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Do you think Jen Allen can hang on for the win?
Well i don´t really look good for FPO that it is 39!! throws between 1st and 2nd
Apparently this is the first year Goat Hill had an FPO field. Though I'm surprised AJ couldn't get some DD FPO players to show. I think the Risleys might need to make some adjustments for FPO. That course was long, and the greens wicked.
I imagine the timing of it all is more to blame for the small FPO turnout than the course itself. The "tour" is next headed to the Bay Area, so the question after GBO for these players was do you want to drive from KS to SoCal then go to San Francisco or take a more direct line toward SF and hit an event more or less on the way instead? Emporia to Oceanside CA is ~1500 miles, then another 460 miles from Oceanside to SF. As opposed to the 1700 mile direct route from Emporia to SF broken up into two smaller chunks by playing somewhere in between.
It would appear that most of the touring players and particularly the women who played this weekend chose to skip the longer initial drive to a course most (all?) had never been to in order to take the more direct route toward SF and playing in Colorado (Bjerkaas, Gannon, King, Fajkus, Panis, Cox, Finley, McMorran) and Utah (Weese). That really doesn't surprise me as going from Emporia to Oceanside in a matter of a couple days is a big ask in general, but for FPO in particular since they're likely operating on a smaller budget than some of their MPO counterparts (just based on tournament earnings alone). Less driving means a bit more down time and more time to practice the courses as well.
Well i don´t really look good for FPO that it is 39!! throws between 1st and 2nd
Apparently this is the first year Goat Hill had an FPO field. Though I'm surprised AJ couldn't get some DD FPO players to show. I think the Risleys might need to make some adjustments for FPO. That course was long, and the greens wicked.
I did enjoy watching the MPO distance competition. It's not a pure hyzer course, and watching Seppo throw those huge flexes was interesting (with speed gun & range finder data). A once a year guilty pleasure maybe, but 600+ drives are impressive even on video.
Thomas Gilbert looked like the real deal. At 19 y/o he was solid throughout the tournament. And he seemed to get along well with Jones & Paju.
I also enjoyed the three players Ian lined up to commentate.
Sure, that's a valid evaluation. However, these are road warriors used to major drives between events, and many of the players have RVs and travel in groups, so the driving is shared (and sleeping is possible). It looked like the tee times were also unusually late (earliest around noon), to accommodate tired bodies. I think players could have chosen Goat Hill with (relatively) minimal inconvenience.
I'm not saying all the FPO players would choose to travel from Emporia to Oceanside. But I think Goat Hill was not considered by a number of players because no FPO division was offered in previous years.
Apparently this is the first year Goat Hill had an FPO field. Though I'm surprised AJ couldn't get some DD FPO players to show. I think the Risleys might need to make some adjustments for FPO. That course was long, and the greens wicked....
Sure, that's a valid evaluation. However, these are road warriors used to major drives between events, and many of the players have RVs and travel in groups, so the driving is shared (and sleeping is possible). It looked like the tee times were also unusually late (earliest around noon), to accommodate tired bodies. I think players could have chosen Goat Hill with (relatively) minimal inconvenience.
I'm not saying all the FPO players would choose to travel from Emporia to Oceanside. But I think Goat Hill was not considered by a number of players because no FPO division was offered in previous years.
The Bolded statements are untrue.
Every PDGA event ever held at Goat Hill has OFFERED the FPO division, but no FPO Women have registered to play the past two years. There just are not a whole lot of full time FPO players in So Cal. Touring player Tina Oakley played in 2017, but chose not to play again this year, even though she was in town with Eric Oakley.
The TD would gladly welcome FPO players. He did a lot of promoting this year trying to get more Pro ladies out, but they just didn't sign up. I think Goat Hill without carts may be too long to be enjoyable for players without a 400 foot drive.
It appears Jen Allen will be back every year as she has a 400 foot drive, this course plays to her strengths and she enjoys the San Diego area.
I stand corrected. I thought I heard a commentator say FPO wasn't offered.
Do you think Goat Hill could be configured to be more friendly to FPO? From your comment, I'm guessing that means alternate tees AND a short cut to the alt tee from the previous basket.