Photo of Joe Rawling #42974 during Round 2 of 2016 Am Worlds Mixed Doubles.

The PDGA Amateur & Junior Disc Golf World Championships (Am Worlds) is still and always been considered a family reunion of sorts. It’s a chance each year for hundreds of amateur disc golfers to reunite with the friends and fellow competitors they’ve met over the years, all while competing on amateur disc golf’s biggest stage. One of this sport’s greatest pulls is the sense of community that surrounds it; the feeling that you are part of something inexplicably bigger than the sport itself. If any event were to be the shining example of that concept, it’s Am Worlds.  

Madison, Wisconsin plays the role of host this year to nearly 600 amateur and junior competitors in the hunt for a world title. An event of this magnitude creates an enormous amount of work, meaning an equally large number of staff and volunteers is required. With hundreds of hours of work already logged, the Madsion crew has done an amazing job, headed up by Tournament Director and owner of the Glide Disc Golf pro shop that sits just a few hundred feet from one of the courses being used, Mike Batka #20983.

Doubles

As with every Am Worlds, world champions are crowned several days before the singles competition even begins. The ancillary events of Doubles took place on Saturday followed by the Field Events competitions on Sunday, and there are several new world champs to congratulate!

Mixed Doubles

The Advanced and Advanced Women competitors teamed up on Saturday to compete for the title over two rounds at Token Creek, with Modified Best Shot being played for Round 1 and Modified Alternate Shot for Round 2. The modifications to the standard rules are simple, but they do make for a much more interesting and much more difficult path to victory.

Coming off his win at the US Amateur Disc Golf Championships earlier this year, it was no surprise to see Gavin Rathbun #60436 on the lead card after Round 1, partnered with up-and-comer Kona Panis #27832 of Littleton, Colorado. Gavin and Kona began the round one stroke off the lead behind Jason Butina #53664 and Alex Lambert #49750, but it wasn’t Jason and Alex they would need to worry about as the Modified Alternate Shot round began to play out.

Jason Butina hasn't missed a putt all day. Picks up the birdie on Hole 6 after Alex Lambert's drive. #2016AmWorlds pic.twitter.com/3Wys4aux6q

— PDGA Live Scoring (@pdgalive) July 9, 2016

Jason Butina #53664 hitting one of many big putts during the 2016 Am Worlds Mixed Doubles competiton.

Starting at the top of the chase card after shooting the same Round 1 score as Gavin and Kona were the dynamic duo of Wisconsin’s own Joe Rawling #42974 and Ohio’s Kristy Moore #56553. As we made our way through the course, now playing a much more difficult format, it was clear that Joe and Kristy weren’t going to let their chance at victory slip away.

When asked how they ended up being partners, Kristy's answer was a bit surprising. "Joe and I deciding to be partners started as purely strategic. When I signed up for Worlds, I noticed several guys had posted on Disc Golf Scene looking for a mixed dub partner. I looked them all up on the PDGA site and messaged the highest rated rated player on Facebook and asked if he wanted to partner up. Luckily for me he did!"

The two lead card pairs along with Joe and Kristy were deadlocked throughout most of the round with all three teams sharing and swapping the lead. As the number of holes remaining dwindled down, it became a two-horse race, or four-horse race depending on how you look at it, between Gavin/Kona and Joe/Kristy. After 18 holes were in the books, the two teams were tied for the lead, forced into a playoff.

The playoff was short-lived. Gavin’s drive left Kona well short of the green, forcing her to lay up to roughly 28 feet to give Gavin a chance to save par. Joe’s drive was perfect, flipping up just enough and with just the right amount of power to leave his partner with a birdie putt from 25 feet. After Gavin’s putt finished low and dropped to the ground off the cage, Kristy stepped up and slammed in the putt for birdie to seal the deal.

"The partnership turned out to be a lot more though. I feel like we instantly clicked and we will be lifelong friends," said Kristy. What better way to start a friendship?!

Full Mixed Doubles results »

Sudden Death playoffs for the 2016 Am Worlds Mixed Doubles title.

