Disc’n for Cheetah’s VI Recap

The sixth year of the Disc’n for Cheetahs tournament took place this past weekend. This was only the second time that it was played at the Dickerson Park Zoo property. Initially the event was held in Ozark, then Ozark & Prime Trucking and then because of the Pandemic, a temp course was the set up on the zoo grounds. The land is absolutely beautiful, like a hidden oasis. Elevation, trees, a pond, a creek, all make for a fun challenging course despite the fact that it is a shorter course.

The course was in great condition as it had been mowed and prepped by the zoo keepers. The trees were blooming and the Purple Redbuds stole the show of the natural beauty of the property. As expected, there was rain and wind through out the day. The second round had more rain and there were stronger winds to contend with.

This year’s event had been full for three and a half weeks. There was a few drop outs that made some players very happy as they jumped on the chance to play. A maxed out field of 100 with 12 divisions, including a large women’s attendance (11 women and a junior lady) and a total of 4 Juniors was so awesome!

This year we raised $1,800 for the Cheetah Habitat in Kenya. This figure was accomplished by sanctioning the event as a B tier through the charity endowment program set up by the pdga and a raffle. On be half of the Zoo Keepers, AAZK, and the Cheetah Habitat in Kenya, thank you for making this such a success for 6 years in a row. We plan on continuing this for years to come!

Result Recap:

Junior Girls - 9 year Allayna Ward (Lu as they call her) won the junior girls division shooting a +37. This kiddo loves the game so much and you can tell she practices. It will be fun watching here get better and better. She tried to clean out all my mom’s jerky with he winnings :-)

Junior Boys - there were 3 kiddos in this division and all had a great time. Owen, Garret and Elijah finished in that order with Owen shooting a +31. Great job gentleman, and keep playing!

Recreational Women - There were four ladies in this division. Whitney Marcum won this division by several strokes despite being 6 months pregnant! What’s trooper! You Roc Whit!!

Recreational - This was the largest field with 20 players. What a super tight race between the top 4 players that ended up in a pair of ties. The tie for 3rd was between Miro and Allan at +4 (1 stroke off the leaders tying score). The tie for first at +3 between Tyler Dixon and Brett Stofer went sudden death on hole 1. Brett said he teed off first and smacked the building, leaving a tough upshot. Tyler threw down the middle of the fairway and proceeded to lay up for par. Brett rolled to about 35’ and chained out on his putt. This gave Tyler the “W”.

Intermediate Women - Ashley Hood was the only player in this division. We need to get more ladies playing so she has some competition... let’s go! She shot a +32.

Intermediate - There was another close battle in the intermediate between the too 3 players. Tyler Adleman’s -2 was goos enough to hold off Barak Barton and Nevada McAlpin who tied at -1.

Masters 60+ - This was quite a dog fight with 3 of the 4 players tying for 1st at +6. The play off started on hole 1, where all 3 parred. Hole 2 took out Jon Parson’s as he found the OB. This left Brad Hilton and Roger Reid who ended up playing two more holes where Roger proved victorious. This was the first time Roger had beaten both Brad and Jon... Kudos brother!

Masters 50+ - There were 7 players in this division. Darrin Dodson, took the lead in the 1st round and never looked back. He was able to win by 6 strokes over the returning Kevin Elrod and Doug Clark who each shot +9.

Masters 40+ Women - Two ladies battled it out here. Candie Luster from Calico Roc was able to get a win over Julie Crouch (who I am thankful that she did not get hit this tourney). Candie shot a +32 and Julie shot +37. Looking at the scores, you ladies may think about playing INT with Ashley Hood next time. You all would be very competitive with each other.

Masters 40+ - This division always has great competition and the 4 top players seem to always be near the top. Toby Rector was able to hold off the charging Seth Hamilton who shot the hot round of the division (58) in the near come back. Toby shot E, Seth shot +1 and Dan Newlin and Adam West ended up +3.

Advanced - Kody Kutz and Parker Asay were in a close battle to the end it appears. Kody’s 3 stroke lead proved to be the difference as Parker did get Kody by one in the second round, but it wasn’t quite enough. Kody shot -7 and Parker was at -5.

Open Women - Mary Abbott, Brandy Monnahan, Katelyn Belty, and Esmeralda Dodson were the four that competed in this division. Brandy and Katelyn are the two registered Pro players, the other two bumped up. Great job to all. Mary played incredible and took home the win holding off Brandy and Katelyn by 5 strokes. Very impressive win over some good competition!

Open Men - Kyle Webster who snuck in late Friday night (maybe even Saturday morning) was the man who tamed the Cheetahs. I’ve said for a long time Kyle is my favorite pro player. He has all the skills needed to be great, but is humble and so much fun to be around. Class act all the way around. He absolutely lit up the course both rounds, but really killed it in the 2nd round giving him the win by 8 strokes over Andrew Boone and 9 over myself. Congratulations Kyle, and thanks for the fun Video Blog. You can see it on his FB page.