There are few amateur disc golf events that carry more weight than the United States Amateur Disc Golf Championship (USADGC) presented by Discraft. Each year, the top amateur players from the USA, Canada, and beyond gather in Milford, MI, to compete against one another, facing one of the most difficult and punishing disc golf courses on the planet. Being a competitor at this event is a win in itself, as it is one of the few events where simply signing up to play isn't an option. You have to EARN the opportunity to be here.

Qualification

Qualifying for a spot at the USADGC can be done in a few different ways. The primary means of qualification is finishing well at one of the dozens of USADGC qualifier A-Tiers and B-Tiers around the United States and/or Canada.

The top 15 percent at qualifying B-tiers, top 20 percent at qualifying A-tiers, including ties, for the Men's Am Advanced division only. Players that previously qualified in an event do not drop out if they qualify again. Their spot counts as a spoiler.

-USADGC.com

The secondary means of qualification is by PDGA Player Rating, but these spots are subject to availability of remaining spots. Players who qualify based on their PDGA Player Rating must contact the TD before they are eligible.

• Beginning 02-01-2015: PDGA rating is 970+
• Beginning 03-01-2015: PDGA rating is 960+
• Beginning 04-01-2015: PDGA rating is 950+
• Beginning 05-01-2015: PDGA rating is 935+

-USADGC.com

Competition

The top rated player at this year's event is none other than Arizona's own Anthony Barela #44382, currently rated at 990. Leave your "bagger" comments at home because although he is in fact the highest rated competitor, he's also one of the youngest, having just turned 15 in January. Barela, along with 14 year old Izak McDonald #49631 (972 rated), 15 year old DJ Baldwin #39066 (943 rated), and 15 year old Randon Latta #51685 (961 rated) make up the four youngest players in this 145 person field. They're not old enough to drive, yet they out-drive most people on a disc golf course, all day long.

Not too far behind Barela's rating at 981 are Mike Conlee #41267, Andrew Kaluk #35027 at 978, Matthew Kashima #43528 at 976, and five others rated at 970 or higher (including Izak McDonald above). Kaluk is a local and finished in a tie for sixth place last year, four days after turning 16. He's known for his unique forehand form that is just as powerful and accurate as it is fun to watch. Today is his 17th birthday by the way, so, happy birthday Andrew! 

Mike Conlee kicked off the 2015 season with a bang; two of them actually. He's already taken home two huge A-Tier wins, The Memorial Championships in Scottsdale, AZ and the Amateur Championships at Bowling Green. One advantage that a large chunk of the competition has over Conlee is that many of them competed in last year's USADGC. Conlee, however, hasn't been to the Toboggan course since 2012. He was a bit shocked to see how different the course looks and plays now, understandably. "It's a good thing I practiced today, to say the least. It is SO much more cleared out than when I played it in 2012. Day and night. They've really done a great job with it", said Conlee.

Toboggan DGC

Huron-Clinton MetroParks completed an enormous project prior to last year's USADGC, removing ALL of the invasive Russian Olive plant that cluttered the areas that weren't part of the fairways. Essentially, prior to the removal of the Russian Olive weed, a disc thrown into the "rough" was going to cost you a serious amount of strokes, assuming you could even find it. Now, the course is much less punishing, meaning there are more routes in, out, and around the rough. Players with the ability to recover a round full of bad throws will be able to hang in with the lucky few who only have a handful of them.

The Toboggan is a truly unique temporary course, playing down, up, and across what is normally a series of toboggan sled runs. There are just as many huge downhill throws as there are monstrous uphill holes. And not to be taken lightly, the extremely technical wooded holes in between. Measuring in at approximately 9000 feet with a par of 62, the Toboggan Disc Golf Course at Kensington MetroPark makes for one of the funnest 18 holes of disc golf to watch and/or play.

The tee times begin at 7:30am EDT tomorrow morning with all players sorted by rating from highest to lowest for Round 1. The highest rated players will be the first to tee off the huge downhill dogleg right of hole 1. Live hole-by-scores will be available all day and all weekend on PDGALIVE.com with updates, pictures, and videos coming in via @PDGALIVE on Twitter. Tee times are all posted on the 2015 USADGC results page. 

Good luck to all the Ams here at the 2015 USADGC! Throw hard, putt well, and most importantly at the Toboggan, stay out of that rough!