Texas Breeze
Texas Breeze
DGPT - Open at Austin — Round 1 Recap
Mother Nature threatened, but the Texas skies held on Friday for the opening round of the Disc Golf Pro Tour — The Open at Austin presented by Flight Factory Discs.
The wind swirled throughout the newly designed and well-received track at Harvey Penick Golf Course, but the weekend forecast and darkening skies upped the pressure to start strong.
DGPT - The Open at Austin presented by Flight Factory — Full Scores & Stats via PDGA Live »
“I was telling people in the warmup area, ‘you guys ready? .. It’s moving day,’” Anthony Barela told the Disc Golf Network’s Brian Earhart. “We’ve got to have pedal to the metal day.”
Saturday could be a different story with a less-than-stellar forecast but when the action resumes, it’s going to be another sprint to the finish on the Elite Series.
FPO
Kat Mertsch started and finished strong on Friday — collecting five birdies on the front and five on the back around back-to-back, over-par holes — to grab a one-stroke lead at 7-under par. Mertsch hit 4-of-5 from Circle 2 to lead the field in strokes-gained putting at 5.71.
A 240-foot throw in on hole 7 added to her 1020-rated round, the second highest of her career and highest on the Elite Series.
Henna Blomroos is in solo second place. Photo: Kevin Huver / DGPT
She leads by one over Henna Blomroos at 6-under (1012 rated), who was cleanest on the three hardest holes of the day — 6 (+1.08), 8 (+1) and 9 (+0.87) — among the leaders, finishing plus-1 on those three. Mertsch was plus-2 with a double bogey on 9.
That stretch was also the toughest for Kristin Tattar (3rd, -5), whose only blemishes came on hole 6 with a bogey and hole 8 with a double.
Rounding out the lead card is Catrina Allen at 4-under and, again, her only bogies were on holes 6 and 8. Allen is making her 306th lead card at a Major or Elite Series in her career.
Rebecca Cox, Ohn Scoggins and Eveliina Salonen lead the chase card at 3-under.
MPO
It’s a similar looking leaderboard in MPO — a logjam — and the two players tied at the top got the work done on the putting green.
Corey Ellis and Andrew Marwede — both at 10-under (1081 rated)— went 100% from Circle 1, a combined 19-for-19. Marwede finished with 11 makes and added on three of his five attempts from Circle 2. Ellis, making his Elite Series debut in 2024 after starting the season in New Zealand — went 4-of-9 from C2.
Gavin Rathbun sits in solo third place after the first round in Austin. Photo: Kevin Huver / DGPT
Gavin Rathbun joined Marwede as the two of just three players in the field with a clean scorecard (Harper Thompson, T14, -5). Rathbun started a little slow with four-straight birdies and took off from there. A 50-foot make on 18 put him one stroke off the pace in solo third.
Barela had a bit more of a roller coaster day, turning in an 8-under with three bogies. Calvin Heimburg, returning to action after missing Waco a week ago, relied heavily on his backhand to card the most birdies in the field with 12. He had double bogies on hole 6 — which was also the hardest hole score-wise for MPO at +0.42 — and 18. He’ll lead the chase card at 8-under, one ahead of Matthew Orum, Jake Hebenheimer, Niklas Anttila and Joseph Anderson.
The skies held on Friday, but that may not be the case on Saturday. Whenever the action does get going again, expect another Texas-sized sprint to the finish with the pedal down.
Live on the Disc Golf Network
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