Photo By: Stuart Mullenberg

Open Flight

On top of being one of the most sought after wins on the tour, the 2014 United States Disc Golf Championship also marks the end of the disc golf season. It’s a bittersweet feeling watching the players battle it out during the final round on the Winthrop Gold course. After the excitement of crowning a new United States champion wears off, the reality sets in that the disc golf season, at least for the touring pros anyway, has basically come to an end. That said, we couldn’t have asked for a more thrilling way to finish it up than what we were fortunate enough to witness today.

When the final round began, there were 13 players within 10 strokes of the leader Paul McBeth #27523. In fact, every player from 1st place to 6th place were all separated by one stroke each. On most courses, having a 10 stroke lead with 18 holes to go wouldn’t be too much to worry about. At Winthrop Gold, that’s not the case. We’ve already seen some of the best players in the world take 10s, 11s, and 12s on some of the holes here.

Last year’s USDGC winner, Steve Brinster #10628, was on fire during Round 1 until he took an 11 on hole 17. The following day we saw Nikko Locastro #11534 go from 3rd place to 45th place after taking an 11, 8, and 4 on back-to-back holes. Barry Schultz #6840, 3X USDGC Champion and 3X World Champion, took a 12 on the infamous 8-8-8 (hole 13) during Round 2 as well, basically taking him out of contention for the win. Those are just a few examples and believe us when we say there are many, many more.

Of all the PDGA Majors, this is the one that Paul McBeth has never won. He made it very clear after the 2014 PDGA World Championships ended that his focus for the remainder of the year was winning the USDGC. He set the course record during his final round of the 2013 USDGC with a lights-out 15 under par and came out doing much the same for the first round this year, missing the mark by only one with an unofficially rated 1090 round of 14 under par.

McBeth remained in the lead for essentially the entire tournament until the final round. He had a four stroke lead going in to Round 2, a five stroke lead going into Round 3, and a much scarier one stroke lead when he teed off this afternoon. Patrick Brown was the first to come after him today, starting the round with 4 straight birdies, bringing the gap between him and McBeth down to 2. JohnE McCray made a huge jump on hole 5 with a throw in birdie from well over 100 feet that skipped off the ground and into the chains. He kissed the cross on his necklace before he ran up to retrieve his disc. McCray gained strokes on the field two holes later with a huge putt on the infamous triple-mando bamboo hole 7.

By the time hole 17 came around McCray had a five stroke lead. If you didn't know anything about this course you would've that it was all over. But if you do know Winthrop Gold, you know nothing really matters until you get past hole 17. It's a downhill island hole with hay bales lining the front side and a watery death behind the narrow green. McCray was first to tee off. His disc went into the water. He had to re-tee and he was short of the hay bales. He had to tee off yet again, and again, he came up short of the hay bales. Now teeing off for his seventh throw, he barely made the island green. He would end up with a nine on the par 3 hole, while McBeth and Brown took easy birdies, and Schusterick took a par. 

With only one hole to go the entire paradigm of the event had shifted. Schusterick and Mcbeth were now tied for 1st place at -22, with Brown and McCray tied for second place at -20. Everyone hit their markrs on the drives on 18, but McBeth and Brown would end up out of bounds on their second throws. McCray on the other hand was parked for an easy birdie. McBeth opted to play safe to tap in for a bogey, as he really had no other choice. Schusterick left himself with a 15 foot uphill putt to win it all with a par...and he missed. McBeth tapped in for bogey and McCray tapped in for birdie meaning there was now a 3-way tie for the lead.  Playoff time. 

The playoffs started right back where it all started, on hole 18. McCray went out of bounds on his second throw meaning he was out of the running for the win. McBeth wasn't in much better shape and had to once again lay up for an easy par putt. Schusterick had two perfect throws in a row, leaving him an uphill putt inside the circle for birdie to win it all. Somehow, he missed it again, hitting his putter off the headband. You could see the devastation in his eyes. He had to continue the sudden death playoff against the number one ranked player on the world, Paul McBeth.

The next hole of the playoffs was hole 1, and it was down to just Schusterick and McBeth. They both had amazing drives considering the amount of pressure they were under. McBeth was up first with a 25 foot putt, something that would generally be considered a gimme for the 3X World Champiion. He took his time, let go of his putter, and it chained out right side. The entire crowd was completely silent. Schusterick stepped up from inside of 15 feet, but after watching him miss what should have been easy putts, no one knew what was going to happen. All that could be heard was crickets until his putter hit dead center chains. Schusterick had done it! He won the 2014 United States Disc Golf Championship in a sudden death playoff to become only the third player in history to win three USDGC titles. It was an amazing finish to an amazing weekend of disc golf. 

Performance Flight

The Performance Flight aspect of the USDGC is something that was created in 2011 as a way for more players to have a chance to compete in the event. Competitors from around the world, regardless of their skill level, can qualify for a spot in the Performance Flight division by playing well at local qualifier events. When they take on Winthrop Gold however, they don’t play stroke-for-stroke in the way that basically every other tournament does. Instead, they are given a projected score for each hole based on a complex algorithm that coincides with their respective player ratings. For example, if a player is projected to get a 5 on a hole that’s a par 4, and that player gets a 4, they will score -1 for the hole, not a par.

The story that emerged from the Performance Flight was somewhat unexpected. But...not really. Paige Pierce #29190 was one of three women competing in the Performance Flight division, and she emerged as the overall winner both against her projected score and with overall strokes in general. We say it’s not really that unexpected because if you’ve been following along this year, you already know that she has played better than several of the top men in the world on the same courses and layouts multiple times this year. The same can be said about the current PDGA Women's World Champion, Catrina Allen #44184.

Pierce’s rounds against the Winthrop course, had she been playing in Open Flight, would have easily meant she would have cashed against the men. With a final scratch score of 292 and three rounds that would have been unofficially rated 1000+, she would have finished in 34th place of the Open Flight division. Look at the names of the players that finished with more strokes, and you will see just how amazing she played this weekend.

Pierce also took the time after her rounds to do commentary for DiscGolfPlanet.tv’s live broadcast, showing her true love of the game and her passion for promoting the sport. Congratulations to Paige Pierce for not only becoming the first woman to win the USDGC Performance Flight, but the first woman to win the USWDGC and the USDGC Performance flight back-to-back! If she continues to play the way she has been this year, we wouldn’t be surprised to see her here again next year whooping up on the men in the Open Flight division!

Thank you to everyone who helped make the 2014 United States Disc Golf Championship such an amazing way to finish the 2014 disc golf tour. All the results are available on the official USDGC website for both Open and Performance Flight. If you’d like to see the unofficial round ratings, check the results page on PDGA.com.

The 2015 PDGA National Tour Elite Series begins in just a few months in Arizona at The Memorial Championship presented by Discraft. See you in Scottsdale!