ADG B-tier Event: 19 March 2022
With more than 600 mm of rain falling in the 30 days prior plus another 35 mm falling the night before, the 2022 Armory Summer Slam was going to be something different. The grass was a little long and the ground a little boggy (some may say swampy). However, that didn’t stop 56 brave players from turning up. Unfortunately we had close to a dozen players have to withdraw in the week leading up due to having to isolate because of COVID, so numbers were down on expectations.
Round 1 kicked off on Saturday morning in the pouring rain, but conditions slowly improved and by the start of the second run after lunch, the sun managed to make an appearance. The conditions were definitely not conducive to good scoring and those that managed to scramble in the tricky conditions, won out on the day.
Open (MPO)
7 players competed in the MPO division, with Chris Hill shooting a great morning round of 56 (-4) on the par 60 layout (989 rated) to take the round 1 lead. He started the second round with 1 shot lead over Jade Brady, 2 shots to Leith Brodie and another shot back to Cameron McDonald. In the better conditions, Cameron shot a superb 1012-rated round of 53 to tie up the lead with Chris Hill after 38 holes. Chilly and Cam then headed to a playoff, but it only took one hole for Chilly to secure the win. In third place was Austin D’Alessandro, 5 shots back.
Open Women (FPO)
Gina Hill was all alone in FPO and in the tough conditions she ended up at +21 after 2 rounds. Surprisingly she scored 3 shots better in the rain.
Pro Masters (MP40)
It looks like a lot of disc golfers are hitting the 40 year old mark this year, with 3 players competing in MP40. After round 1, Jonathan Jonas and Kevin Costa were tied up at +4. However, in the better conditions of round 2, JJ put the pedal to the metal and after shooting a 975-rated score of 57, he took the MP40 win by 13 strokes over Kev.
Advanced (MA1)
In Advanced, it was a smaller than usual crowd with only 5 players. Tanner Sleep and Rhys Wisniewski took the round 1 lead at +2 over Daniel Frost at +3. Daniel then stormed through with an improved second round to snatch the win at +3 and Rhys runner-up at +6.
Advanced Women (FA1)
Another lone battle in FA1. Kairi Koobakene appeared to struggle in the tough round 1 conditions but improved by 5 strokes in round 2 to finish at +25.
Amateur Masters (MA40)
Some of the usual names were absent from MA40 but that didn’t stop Olatundji Akpo-Sani from shooting a consistent first round of +4, taking a 4 shot lunch time lead over Gavin Palmer and Nick Mason. In round 2, Gavin Palmer improved his first-round score by 5 strokes, but that wasn’t enough to snatch the win from Tundji who finished on +4. Gavin was runner-up at +7 and local Tanga Waetford sneaking in for third at +9.
Amateur Grand Masters (MA50)
The old boys mustn’t have been keen on the wet weather because only 5 players competed in the usually popular MA50 division. Paul Comninos continued his strong recent form with a 944-rated first round 61. This allowed him to cruise home in the second round finishing at +5. Jeff Wall was runner-up at +30 and Andrew Wisnewski took third with +35.
Intermediate (MA2)
MA2 had a strong showing of local Sydney players and this was a tight affair from start to finish. Liam Aungle and Jack Lemon took round 1 honours at +4. It was then 2 shots back to Matt Ellis and Broden Sherratt and a further shot back to John Soden. Really good scores from the intermediate players in the tough conditions. Unfortunately, none of the top 5 were able to take advantage of the better conditions in round 2, all shooting higher than their first round. Liam Aungle came through with the win at +11, followed 2 shots back by Matt Ellis and Jack Lemon. The top 6 were separated by only 5 shots!
Intermediate Women (FA2)
Another solo division and Alex William’s fifth tournament. No competition but wow! Alex smashed out a 880-rated first round followed by a 864-rated second round to finish at +17. Not only was this score good enough to win FA1, but also would have won FPO by 4 shots. Alex continues smashing it out of the park and how high can she go?
Recreational (MA3)
The new recreational division sitting between Novice and Intermediate attracted the most competitors with 9 players. After 19 holes, Liam Brunelli-Brondex shot a 68 to lead by 1 shot over Bryce Winchester and Mark Boland. And continuing through round 2, these 3 would battle it out to the last hole. At the end of the day, Bryce triumphed by 1 shot over Liam and 2 shots over Mark.
Novice (MA4)
Only 7 players in Novice this time round, but some of the most fierce competition of the tournament. The first round ended with a 3-way tie for first place between Stephen Cragg, Dean Sherratt and James Wright all on 77. So the question was who could hold their nerve for round 2? Stephen answered the call and improved on his first round score by 1 shot. Dean and James remained tied for second, 4 shots back.
Novice Women (FA4)
In the Novice women, a few late withdrawals left Peata Hepi and Claire Bruton to battle it out. Peata took a 6-shot lead into the second round and cruised home to win by 14.
Junior (MJ15)
It’s great to see some junior players joining the fun and Sam Homard put together 2 good rounds in the solo MJ15 division. Well done and hopefully we’ll see more of Sam in the future.
Thank You
We hope everybody had a great time even though the conditions on the day were far from ideal.
Special thanks to Kevin Costa for allowing us to re-use some of his thoughts and photos from the day.
Finally, a special mention to our event sponsors. Without their help and support, the event wouldn’t have been as big as it was.
- Berg’s Bags
- AUS Discs
- Circle 5 Discs
- Disc Connection
- Disc Golf Warehouse
- Disc Shop NZ
- Jindy Disc Golf Shop
- Hyzer Flight
- Cross Tasman Discs
Also a huge shout out to TD Priit Koiv along with members of SDGC who organised the event, setup the course and ensured it ran as smoothly considering the weather.
Full event scores here: https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/58966
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