By Brian Sullivan / DiscLife.com

Climo History
Player of the Year
Related Story: Ron Russell

When Ron Russell finally managed to put an end to Ken Climo's nine-year streak of World titles in 1999, a new spark of excitement rose in the hearts of disc golfers: Worlds 2000 would bring an epic battle between the two. Russell would be out to prove he was the real deal, and Climo would be looking to reclaim that which he felt was rightfully his, and add a tenth trophy basket to his collection.

While many were predicting Climo's return, what occurred surprised everyone.

Halfway through the competition, things were beginning to heat up. Barry Schultz held the lead at -36, followed by Climo three strokes back. Russell remained tied for fourth at -30, and the collective anticipation was for a derby finish.

Pool A was scheduled for two rounds on Thursday. The early round was played at the Kensington Tunnel, when Climo turned on the afterburners and never looked back, shooting three new course records over the final three rounds of preliminary competition.

That derby finish would vanish in a cloud of Climo's dust.

Besides the mostly-open Campground course at Hudson Mills, the Tunnel was considered by competitors to be the least challenging of the Worlds' courses. Climo and Russell each delivered outstanding performances, and strolled out of the park with a pair of -9s, topping Russell's previous course record of -8.

Across Kensington park was the temporary Toboggan course, truly world class with 8204 feet of brutal elevation changes. This was the greatest challenge of the week, and the scores of the various pools reflected as much. Divisions with less endurance such as the Legends and Juniors didn't play the Toboggan at all.

The leader card featured Climo and Barry Schultz tied up, followed by Russell three strokes back, and Chauncey Donaldson an additional three. When Russell's putt kicked out on hole one, his mood turned dark. He would falter soon after, coming up short on the 500-foot hole three, a blind downhill anhyzer. Schultz parked a beauty, and acknowledged the cheers of the crowd going into this long, hard round.

While Climo kept to his game plan of solid golf, Russell was heading into trouble on hole five. A downhill shot playing 829 feet, Russell's drive caught a tree and landed in the thick bushes to the right of the fairway. His out shot got him closer, but again into the nastiest of rough. There would be three more shots before he holed out.

As the Toboggan round progressed, Climo's confidence grew with each throw. On 14, he came up 50 feet short on this deuceable uphill hole that plays 320. Walking to the lie, he grinned and said quietly, "Guess I'll just have to hit another 50 footer." He did.

When the card came into Tournament Central, Climo had set a new record of -4. Schultz was two down for the round, Russell and Donaldson three up.

Climo had his lead, and wasn't about to let go.

Despite now being ten strokes out, Russell managed to stay on the leader card going into Friday's final preliminary round at Cass Benton. It would prove be memorable, to say the least.

The group was on Cass Benton's hole five when Russell took an approach shot without completely checking his surroundings. The follow-through brought his throwing hand directly into the path of a tree.

"I was standing about fifteen feet away, and heard a loud crack," said PDGA Competition Director Mark Ellis. "It was obvious what had happened. Ron immediately grabbed his hand and fell to a knee. He was in a lot of pain."

X-rays would later show the hand was not broken, but damaged enough to effectively put Russell out of the competition. He would complete the final rounds of Worlds 2000 throwing with his left hand.

While Schultz was only two strokes off Climo at the start of the round, he could not keep up through the tightly-packed Michigan woods. Climo turned on the mojo, carding yet another new course record with a -5. Observers conceded that his victory should be academic, barring any new surprises in the scant 33 holes remaining. The all-too-familiar Climo confidence was in high gear. He was now -51 through six rounds, and six strokes beyond the grasp of the closest challenger, Barry Schultz.

With thousands of cheering fans in tow, Climo basked in the glory of the final rounds, increasing his lead on Schultz to eight, and a full 18 strokes over third place finisher, the 19-year-old Swedish wunderkind Jester Lundmark. The King was back in a big way.

Later that night, one of the greatest athletes in the history of sport stepped onto the stage to formally receive his tenth World Championship title. His dominance firmly reasserted, not one person in the room doubted that he would eventually be there again to receive an eleventh.