Clint Calvin Takes USADGC Title Home to Cali
Clint Calvin Takes USADGC Title Home to Cali
Clint Calvin celebrating on 18. Photo by Shane Lucas.
After a second round that left him in a three-way tie for second and two off the lead, San Diego’s Clint Calvin needed to play a flawless round on The Toboggan if he was going to bring the United States Amateur Disc Golf Championship title home to California. With his dad at his side and the gallery behind, he did just that, tapping in on 18 to card a bogey-free 56 (7-under par) for the win.
Calvin’s performance this weekend was extremely impressive. As a 23-year-old with less than 20 PDGA-sanctioned tournament’s under his belt since his first event in 2016, Calvin proved that experience is only a small part of what it takes to become a PDGA Major champion. In his three rounds on one of the most difficult courses in the country, Calvin carded just two bogeys. His round one and round three scores of 56 were bested only once over the weekend when his final round lead card companion Daniel Fairhurst lit up the course on Saturday to finish with a bogey-free 53.
At the end of round two, Luke Humphries had emerged as the leader with Fairhurst, Calvin, and Nicholas Brown two strokes behind. A double-bogey on five followed by a bogey on six by Humphries began to shake things up a bit on the leaderboard. With only the back nine remaining, Brown’s 4-under par on the front left him two ahead of his three cardmates.
That changed quickly, as Brown essentially shot himself out of the race with back-to-back double bogeys on 10 and 11 followed by a bogey on 12. Holes 11 and 12 alone were a vital part of Calvin’s win, as his birdie-birdie combo put him back in the lead, one ahead of Fairhurst, three ahead of Humphries, and five ahead of Brown.
And then, lights out. There was no stopping Calvin. He continued to shred the course and carded three more birdies in a row to hold his position. With three holes to go and still holding his three-stroke lead, his only real chance of being caught would be if he carded three pars in a row and Humphries carded three birdies in a row.
When Humphries sent his tee shot 100+ feet left of the basket on hole 16, Calvin began his championship march back towards the top of the toboggan run knowing all he had to do now was play safe tee shots, lay up, and tap in for par. On each of the three remaining holes, what would have been makeable birdie putts for Calvin were gently tossed to directly under the basket.
Calvin softly placed his putter into the tray on 18 in front of the gallery to become the 2018 USADGC Champion and was quickly embraced by his fellow San Diego competitors.
Thank you to Discraft and the incredible staff in Milford, Michigan for once again putting on an incredible event, building an amazing course, and for making the entire weekend an amazing experience for the players and the fans. We hope and expect to see many of the same names in a couple of months in Charlotte, North Carolina for the 2018 PDGA Amateur Disc Golf World Championships!
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Clint has become one of our
Clint has become one of our rising stars on the San Diego disc golf scene. Morley Field has honed his putting and technical approach game and he has been making regular trips to Goat Hill Park to work on his distance, wind and uneven lie skills. Hall of Famer Snapper Pierson has groomed this young man into a top-notch player - watch out MPO!