2015 Pro Worlds

[turbine712]

It sounds like (and I wasn't there) that he got wind of some potential shenanigans and got there to watch them finish. It also sounds like he made a point to call another player to give himself the appearance of subjectivity.

The tournement is over, so there really isn't anything to be done about this from a results standpoint. But I think the situation needs further investigation and the pdga needs to consider disciplinary action if anything can be proven. I'm going to be sending some emails to the pdga about this.

Hats off to Scott for handling a crazy situation really well in the moment. That was very classy

I fully agree, it's over and the scores are in. Congrats to the winners however the PDGA should seriously look into the matter.

 

[hook_nuts]

It's like keeping score doesn't even matter. Weren't Sarah and Paige tied going into the final 9? If Sarah had indeed "outplayed them all hands down" wouldn't she have won going away still by your statement's logic? The situation was unfortunate but her survival and health is/was the reward and a lucky one at that. Worlds was an entirely different matter and if she was experiencing adverse after effects from the accident, than she shouldn't have been playing much less expecting to win while being at less than 100%. All I can say is that it would have made for a good story. Would it be better than Paige's show of compassion? You decide.

Hokom played 115 holes. Very big sample size, let's compare.

Holes they both played (115 holes):
Hokom: -11
Pierce: -2

Holes Hokom didn't play (2 holes):
Hokom: +8
Pierce: -2
Note: Those two holes played very easy with hardly any women taking a bogey on either.

Pierce won fairly and I do feel bad she was in that situation. I feel even worse for Hokom because she was no doubt the best player at Worlds for women.

 

[DiscJunkie]

Part of me wanted PP to drop a few putts on the final hole as an acknowledgement that SH was indeed the best female player at this Worlds competition.
However, I cannot fault her for sealing the win for herself, however conflicted she may have been.
There is no tradition in golf or disc golf for anyone to purposely drop strokes to ensure another wins. Our sport's rules are based on all players giving their best effort all the time. Indeed, if PP had decided to drop a few in order to let SH win, she may well have been called for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Sara is my hero for her courage and never-say-die attitude.
Paige is the World Champion.
And that's the way it should be.

 

[ejvogie]

If the rules are unfair, then lobby to change them. Her situation sucked, but the fact remains that Hokum should have been another 8 strokes behind...

 

[BionicRib]

If rules are rules then why did they wait for Sara at all? And why did she get a ride on an ATV to her hole?

According to some of you guys I'm wondering why no one would complain that she didn't get par +4 on a couple more holes.....since she got special treatment....right?

Pdga has got some consistency issues at the very least folks

 

[JC17393]

If rules are rules then why did they wait for Sara at all? And why did she get a ride on an ATV to her hole?

According to some of you guys I'm wondering why no one would complain that she didn't get par +4 on a couple more holes.....since she got special treatment....right?

Pdga has got some consistency issues at the very least folks

They absolutely shouldn't have waited. If they screwed up anything, it was delaying at all under the guise of wanting to "inform the players of the situation". There is a case to be made that Sarah could have missed more than just two holes, but I don't think anyone has wanted to be the a-hole that brings that up amidst all the emotion.

Given the two extremes of what should have happened by the letter of the rule (no delay whatsoever) and what some folks wanted to see happen (delay the start until she arrived so she wouldn't be penalized at all), I think what ended up happening was probably best case scenario all around. The PDGA folks, faced with a rather unprecedented circumstance, weren't well prepared to be hard-line by the book but did stop short of essentially throwing the rule book out the window in favor of special treatment. Sarah was penalized by the book, but not so much that she lost all chance of winning the event.

 

[hook_nuts]

If the rules are unfair, then lobby to change them. Her situation sucked, but the fact remains that Hokum should have been another 8 strokes behind...

Reading comprehension issues? I said pierce's win was fair. It can't feel great to win on technicalities when hokom dominated the competition though.

Pure speculation here, but I bet if Pierce would have missed a couple putts to allow the best player during the event win, it could've been a national story. ESPN is loving any good stories involving women's sports. It could've been a platform that would've benefited the game, pierce, and hokom more so then the way it went down. Now there's just *s although it still is a great story. I really don't mean to fault pierce, she didn't cause the situation. I also realize what if scenarios are irrelevant at this point and can predict what you naysayers response will be.

