The Memorial Championship presented by Discraft always seems to come down to some sort of nail-biting finish and this year was no exception. The course that hosted the finals was the infamous Fountain Hills and as difficult as that course is on its own, Mother Nature decided to throw in heavy wind gusts and occasional rain.

By the time the finals started, the Open Women’s division had come down to a battle between Val Jenkins #17495 and Paige Pierce #29190. Pierce started the day down by a stroke to Jenkins but was able to gain the lead quickly, only a few holes into the final round. The wind was gusting wildly for a majority of their round, making a course that requires precision placement that much more difficult. The smallest amount of extra skip often caused a disc to pick up and roll or fly a few more feet than it needed to, causing a plethora of out of bounds penalties.

Even after a start of +9 through the front nine holes, Jenkins fought back like the 3X World Champion disc golfer that she is. She managed to reduce the deficit down to just a single stroke by the time they teed off on Hole 17. They remained tied going into 18, but in the end, Pierce took home the gold, winning by two over Jenkins for her third Memorial Championship victory with a tap-in par on the 18th’s basket.

The Open division had a finish that brought with it a feeling of Déjà vu from just two years ago. In 2013, due to a scoring penalty, Will Schusterick #29064 had to go head-to-head against Paul McBeth #27523 in a sudden death playoff. Paul teed off first and landed his drive safely, but with a 50 foot downhill death putt towards the water, Will decided to go for it, throwing a midrange on a B-line right at the basket. His drive landed inside the circle and after an unsuccessful birdie effort from McBeth, Will tapped in for the win.

Although this year ended in much the same way with Jeremy Koling #33705 tapping in for the win on Hole 1 in sudden death, it came to be that way in a much more exciting manner. Koling started the round in the lead by a few strokes over McBeth, meaning all McBeth had to do was what he does best; win during the last round with an incredible comeback. And that’s what it started to unfold.

By the 10th hole, McBeth had tied it up. By the end of the 12th hole, he had taken the lead by one. There was an overwhelming feeling of, “Uh oh. This again…”, but it didn’t last. McBeth uncharacteristically missed a 30 foot putt on Hole 14, allowing Koling to tie it up. They would stay tied going into the final hole.

Koling teed off before McBeth, throwing a forehand over the water. He knew right away it was going to be safe, but it was no where ner the circle, landing roughly 70’ away from the basket. McBeth’s drive was better, but also landed short of the basket, roughly 40’ away. With the gallery now reaching well over 300, the pressure was on. Koling stepped up first. He let go of a downhill turnover putt in front of a silent crowd…BOOM Dead center chains. 

The crowd went nuts but quickly returned to silence for McBeth’s chance to tie. As soon as McBeth let go of his putt, he knew it was in. The gallery erupted. McBeth pulled his disc from the chains, jumping up and down with excitement. Koling ran over to him, and they gave each other a hug, both happy to be a part of such an adrenaline pumping moment. The gallery headed over to Hole 1 for the playoff.

The playoff was a bit anticlimactic, but that can expected on Hole 1 at Fountain Hills. It’s a 390 foot throw over water to a basket pinned up against a seawall. McBeth was up first, much like he was two years prior, except this time he went for it. His driver came down at a good angle right by the basket and took a hard skip into the seawall. Somehow, even after hitting the seawall his disc stood up and rolled backwards, jumping the seawall, and splashing into the out of bounds water behind it.

Koling knew he needed a birdie to win, so instead of playing safe he went for it as well. He played his hyzer wider to the right allowing the skip to do the work and he landed 15 feet from the basket. He tapped in for his first National Tour win of 2015, his second NT win overall.

Thank you to all of those who helped this to be such a successful and exciting weekend of disc golf. If you missed any of the SmashBoxxTV live streaming HD video from the weekend, you can still see all of their videos on the SmashBoxxTV YouTube channel. Prodigy Disc was also there filming in 4K, with recap videos available from each round on the Prodigy Disc YouTube Channel. High resolution photos from each day are available on the PDGA Flickr page, with guests photos from Rory Self #10138.

Last but not least, a truly monumental moment for the sport came about because of this year’s Memorial Championship presented by Discraft. When Nate Doss #11794 teed off for his final round, he let go of a monster spike hyzer on Hole 1, slamming in one of the sickest aces we’ve seen in a long time. A fan in the crowd, Pam Vaughn #54207, captured the ace on video on her Samsung Galaxy S5, and with some help from the PDGA was able to get it submitted to ESPN.

For the first time ever, disc golf joined the ranks of other mainstream sports, capturing a slot on the infamous Top Ten Plays on Sportscenter. Take a moment to enjoy this little piece of disc golf history, and we’ll see you at the next PDGA National Tour event!