Exhausting. Amazing. Intense. Beautiful. There are so many ways to describe the second round of the 32nd Kansas City Wide Open depending on who you’re talking to, and they’re all correct. Blue Valley Park is only 18 holes yet it measures in at a ridiculous 10,541 feet. And it’s not just the distance that makes Blue Valley Park the true test of mental and physical strength that it is, it’s the elevation changes. Almost every hole somehow plays downhill, uphill, and left or right. Walking the course without throwing a single disc is tiring on its own. High-pressure competition on the course requires an entirely different level of focus and endurance.  

The Open Women’s division was the first to tee off in the morning. Catrina Allen #44184, Val Jenkins #17495, Paige Pierce #29190, and Ragna Bygde #8559 all held a significant lead over the second card and over the course of the day that wouldn’t change. The biggest advantage they held over the 16 Open division cards and 18 Advanced division cards that teed off after them throughout the day was the weather. A majority of the women’s rounds were played in manageable temperatures and conditions that many would consider to be ideal. 

Weather aside, the ladies came out and played amazing disc golf on a course that was built for the type of big arms that many of the best men in the world still don’t have. Catrina started and finished the day with the lead, now sitting just one throw ahead of Paige, two ahead of Val, and five ahead of Ragna. Catrina and Paige have an unarguable advantage on longer courses seeing how they both can outdrive their competition off the tee. For the final round tomorrow on the Gold layout at Swope Park, distance off the tee won’t play anywhere near as big of a role.

The Open division would bring much more of the standard “moving day” action that you might be used to seeing on the second day of a three-day PDGA National Tour event. It didn’t take long to figure out that Paul McBeth #27523, Ricky Wysocki #38008, and JohnE McCray #9852 weren’t about to give up their spot on the lead card but the fourth spot was definitely up for grabs. 

All eyes were on PDGALive.com where the second card and third card scores were being updated on the fly. Philo Brathwaite #26416 played great golf all day but it wasn’t enough to stop 3X World Champion Nate Doss #11794 from jumping up to the lead card from the third. He finished the day eight under par and replaced Mitch Sonderfan #17998. 

Paul McBeth was definitely the story of the day in the Open division, finishing with the hot round at 10 under par, unofficially rated at 1052, a repeat rating from yesterday’s round. McBeth and McCray both started the day one off the leader Ricky Wysocki, and at the end of the day they’d both end up ahead of him. 

The final round tomorrow takes place on the Swope Gold disc golf course. It’s yet another long course, measuring in at 8400+ feet with a total par of 60, but the distance isn’t what will hurt or help the scores. Swope Gold is filled to the brim with out-of-bounds lines, narrow fairways, and high-risk basket placements. Distance isn’t the name of the game tomorrow, precision is. 

The final full round will be a shotgun start at 10:00am CDT. The top four Open division finishers and the top three Open Women’s division finishers will play a final nine holes to determine the winners. We’ll have live scores and coverage from the first drive to the last putt up and running on PDGALive.com with commentary, pictures, and videos. Check out the PDGA Flickr page for high resolution pictures from the first two days and head over the to the Kansas City Wide Open results page on PDGA.com to see where your favorite players stand going into the final round.