 50.63.

Final Thoughts

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VDGO Champions

After it was all over, players stuck around to help pack up (thanks!), receive their prizes and be subjected to flash photography. Everyone who stayed to the end got something for their trouble with many players taking away more prizes than they could carry. Drew Muller managed to net himself $150 worth of Cotton-on vouchers for his 2nd Place Tie, Night Owl Cup Win and for winning the Mini Ring of Fire which was held pretty much in the dark. 1st place winners received customised Mini Baskets and Trophies with lots of Discs and DVDs to go around to other winners.

1st Place Mens Open – Andrew Dowdy
2nd Place Mens Open – Luke Williams and Drew Muller
1st Place Womens Open – Chunzi Xu
1st Place Mens Masters – Greg Sparksman
2nd Place Mens Masters – Mark Swinkels
Night Owl Cup Winner – Drew Muller
CTP Awards – Greg Sparksman, Peter Helyer and Greg Bowers
Mr. Postive Energy Award – Ben Ayres
Best Dressed Award – Greg Bowers
Mini Ring of Fire Winner – Drew Muller
Staff Awards – Jarrath Sweetten and Cassie Anderson

It is worth noting that Andrew Dowdy was able to hold is lead from start to finish playing some simply excellent golf. We hope to see him back next year to defend his title as well as many more players to take up the challenge. Feedback on the tournament from most players was very positive and we hope to hold and even better event next year, watch this space.

Thanks to everyone who played in our first tournament and for your help with the setup and tear down of the course. Thanks also to our dedicated tournament staff Cassie Anderson and Jarrath Sweetten who put a huge effort into preparations for the event. Finally thanks to our sponsors Luminova and Cotton-on for providing significant funding and prizes for the event. I hope you had a great time and will tell as many people as you can to sign up for the next Victorian Disc Golf Open.

Paul Arden

Tournament Director
Victorian Disc Golf Open 

Final Scores – Victorian Disc Golf Open
Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th May 2008

Place	Player	RD1	RD2	RD3	RD4	Total
1	Andrew Dowdy	59	26	54	61	200
2	Luke Williams	64	30	56	53	203
3	Drew Muller	60	32	57	54	203
4	Greg Sparksman	61	29	62	62	214
5	Jarrath Sweetten	62	33	61	62	218
6	Ben Ayres	61	31	65	63	220
7	Peter Helyer	62	34	62	62	220
8	Greg Bowers	72	26	63	63	224
9	Mark Swinkels	79	39	75	78	271
1	Chunzi Xu	74	39	87	80	280
–	Campbell Ferguson	73	35	67	DNF	DNF
–	Cameron Hamilton	69	38	73	DNF	DNF
–	Chris Nation	83	31	74	DNF	DNF
–	Eliot Paulsen	80	45	76	DNF	DNF
–	David Fitler	84	53	71	DNF	DNF
–	Kirra Dyer	98	42	93	DNF	DNF
–	Nick Thielman	64	31	DNF	DNF	DNF
–	Nathan Jose	82	32	DNF	DNF	DNF