When I began writing this article, it was still sunny, hot, and extremely humid with a 15% chance of precipitation in the Columbus, Ohio area. With the professional divisions already having finished round 2 of the Brent Hambrick Memorial Open (BHMO), our only concern was the 90+ amateur players still at the course playing their afternoon round. Not even 20 minutes later, a quick glance out the hotel window revealed a dark sky, gusting winds, and rain absolutely pummeling the earth.

Lightning filled the sky as an unexpected, non-forecasted, severe thunderstorm swept through the area. After yet another PDGA National Tour season plagued by thunderstorms and lightning delays, the professional division competitors finally lucked out. The amateurs, however, not so much.

A lightning delay was called by Tournament Director Paul Jay before the rain even began, something only the most experienced tournament directors are comfortable with doing, and the confused players eventually responded with gratitude once the storm cell engulfed the park. A few wind-ravaged tents and banners aside, the staff and volunteers of the Columbus Flyers did an incredible job handling the chaos.

The biggest consequence of the delay was that some amateurs did not complete their afternoon round, and several groups will have to finish early Sunday morning before the professional divisions get back on the course. The big picture still looks great, as the entire point of lightning delays is to keep the players safe, and we’re happy to report that no one was injured during the madness.

As stated previously, the professionals had neither rain nor wind to deal with during their round, but they did have intense heat and humidity for the second day in a row. Ricky Wysocki #38008 went into the round with a lead of one or more over Paul McBeth #27523, Nate Sexton #18824, and James Cole #29690.

After more than four hours on the course, Ricky extended his lead to three heading into the final full round tomorrow as not only the leader of the tournament but the runaway points leader of the PDGA National Tour Series. Ricky’s fate as the National Tour champion is all but sealed, but as the 2016 BHMO champion, that is far from set in stone.

At one point during the round, Paul brought Ricky’s lead down to just one, showing that this battle is nowhere near over. Meanwhile, Bradley Williams #31644, playing from the chase card, moved up with a round of eight under par to earn a spot on the lead card for the final round. Sexton remains on the lead card as well, now tied with Williams, while James Cole dropped to the top of the chase card just one stroke off both Sexton and Williams.

Speaking of runaway NT points leaders, there’s also Catrina Allen #44184, who much like Ricky Wysocki is also leading the BHMO. Unlike Ricky, Catrina now has a lead in the event that is likely enough of a cushion that she can play fairly safe tomorrow without much to worry about. Leading by eight over Sarah Hokom #34563 and by a whopping 17 over Val Jenkins #17495, all she needs to do is stay away from dangerous shots to finish as the both the NT and BHMO champion.

Catrina has, not surprisingly, played incredible disc golf all weekend. She finished at even par for round 1, unofficially rated 999, with four birdies and four bogeys and followed it up in hotter and more humid conditions today with a round score of 84 (+3) that allowed her to double the margin of which she leads by.

Tomorrow we’ll see not only a full round of 27 holes in the morning but also a supergroup Final 9 consisting of the top four players in Open and the top three players in the Open Women’s division. We expect to see a huge gallery on site for the finals as well as an amazing fight to get to the finals for the many players in the Open division within range of making a move.

Thanks to the PDGA, SmashBoxxTV will be on site yet again to bring you live coverage of both the morning round and the Final 9. This, of course, will be complemented by up-to-the-minute scores on pdgalive.com as well as pictures and videos coming in via @pdgalive on Twitter.

Join us tomorrow for the final day of the 2016 Brent Hambrick Memorial Open for the last day of the 2016 PDGA National Tour!