2017 PDGA World Championships- Day 2 Recap
Day 2 came and went and it brought some serious drama with it. As we all know, Johne McCray led the pack going into day two, but, coming out of day two he is now tied for the lead with Ricky Wysocki. Which should not be a surprise, but McCray looked very strong coming out of day one. The course they played on was Fort Gordon which was a beautiful course to see and also had a lot of difficulties as well. The course has a few 1000+ feet holes and some do not provide hardly any wide open shots or open fields that lead right to the tee. The course, more notably, is up hill for most of the front 9 if not some on the back 9. This causes some shots to become substantially more difficult.
My prediction was incorrect, Peter McBride fell short and did not make a come back like I had thought originally. The leader boards for men are Ricky Wysocki (Below Left) and Johne McCray (Below Right) at -20, Devan Owens at -17, Then Cam Colglazier, Adam Hammes, Simon Lizotte, Paul McBeth, Eagle McMahon, and Chris Dickerson all at -15. I think that Ricky is hitting his stride and will make a run to take the lead especially going into the third day. The person I think to try and make a run to catch up could be Lizotte or even the McBeast himself. They are falling behind but they are both great competitors who can make up some shots.
For the women, it is no surprise that Paige Pierce (Below Left) leads the group at -8. She made her lead much bigger which helps out quite a bit going into day 3. She is at -8 with Valerie Jenkins (Below right) at -2 and Lisa Fajkus at E. Some notable people behind them are Catrina Allen at +2 and Sarah Hokom at +2. Pierce having that lead is great, it makes her able to have mistakes on some of the more difficult holes on Fort Gordon. I was right in seeing Sarah Hokom rise through the ranks and become a contender for a podium spot. I would look out for Jenkins coming through and making a run for the number one spot after day three. She is out for that win and pierce is not going to make it easy for her.
The day three competition will go back to the W.R Jackson course. Which means that these pros should have a better outing since they know the course a little bit better than they did the other time. I would expect higher scores and some people to make runs for a top ten placement for the final day. Only time can tell! As always, check out pdga.com to see live results as they go on and running results throughout the event.
Picture credit goes to pdga.com, latitude64.se, discgolfworldtour.com, and frisbee.net