More photos from the USDGC in The Gallery
Climo wins. Schack, Russell, Schultz, and Stokely are all in the top spots. Pick any major tournament, and you can often insert these results.
So it was in Rock Hill, SC at the 2000 United States Disc Golf Championship.
While the shots, the Winthrop University course and the competition were as exciting as ever, the USDGC didn't offer up many surprises at the top. Ken Climo is still da man, and the others are still chasing him, wondering when they will finally gain a solid edge over disc golf's version Tiger Woods. Don't hold your breath. Climo went out of bounds only twice over four rounds of play... on a world-class course that generally had more OB than fairways.
If you were looking for people to cheer this year in South Carolina, you were watching the women.
The USDGC is an open competition, and the women's version of this event is held concurrently -- just up the road from the men -- at Hornet's Nest dgc in Charlotte. The tournament even has a separate name: the Women's National Disc Golf Championship (WNDGC). The crowds may have been smaller, but the surprises were many.
One woman -- the woman -- wasn't even there. World and returning National Women's Champ Juliana Bower had more than a few of the male competitors nervous when she elected to play with the men at the USDGC. While there shouldn't be any shame in losing to a quality talent like Bower, there are still plenty of misogynists out there who are terrified at the prospects of "losing to a girl" in professional compeition, for all the world to see.
And you can bet plenty of players went home to redouble their practice efforts, after Bower outplayed more than half the field.
"The other women players really supported my decision to play against the men," said Bower, who was doing so for the first time in her PDGA Touring career. In fact, we've been unable to find any instance where this has occured in a major event.
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