Portland Open is a review by author Alecsander Dutko. Be sure to check out the link to his other work at KnupSports.
We are at the midway point of the Disc Golf Pro Tour for 2023 (DGPT). This past weekend was
a 4 day tournament, the Portland Open in Portland, Oregon where the Pro Field played 2
rounds at Glendoveer East and 2 rounds at Glendoveer West.
Portland Open-Female
The FPO field featured 48 women with many familiar names. After taking the month of May off
from the tour, FPO ranked #1 player in the world, Kristin Tattar (PDGA# 73986) came out of the
gates shooting well. After round 1 Kristin was 1 stroke ahead of the field, trailed by Sai Ananda
and Hanna Huyhn at -4, and Missy Gannon at -3. Kristin then shot the hot round in the 2nd
round again, 3 clear of the field with -9 on the day, putting her at -14, and 6 strokes ahead of Sai
in 2nd place. Round 3 Kristin and Sai both tied the hot round at -7, giving Kristin a comfortable 6
stroke lead going into championship Sunday. She had a little bit of push from Sai but was able
to finish with a 4 stroke cushion to secure a Pro Tour victory.
Portland Open- Men’s
The Men’s Portland Open field featured some names at the top of the board that aren’t as common as Kristin Tattar at the top of the leaderboard. Adam Hammes was in the clubhouse early with an 8 down round, but as the day went on, there were 4 tied at 8 under par: Hammes, Aaron Gossage, Isaac
Robinson, and Corey Ellis forming the lead card for day 2. Plenty of movement happened on
day 2 including Calvin Heimburg screaming up the leaderboard to a tie for 2nd after being Tied
at 11th after round 1. Day 3 or ‘Moving Day’ had Adam Hammes with a hot round of -10 to
secure solo 1st place at -21 moving into the final day, followed by Gossage and Ellis at -20 and
James Proctor at -18 to fill the lead card for Championship Sunday.
And what a Portland Open championship day it was!
After 16 holes, Hammes had a 1 stroke lead at -30 over Gossage and Ellis. Hole 17 threw a
wrench in all of that, seeing Hammes get a bogey, Gossage a birdie, and Ellis a Par. Gossage
was to throw first on 18 which is a par 5. He threw a safe shot in the middle of the fairway. Ellis
and Hammes both went for max distance to force Gossage into having to throw first and help
dictate their 2nd throw. Gossage utilized his forehand strength and again was in the middle of
the fairway. Ellis had a very awkward stance as his disc was up against a tree, and attempted to
throw a roller, which has the potential for maximum distance, but found himself out of bounds on
the left side of the fairway with par at best. Hammes also threw a roller that got on the ground at
a good speed, but curled on him and he found himself around 40 feet out of bounds on the right
side of the fairway with a putt for birdie. Gossage pitched up towards the basket to hopefully ‘tap
in’ for a birdie and secure the win. Hammes was to put first as his disc and was farther from the
basket, and he utilized a ‘step-putt’ that he had relied on most of the tournament, and he sank it.
This left Gossage with a putt that seemed routine, but immediately felt like 100 feet from the
basket as the tournament title was on the line. He attempted the putt and hit the bottom of the
cage on an elevated basket. After taking a par, they were headed to a playoff between Hammes
and Gossage.
After the coin flip, Hammes took the tee first and threw a back hand turnover shot the drifted
farther right than he anticipated, nearly going out of bounds but snuck back in with an
obstructed view of the basket. Gossage took out his ‘blue bomber’ Nuke and threw a forehand into the center fairway. Hammes found a gap on a back hand for his upshot and was inside
circle 1 for a look at birdie, and Gossage threw a backhand into the green as well but drifted left
to the bottom of the hill to around 40 feet. Gossage attempted his putt and hit the chains, but got
a nasty spit out, leaving the door wide open for Hammes to sink his birdie putt and secure the
win.
This is Hammes’ first Pro Tour victory since the Resistance Discs Open presented by Discraft
nearly 2 years ago. Hammes is currently rated 1031 and is ranked #27 in the world for MPO.
Hammes is one of my personal favorite players on tour, and you can catch him next in action
teeing off on June 9th at the DGPT Silver Zoo Town Open Presented by Ink Realty Group
Driven by Innova. (https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/66165)
Getting started in the Sport of Disc Golf by Alec
