Nikola Moravcová on Friday. Photo: Johannes Fidemo / IG: jfidemodiscgolf

FPO

An interesting leading card with the stellar presence of Ella Hansen, the American player with a rating 25 points higher than her immediate pursuer, raised the expectation for the first day of the women's category at the PDGA EuroTour #5 — Skellefteå Open presented by Latitude 64°.

However it was, once again, Finland's Silva Saarinen who achieved the best score but, this time, the distances were much smaller, with the first four players being separated by only three strokes.

Silva Saarinen leads by one stroke. Photo: Johannes Fidemo / IG: jfidemodiscgolf

The Czech Nikola Moravcová was the leader during several moments of the round and finished second, so she is perfectly positioned to try to achieve what would be her first victory on the PDGA Euro Tour.

Jenni Karppinen, with the good form she showed in Krokhol (Norway) and the Swedish Open, is third, highlighting her good mental recovery in the last part of the round with four birdies almost in a row after a weak middle part of the round.

And the last member of tomorrow's lead card will be the British Rachel Turton, who has not been off the podium in the Euro Tour events in which she has participated.

Ella Hansen, still with some jet lag as we are told, has had to settle for fifth place, five strokes off the lead, but we are sure she will step on the accelerator in the second and third rounds.

MPO

Three of the four players on the feature card have failed to stay in the top four. Väinö Mäkelä returned to Europe after a long season playing in the United States, but his 1-under. only serves to place him 13th in the ranking. His compatriot Jesse Nieminen, who has two-second places in the PDPT Oulu and the EPT Tyyni, finished sixth with 3-under. Jakub Semerád kept a pace close to even par, but an unfortunate triple bogey on the 17th has taken him down in the provisional ranking.

In fourth position is Silver Lätt, who is showing an enviable regularity throughout the PDGA Euro Tour occupying the same place in the general classification. Tied with Lätt in the tournament is another American discovering the attraction of competing in Europe: Luke Samson, who showed a very solid game despite some problems in his back that forced him to lower the intensity of some shots.

Two other Finns will play the leading card tomorrow: Samuel Hänninen and Lauri Lehtinen, tied with 5-under, in their first participation in the PDGA Euro Tour 2023. More and more players of a very high level are joining as several of the most important events of the season are approaching, such as the PCS Open (DGPT Elite event as well as Euro Tour) and the European Open, second Major of the season.

And what about the first-place finisher? Put yourselves in the situation: 30 seconds left to go live with the interview with Paul McBeth, leader with 7-under, on the Disc Golf Network. We review again his stats on UDisc Live: only one bogey on the 15th hole, two strokes ahead... but the World Champion shows in his expression that something is not working as it should.

— Paul, are you satisfied with your performance?

— No, I'm nowhere near satisfied. I played very well, but the result doesn't show it. I had at least 13 or 14 birdie chances with putts about 15 meters away and I should have knocked all those down.

What are the great champions made of? Of course, a lot of talent, many, many hours of tireless practice, and, above all, an insatiable hunger to achieve something close to perfection — that's why Paul is a six-time World Champion.