Courses as difficult as Iron Hill tend to create a wide range of scores. Missing your line by even one or two degrees off the tee can easily mean a double or triple bogey and controlling your frustration level becomes the name of the game. Catrina Allen and Kristin Tattar have both spent plenty of time off the fairway due to unfortunate tree or rock kicks, but they’ve both kept their composure and pushed on. Going into the final round at the Delaware Disc Golf Challenge, Allen leads by two over Tattar, with six or more strokes separating the two of them from the rest of the field.  

All aspects of Allen’s game have been on point this weekend as she is leading in virtually every UDisc statistic including Fairway Hits, Parked, Circle 1 in Regulation, and Circle 2 in Regulation, but the stat that stands out the most is Circle 1x Putts (putts between 3.3-10 meters). After struggling with this simple but crucial element of the game at Pro Worlds, Allen has proved for the last two days that Worlds was a fluke, hitting 83% of her Circle 1x putts on much more difficult terrain.

While Allen and Tattar slowly pulled away, a newcomer to Iron Hill, Jessica Weese was taking advantage of moving day on the chase card, finishing with a 2-under par 67 and jumping up to the lead card for the final round on Sunday.  

“Coming into today, I thought, ‘I should be on lead card’ because of how many different shots I have in my bag,” said Weese. “So I kind of just put that to the test today.”

Well known for her ability to carve out lines with both a backhand and forehand, Weese tends to play well in the woods. And it doesn’t get much more ‘in the woods’ than Iron Hill.

“I just took it one hole at a time,” said Weese. “And honestly I found myself throwing a lot of stand-still sidearms. The terrain around here is kind of rough and so the footing isn’t the greatest. There’s a lot of standstill shots out here, either backhand or sidearm, and so that came in clutch for me today.”

Joining Allen, Tattar, and Weese on the lead card is Michigan’s Alisha Schafer, a first-time National Tour competitor that has been putting on a putting clinic all weekend.

“It’s probably the strongest part of my game,” said Schafer. “I don’t like to throw a lot of high-speed drivers so it’s a lot of Buzzzes and Challengers out here. And then if I can get myself near the circle I’m pretty confident in my game after that.”

Confident, and humble. Schafer’s full-time job means she is mostly a Midwest golfer, so she doesn’t get to show off her ability to nail putts from 40, 50, or even 60 feet with ease. Now going into her second day in a row on the lead card, the limelight hasn’t seemed to affect her game, as she didn’t expect to be on the lead card in the first place.

“I exceeded my own expectations, that’s for sure,” said Schafer. “I kind of just came in with a game plan to stay on the fairway and make my putts. I’m kind of just cruisin’ on that, and hopefully I can move up again tomorrow and stay strong.”

Weese and Schafer will tee off eight and nine strokes off the lead, respectively. They’ll have to play aggressively, yet somehow carefully at the same time, as the chase card’s Holly Finley, Sarah Hokom, Michelle Frazer, and Elaine King are all easily within striking range.