While every event on the disc golf tour is filled with excitement and anticipation, the Masters Cup tends to find itself near the top of everyone’s wish list. Played at the beloved DeLaveaga course in Santa Cruz, California, it brings the sport’s top athletes to the area for three rounds of intense competition.
This year was no different than years before, where seemingly simple errors can cost you the win, and with the third and final round taking place on the land’s ball golf course, the stage was set to see if history would repeat itself or if a new winner would rise to the top.
Hunting For #1
If you thought that Ricky Wysocki would treat this tournament differently than any other, you’re wrong, as he made a charge right from the start. Shooting the hot round of the day at -10, he was followed by a few familiar names and some local players who obviously knew the course like the backs of their hands.
Who we didn’t see near the top of the stack is really what’s more newsworthy, as Paul McBeth came through with a -1 with Simon Lizotte and Eagle McMahon at a -3 and +1 respectively. For some reason, Ricky was the only prime player who had his game dialed in from the start.
The ladies saw some close competition after Friday’s play, with Valarie Jenkins leading the pack by one stroke. An incident during Saturday’s round, however, would find her disqualified from the weekend’s event, and gave Paige Pierce a little more wiggle room as the rounds went on.
A Big Shuffle And Close Finish
Once again, moving day held up to its name with McMahon skyrocketing his performance to bring home the hot round of -9. Familiar faces joined him with a plethora of incredible scores, and with a few missed opportunities Wysocki was only able to manage a -4 for the day. However, it still came in rated at 1024 and was enough to put him on the lead card for the final round.
Pierce continued to pull away from the rest of the women on Saturday, and although she carded several bogeys during the day, her handful of birdies helped to balance things out and resulted in a +1 for the day.
Sunday’s play brought competitors to the impeccably groomed golf course at DeLaveaga, offering tons of room for spectators to watch the drama unfold. McBeth turned on the heat late in the event, and despite moving up 19 spots on the leaderboard, his 10 down was only enough to bring him up to third place.
Tensions were high as Wysocki and Josh Anthon seemed to trade strokes back and forth, and only on the last few holes was it set in stone that Ricky would take home his second win in the 2018 season. Perhaps Anthon is gaining some momentum as this second place finish was preceded by an A-tier win in Northern California the weekend prior.
As we could have predicted, Pierce closed in on her win with a 1003-rated final round and continued her undefeated streak this year. Next on the tour is a new event to the Pro Tour – the San Francisco Open. Players are looking forward to competing in this beautiful city and we’re excited to see how things shake out!
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