Tour Storylines – Waco Annual Charity Open
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RESULTS – 🏆GANNON BUHR & KRISTIN TATTAR
Before the event started, many weren’t optimistic about the “upgrades” to historic WACO. But after the final putt, I’d say it lived up to the hype and proved that “Everything’s bigger in TX.”
In no particular order, here are the storylines you should remember or may have missed:
1 – Yin and yang courses: The BEast & Laco
With the BEast mostly unchanged, all eyes were on Lake Waco. Being immediately judged as a ball golf course, its reviews were mixed and the tee pads drew criticism.
While the drop-offs posed an injury risk (it got Uli), the course showed promise and hopes to improve in design and teeing surface. Regardless, the pair of courses plus TX winds still made for a wacky event.
Contrasting styles of golf thrived on either course, and it showed on the leaderboard. Even without the typical finish, there was still drama at the end but with more spectators surrounding the green.
2 – New season, same delays.
It wouldn’t be a Tour event without a few weather delays. Just days before Daylight Savings, Friday’s storms forced MPO to push play into dusk.
Those on the Lead Card were unlucky and had to wake up early to finish 3 holes on Saturday. But they weren’t the only ones penalized over the event.
Just when you thought everyone was aware of the new 5-minute check-in rule, we got reminded one more time. Back at Chess.com, it was KJ USA who got hit with the heavy 2-stroke penalty.
This time it was Ricky Wysocki who was “30 seconds” late and got called out by a cardmate on Friday. While I doubt we’ll see this again, being late to a job happens to the best of us.
3 – Is Kristin Tattar the most sure thing right now?
“There’s nothing to fix if nothing’s broken… So I just keep doing what I’m doing and see where it gets me.” – Tattar (DGN)
Picking up where she left off, Tattar made a statement to the field as she became the back-to-back champ. Her jetlagged, slow start turned into a decided finish with 18 holes still left.
The signs of a leveled-up field went missing. Scoggins made uncharacteristic mistakes while playing “boring golf.” Ella Hansen suffered from early releases. And Hailey King continued to have an aggravated knee.
But even without them pushing her, there’s still a looming goal. Tattar’s getting close to catching the 1000-rated unicorn, and guess what, today is Ratings Update day.
So did she hit 1000? No, but she’s at 999 again. Based on u/KyleSilva’s calculations, if she averages 1001 for the rest of the TX Swing, then she should hit 1000.
4 – A cut above the rest.
Opposite to FPO, it was a rollercoaster Sunday for the men. The few pushing for the win traded mistakes, lucky breaks, and the lead several times.
While it looked to be a battle between Prodigy’s previous figurehead and current, Anttila challenged them with the hot round from Chase. Between them, it was impossible to pick who to root for.
Anttila’s been so close to his 1st DGPT win. Humphries is a fan-favorite underdog and was hit with the heartbreaking news that his uncle passed pre-round. And Buhr’s an 18-year-old phenom.
But in the end, Buhr’s winning experience came through despite the excessive time warning and brutal spit-out. He’s now won as a Discmaniac, and his stats were ice-cold in all the good ways.
5 – Wacky WACO for fan favorites, missed cash, and DNFs.
No matter the changes to this “Plus” event, it was still WACO. All 3 members of BigSexyBarri gave us flashbacks to their good days. Big names missed cash. And players were dropping like flies with DNFs.
With the MPO cutline at the top 45 and FPO at 24, there were many surprising names not playing on Sunday. Here’s a few…
- MPO: Paul McBeth, Simon Lizotte, Isaac Robinson
- FPO: Jenn Allen, Cat Allen, Sarah Hokom
Before the event started, Calvin Heimburg dropped due to his elbow tendinitis and was the 1st domino to fall. After him, 7 more players DNF’d for various reasons including injury, illness, and recovery.
We’ve got a long season ahead of us. And with this being the 2nd event, broken cash streaks and injury DNFs will only continue.
