Who's the "big dog" now?

Why the young man on the right, David Wiggins Jr, who took down all competitors today, most who were older, to win the 2010 US Amateur Disc Golf Championship by 10 throws. David's win was the largest winning margin, most under par (-20) and by the youngest champion ever.

Richard Wysocki (OH) and Leif Swenson (CA), who tied for second, shot 10 down to match the winning score from last year.

Wiggins started the day with a relatively slim 3-shot lead on this course with many potential pitfalls. It's hard to score but easy to lose ground. After 4 holes, he was 2 behind his previous day's round but Wysocki couldn't capitalize dropping one more while Swenson and Martinek gained one on him. Wiggins had a tough break on hole 4 where his shot kicked back off a blocker tree into the high grass giving few options to get close to the pin. He tried a low screamer forehand skip but the ground ate it up early with no skip. Check this photo for his throw.

He missed his par saver putt while Swenson made his after a tricky escape from the right side where big bushes and trees block the pin.

Meanwhile, the second card was mostly just matching the scores of the top card thru the first half dozen holes. The second card is shown passing the scorecards to start the round as guided by Mark Ellis the starter. The USADGC uses a scoring system where each player has a booklet for the event. Another player in the group keeps your score for the round. There are additional lines in each book so you can keep your score as a cross check. From left to right we see Brandon Bueter (MI), Eric Ford (IN), Ellis, Drew Miller (KY) and Jason Anderson (MN).

Eric Ford parked this long upshot on the 915 ft, hole 3 after a great drive for the only birdie 3 on the second card.

Wiggins bounced back after the bogey on 4, gaining two more throws on the top two cards with the only long putt for 2 on the pachinko hole 5, shortest hole on the course at 280 with no observable fairway from the tee. Then, after tugging his upshot right on 6, he got a fair bounce out and made the circle putt for 3. Wysocki (below) had the best drive 40 feet past the group but didn't snap his forehand upshot far enough left, ending in the schule, and couldn't make the putt for 3.

Dr. Robert Martinek, nicknamed Dr. ZZZs as an anaethesiologist and for spinning discs, managed to pitch out from a drive in the bushes on 6 to the point shown in the photo. He threw the thumber to snake thru the opening and saved his par 4. Dr. ZZZs at age 49 from Ontario, Canada had been schooling most of the "youngsters" in this event. The ages of the other three on the top card, 15, 17 & 17 added up to his age. Unlikely that's ever happened before on the final top card of an event.

Wiggins provided an opportunity for Wysocki and others to gain a throw on 7 when he smacked an early tree on the left in the opening on hole 7. Wysocki proceeded to also smack early wood while the other two got thru. Wysocki and Wiggins threw great forehand outs for the potential to save 4. Swenson and Martinek missed their golden opportunities to bird but didn't get their approaches even close to the circle and took 4s. Wysocki and Wiggnis parked their upshots to save par 4s. You can see Wiggins white disc upshot against the bush backdrop that cruised thru the chain crease to almost bag the improbable birdie 3.

Meanwhile, the second card all got birdie 3s on hole 7 gaining a shot on the top card. But overall, players like Jason Anderson (MN) seen here driving 11 at 316 ft were just matching the others losing ground to Wiggins.

Most on the top two cards missed birdie chances on the "really blind" hole 8 at 462 downhill. However, the reality is that only hole 2 (sort of) and 3 are visible from the tee on the front nine and only 11, 13 (flag pole) and 17 are visible from the tee on the back nine. So we're talking relative degrees of blindness on Toboggan which is part of its challenge. Hole 9 at 425 uphill and to the right is mostly an auto 3 for this crowd unless you botch a short upshot or doink a putt.

Now, hole 10 is always a score spreader with half 3s, three 4s and one 2 among the top 8. Wiggins had maybe a 12 ft putt for 3 that flipped out. Perhaps he was ticked and threw his drive on 11 low which he could easily reach with a Roc. However, he made up for it by canning this low ceiling putt for another deuce.

With Wiggins having a commanding lead of 7 after 11, the battle turned toward second place where Swenson and Martinek had identical scores thru 10 holes and after 11, Wysocki had fallen back into a tie with Swenson with Martinek one behind them. Just for comparison, here's Wysocki's second shot on uphill 13 at 516 ft. Wiggins drive was up on the flat about 70 feet away from the pin maybe 30 ft right of the end post in the photo.

After hole 14, all three behind Wiggins were tied 9 back and at -9. Leif struck first with a solid birdie 3 on 15. Here's his second shot which landed about 7 feet away. Wysocki and Martinek had to fight their way out of the schule after their tee shots drifted too far right. Wysocki missed his putt for 3 from 30 feet after a great recovery bomb to the circle.

Wiggins almost took a bogey on 16 after throwing his forehand tee shot too low. He had to go over the top blind as seen in the photo. He went a bit too far into a gnarly thicket behind the pin. But we all watched as his putt shot out from the brush into the basket for a 3 save.

Going into 18, Swenson held onto second by one. The magic man Wiggins had added another bird on 17 after short-arming his upshot after a booming drive. But then convertingthe putt from below thehilltop outside the circle. Wysocki crushed his uphill drive on 18 past the pin and left. He made the putt to pull into a tie for second with Swenson. They can break the tie at Am Worlds in two weeks when they'll face off among others for the Under 19 Junior title. Wiggins went for the 30 footer for deuce on 18 and ended up in the brush. Here's the putt he made for the 3 save and the 10-shot win.

Mark Ellis keeps players busy with his Lizerd Games so the TD can determine final standings and payouts. Top 10 closest to basket with a roller won prizes.

There are trophies and tee signs for the top 18 finishers with a CTP used to break ties. Here's one group where the loser will not a get a tee sign but still win prizes by finishing 19th.

Fifty players "cash" at the USADGC but everyone's a winner from what I could see and hear. Players had a great time with great competition along with awesome player packs, meals, lots of lizard prizes plus the bonus of trophies and prizes for those in the top third. Threatening weather dissipated or bypassed the park even though it was maybe more humid than some would like. Here's our champ, David Wiggins having now won two-thirds of the Am Triple Crown with Am Worlds to follow in two weeks. Check PDGA.com to follow the action there.

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