Cover photo courtesy of Dynamic Discs

It feels a bit selfish to whine about having clear, sunny skies for the opening round of the 2016 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships presented by Dynamic Discs. But in the middle of Kansas with minimal wind, 70% humidity, and a heat index nearing 105 °F (40.5°C), we might just have earned the right. At least a little bit…

To say that the scores thus far are close would be the faux pas of the year, without a doubt. 11 divisions are represented at the 2016 Pro Worlds, and of those 11 divisions, only one has a scoring separation of more than two strokes between first and second place.

Both Masters Women and Senior Grandmasters have a two-way tie for the lead. Grandmasters Women have a three-way tie for the lead. The only division that isn’t as close as its ten counterparts is still within single digits. Carlos Rigby #48542 leads by nine over Ronald Byrd #27572 in the Grand Legends division (80+ years old).

Catrina Allen Takes the Early Lead

The Open Women’s division were the main focus this afternoon, taking on the Eric McCabe #11674 designed Peter Pan DGC along with their B-Pool counterparts, the Masters division. Of the four courses being used for the 2016 Pro Worlds, Peter Pan DGC is the only one that makes up for its lack of overall length (6,550 feet) with difficulty.

Precision and accuracy are required on many of the shots, both off the tee and on the fairway. More importantly, missing your line will often result in a comeback throw that gives you little hope to save par, or worse.

With the SmashBoxxTV camera crew following them throughout round, Catrina Allen #44184, Paige Bjerkaas #33833, Madison Walker #59431, and Switzerland’s Natalie Holloköi #40800 made their way through the park in the blazing heat. The front third of the course left most of the women just a stroke or two apart, but that was all about to change when Catrina turned on the burners for the holes that followed.

Four of Catrina’s five birdies during her bogey-free round came all at once on holes 7, 8, 9, and 10. To put that into perspective, she was one of only five players in the Open Women’s division to birdie Hole 7, one of only four to birdie the par 4 Hole 8, and the only one to get both of them in a row.

Catrina Allen parks her approach with a forehand at Peter Pan

Paige Pierce #29190 held the title of clubhouse leader for most of the day after finishing with a 54 (-3), hitting a hot streak of her own on holes 8, 9, and 10. Paige will tee off tomorrow in second place, two off the lead, joined by Jennifer Allen #15354 and Val Jenkins #17495 on the lead card, both just one stroke shy of Paige.

Coming into 2016 Pro Worlds on a recent post-injury winning streak, Sarah Hokom #34563 also turned in a score of 55 to match Jennifer and Val, but she will tee off at the top of the chase card tomorrow morning, as the lowest PDGA number is the tie breaker when only one round has been played.

The Masters division fought a similarly close battle, with Chris Smith #19983 emerging as the overall leader after carding a bogey-free 48 (-9), including the same birdie streak of holes 7-10 that allowed Catrina to end the day at the top of the leaderboard.

Three Masters competitors are now tied in second place, one off the lead: Patrick Brown #25713, Dixon Jowers #17583, and J.D. Ramirez #19857.

The two divisions will head to Emporia Country Club tomorrow for Round 2, a much longer and more open course where big arms can prevail, but only the big arms that play the “Risk vs. Reward” game well.

McBeth & Wysocki on Pace for Another Epic Worlds Showdown

After everything that’s happened this year, who would you expect to be at the top of the leaderboard after day one? If you’ve been paying attention, your answer would probably be Ricky Wysocki #38008, who has won 12 events already this year including one PDGA Major, four PDGA National Tour events, and six A-Tiers.

Or perhaps your safe guess would be Paul McBeth #27523, who has won the last four PDGA Pro World Championships in row. This has not been Paul McBeth’s year, by the standards we’ve come to know him by anyway. We haven’t seen “McBeast” in his true form for quite some time, until today.

McBeast is here and looks to be ready to win his 5th consecutive World Champion title. As the day got hotter, so did his score. Through the first six holes at Jones East, McBeth had 3 birdies, and carded back-to-back eagles on the par holes 5 and 6, leaving him seven under par thru six!

And to continue the trend, McBeth snagged six more birdies in a row after a par on hole 7. Even when a mistake was made, he was still able to save par, as two of the five pars he took for the day included OB penalty strokes. When it was all said and done, McBeth turned in a bogey-free 15 under par (46), unofficially rated at 1081.

Not to be out done, and starting almost two hours after McBeth, meaning even warmer temperatures, Ricky Wysocki stayed hot on his trail. Wysocki, also shooting a bogey-free round, went on a massive streak from holes 4-18, carding 13 total birdies (eight of them were in a row), before he eventually took his third par of the day to finish the round at 14 under par (47), unofficially rated at 1073.

Add another birdie to the card for Ricky #2016ProWorlds #sockibomb pic.twitter.com/jRTiIpwsBB

— PDGA Live Scoring (@pdgalive) August 9, 2016

Ricky Wysocki carding another birdie on hole 17, at Jones East.

Nikko Locastro #11534 and Jeremey Koling #33705 will be joining them on the lead card tomorrow afternoon after both finishing bogey-free at Jones East at 12 under par (49), three off the lead. Follow all the action during the live broadcast tomorrow, starting at approximately 2:00pm (CDT) on the SmashBoxxTV YouTube channel.

As stated earlier, virtually every division is locked in a heated battle at this point. We’ll certainly find out which players can take the heat both figuratively and literally in the days to come. The competitors that struggled in the 105 heat index today need to find a way to overcome, as temperatures for the next two days are forecasted at 94 and 98, before accounting for humidity.

Live coverage will continue all day tomorrow with the highlight being the live broadcast of the Open division lead card, brought to you by the PDGA, starting at approximately 2:00pm CDT on the SmashBoxxTV YouTube channel. Live scores will be up and running bright and early in the morning on pdgalive.com and as always, stay up to date with everything using the links on the 2016 Scores & Coverage page of PDGA.com.