As we draw near to the 2017 Aussie Open, we first wanted to give you a quick recount of the 2015 tournament. The 2015 Aussie Open marked an important step forward in disc sports in Australia: the first PDGA Major to be held in the country. Players made their way to Perth from across the globe: USA, Canada, Finland, Germany and New Zealand, as well as native Aussies from across the continent, to be a part of this historical event.
The days before the start of the tournament brought typical Australian summer weather: hot and dry. This drought was to be broken less than two hours into the first day of the tournament, when a large thunderstorm brought a halt to play for two-and-a-half hours. The skies and puddles cleared quickly after this and, by the end of round 1, Nate Doss found himself one shot ahead of Paul McBeth after shooting a 9 under 56, with Dave Feldberg a further shot behind. In Women’s Open, Valarie Jenkins held a one stroke lead on Jennifer Allen after shooting a 68.
Day 2 brought a new course record, and it was to be held concurrently by two players: McBeth and Simon Lizotte, who improved on his first round 62 by 9 strokes. Day two saw a ‘fairway ace’ eagle 2 by McBeth on hole 2. At the end of the round, McBeth held a 5 stroke lead over Lizotte and Ricky Wysocki, with Doss and Feldberg just one stroke further back. The women’s event was blown wide open by Jenkins’ 64: 12 shots better than the next best round from Allen.
The course record was shaved by a further stroke on Day 3, and it was again McBeth and Lizotte which achieved this feat. Lizotte looked to be the only one with a chance to catch McBeth on the final day, trailing by 5 shots. Jenkins further increased her lead on Day 3, easing out by a further 5 shots to lead Allen by a massive 18 strokes.
In a tense final day battle, in which Lizotte closed to within two after 15 holes, McBeth held his nerve to come away with the win by a comfortable 6 shot margin. Wysocki shot the hot round of the day with some solid putting early, but had too much to do to catch the leaders and finished in third. Val Jenkins continued to extend her lead and won by a massive 21 strokes over Jennifer Allen, with Germany’s Christine Hellstern in third place.