Junior Divisional Doubles

It’s no secret that a 10 year old has no chance as throwing as far as an 18 year old, thus the Divisional Doubles format for the Juniors playing for their chance at the title at Hiestand Park. The Juniors followed the same round formats as the Mixed Doubles competitors, with the only difference being that because the number of Juniors players is much lower than the rest of the field, Juniors are allowed to play with partners of the same gender.

The most heated battle came in the 19 & Under division, where yet another world title would come down to a sudden death playoff. Logan Fiske #67474 and his partner Blake Moraine #67508 finished their second round as the co-leaders, forced into a playoff against Mikael Hakala #51479 & Anton Kappling #48163. Logan and Blake would emerge as the winners of the 19 & Under division, taking home the world title along with 16 & Under winners Aaron DeVries #62322 & Henry Dissell #56251, and 13 & Under winners Adam Osborne #43203 & Zach Arlinghaus #65266.

Full Junior Divisional Doubles results »

Field Events

Sunday brought the fun and games of Field Events day, taking place at Reindahl Park just a few minutes away from the host hotel. Field Events consist of four competitions: Long Drive, Mini Golf, Putting, & EDGE SkillShot™. Descriptions and details of all four can be found at the bottom of the 2016 Am Worlds Field Events page.

As usual, the most eye-catching event was the Long Drive competition, with the competitors teeing off from under one of the enormous PDGA tents to a flat strip of land. The conditions were just right for some monstrous bombs, with a slight right-to-left tailwind adding a little extra distance to the already crushed drives.

Justin McCain just threw 486' in the Long Drive competition with an Aerobie Epic! #2016AmWorlds #SlowMo pic.twitter.com/6wCKlSQ1KP

— PDGA (@PDGA) July 10, 2016

Justin McCain #60993 throwing a thumber with an Aerobie Epic to 486' at the 2016 Am Worlds Long Drive competition.

Just a few hours after the competition began, a drive would be thrown that would set the bar extremely high for the day. Gavin Rathbun only landed one of his five drives inbounds, but that was all he needed. A high drive with his Innova 175g Star Destroyer flipped up and turned over perfectly and sailed off into the distance. Way off into the distance. The crowd waited for the range detector to return the result and then…624 feet!

“Most of my drives land out of bounds. The last one I did, only one landed inbounds. Bowling Green was the only time where I landed all five of them in, but 624’ is the farthest I’ve ever thrown in a competition now,” said Gavin when asked about his throw.

There are plenty of other big guns out there that had yet to go that could potentially match or beat him, but Gavin knew it wasn’t going to be easy. “I was thinking that Izak [McDonald] or DJ [Baldwin] were the only ones that could, but I watched DJ’s drives and then found out Izak didn't even get signed up. No one else was really on my mind after that.”

In the end it was Jonathan Pallister #62644 of Buffalo Grove, Illinois that came closest with a throw that measured in at 579 feet. Only three other competitors passed the 500 foot mark, while 15 others settled for a distance in the 400s.

Listed below are all of the Doubles and Field Events winners along with links to the full results. Congrats to all of them for earning a well-deserved world title!

Doubles Winners

Full Doubles results »

Field Events Winners

Full Field Events results »

Main Event Preview

Schedule

With the complexity of Am Worlds, the schedule is always a bit of a nightmare for the Tournament Directors to set up. Luckily, we have experts on site with years of experience that have been making sure it is good to go. Click on the thumbnail below to head over to the 2016 Am Worlds Schedule page.

Courses

Singles competition begins tomorrow with the nearly 600 competitors spread out across five courses, two of which have 27-hole layouts. 108 holes will be played before the cuts are made on Friday night for the Semi-Finals and Finals on Saturday. Let’s take a closer look at the courses.

Elver Park

1234 McKenna Blvd.
Madison, WI, 53719

Opening in 1992 on Madison’s west side, Elver Park was the area's first disc golf course. Elver is a classic parkland course that winds its way up, over, around and back down a large hill with approximately 100 feet of elevation change. It has a balanced mix of open and heavily wooded holes. The signature hole is #18, Madison's version of the "Top of the World" shot. Four holes have been either renovated or completely redesigned in the last couple of years, so make sure you get a practice round in even if you have played the course on earlier trips to Madison. The original baskets have recently been replaced with new red DGA Mach V Baskets. The Elver Park DGC was designed by Disc Golf Hall of Fame member "Duster" Don Hoffman.

• PDGA Course Directory Listing
• Course Map & Rules

Hiestand Park

141 Wittwer Rd
Madison, WI 53714

Madison's second course opened in 1998 at Hiestand Park on Madison’s east side. Known by some locals as "Radar Hill" for the Air Force radar unit that used to be where holes #8-10 are. This is another classic parkland course, with a mix of rolling open and wooded holes, and is a little longer than Elver. Everyone will have a chance to air it out on hole #3, while some tighter wooded fairways await throughout the back two-thirds of the course. As with Elver Park, the baskets at Hiestand have also been replaced with new red DGA Mach V Baskets.

• PDGA Course Directory Listing
• Course Map & Rules

Vallarta-Ast DGC at Token Creek County Park

6200 Williamsburg Way
DeForest, WI 53532

Token Creek or “VA” as it is known by some locals, is the area's "country club" course. The original 18 holes opened in 2001 as one of the first public pay-to-play courses in existence. The course has been very well maintained from the start, with trees and/or natural prairie areas defining fairways on each hole. The course was expanded to 27 holes in 2012. While most of the original 18 holes are fairly wooded, the newest nine are more open, with a few holes that let the bigger arms show off. However, the signature hole may very well be one of the shortest. #22 is wide open and barely over 250 feet from the long tees, but features a unique island green ringed by boulders that is approximately the size of the 10 meter putting circle. There is also a circle of tree trunks surrounding the basket. Since the new nine will also serve as the site of the Finals, this hole could make or break some championship dreams.

• PDGA Course Directory Listing
• Course Map & Rules

Bird's Ruins DGC at Charles Langer Family Park

860 Canal Rd.
Marshall, WI 53559

One of the area's newest courses, Bird's Ruins opened as an 18-hole course in 2011, and was expanded to 27 holes in 2016. The course has rolling terrain with some heavily wooded holes, but also features many open prairie holes bounded by some of the most brutal "rough" you'll ever see on a disc golf course. While the course has some of the longest holes in the area, there are some great short holes, including a relatively open shot to an elevated basket built on top of a wooden pyramid.

• PDGA Course Directory Listing
• Course Map and Rules

Capital Springs DGC at Lake Farm County Park

3220 Lake Farm Rd.
Madison, WI 53711

The newest course used for the tournament, the Capital Springs DGC opened in 2013 as the second course in the Dane County Parks system. As with Vallarta-Ast at Token Creek, the grounds are well-maintained with a ball golf course feel. However, while Token Creek is generally flat, Capital Springs features rolling terrain with many holes that have 15 to 30 feet of elevation change. This course is also much more open with only one wooded section, while most holes are lined by prairie. Capital Springs is also the most exposed to the wind, which combined with the elevation changes, can make it difficult to control your shots. If the wind is calm, you'll need to shoot a low score to keep pace.

• PDGA Course Directory Listing
• Course Map & Rules

Semifinals

Semifinals will be played on Saturday morning at Bird's Ruins DGC (using only 18 holes), Hiestand Park, and holes #1-18 at the Vallarta-Ast DGC at Token Creek County Park. All divisions that have a minimum of 16 players will have a cut to the semis with the top competitors playing in a semifinal.

Finals

Finals will take place on Saturday morning and afternoon on holes #19-27 at the Vallarta-Ast DGC at Token Creek County Park. This nine-hole loop is very spectator-friendly and we are expecting a big crowd to cheer on the finalists. All divisions that have four to seven players will advance two competitors to the finals. All divisions that have eight or more players will advance four competitors to the finals.

• Course Map & Rules

Coverage

There are few things more difficult than trying to pull off live scoring and coverage for an event containing 19 divisions that takes place on five courses concurrently. However, that doesn’t mean we won’t do everything we can to provide hole-by-hole scoring for as many of the divisions as we can throughout the week.

Follow along each day on pdgalive.com as the players make their way through the next five days in Madison. The PDGA Am Worlds Facebook page as well as the PDGA on Facebook and Twitter will be great resources for updates, pictures, and info each day as well. And of course, results will be posted shortly after each round is finished so you can quickly keep track of your friends, family members, and/or favorite players.

Stay tuned disc golf world! We have a big week coming up here at the #2016AmWorlds!