Grats to Hokom and Pierce. Although not ideal, it was still fun to watch it be played out, and the greatest thing is Hokom should be able to continue competing.

 

[Mulligan]

Alls this talk about the rules, when meanwhile there are plenty of rules ignored often in the PDGA and applied selectively (i.e Stokely situation). Lookup sportsmanship on Youtube and bring a box of tissues with you.

Personally, I would have liked to see Paige purposefully throw one extra shot that last hole.
Not to throw the tournament, but to acknowledge the better player and force a tiebreak.
Then, take Sarah aside and tell her that they are both gonna play lights out and no mercy.
Now THAT would have been an awesome story with no asterisks.

 

[Halcón]

The Hokom/Pierce story reminds me of the Mexico / Panama game during the recent CONCACAF Gold Cup. To make a long story short, Panama was a few moments away from winning the semifinal and Mexico was awarded a totally bogus penalty kick. The announcers were calling for Mexico to miss the penalty kick on purpose, for the integrity of the game. Andres Guardado scored his goal, and Mexico went on to with the game and the tourney.

Aferwards, Guardado was interviewed and he basically said that he is a professional and he put his feelings aside and did his job as a soccer player by scoring that goal. Paige did her job as a pro disc golfer, and won the event. I think the whole disc golf world would have loved to see Sarah win, but it just wasn't meant to be.

 

[JC17393]

Alls this talk about the rules, when meanwhile there are plenty of rules ignored often in the PDGA and applied selectively (i.e Stokely situation). Lookup sportsmanship on Youtube and bring a box of tissues with you.

Personally, I would have liked to see Paige purposefully throw one extra shot that last hole.
Not to throw the tournament, but to acknowledge the better player and force a tiebreak.
Then, take Sarah aside and tell her that they are both gonna play lights out and no mercy.
Now THAT would have been an awesome story with no asterisks.

Ever consider that that conversation could have taken place before the final nine...you know, when they were already tied for the lead? No need to do it over again nine holes later.

Paige did everything absolutely perfectly yesterday. She played to win and held nothing back, both in her play and in her emotions. Sharing the trophy was a great gesture that just put the capper on the true pro she is.

 

[unclemercy]

Wow, way to show a lack of empathy. Take 5 seconds out of your keyboard crusade to maybe put yourself in someone else's shoes? I can't imagine all the emotions PP was going through.

if you cant imagine then yours isnt an empathic response either.

 

[Mixed Bag Madness]

Jeebus. This is disgusting. It's not the first time Climo has pulled something like this. Anyone remember the Minnesota Majestic years ago where Cale made a huge putt and the crowd went nuts and he tried to call Cale for an extra throw to quiet the hometown crowd? Nuff said.....:|

 

[Halcón]

There's a popular saying in Mexico that says "El que no tranza, no avanza." It means that if you don't cheat in life, you don't advance, or go very far. Climo seems to be of that mindset.

 

[MichaelWebster]

Jeebus. This is disgusting. It's not the first time Climo has pulled something like this. Anyone remember the Minnesota Majestic years ago where Cale made a huge putt and the crowd went nuts and he tried to call Cale for an extra throw to quiet the hometown crowd? Nuff said.....:|

Didn't Climo call Barry on a footfault in the semis or finals of last year's worlds?

 

[Vorpaljesus]

Regardless of what everybody thinks should have been done with FPO, I think it was awesome and it heightened my interest in the women's game dramatically. Respect to them for handling it the way they did.

Stokely footage, there's no way you could tell from the video, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was some shady happenings. Also wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't.

And Paul keeps on rolling. Final round wasn't even fun to watch cuz he just stomps people. There are a lot of really good players now but he's just at another level. And his forehand is really getting good. And he doesn't miss putts. I don't think any of the current top pros can really take too many from him.

 

[HarkeyPuck]

After 22 years of playing disc golf in Pittsburgh and helping build, design and maintain our courses, I'm amazed at how well our club did running this event. The amount if volunteers was overwhelming. And everything went extremely smooth.

I'm very proud of yinz for everything we have accomplished. Hard to believe 20 years ago there were only about 50 of us that even played disc golf in the area.

Yeah man! How fun was that?!?!? The courses were in amazing shape and McBeth showed everyone that there are plenty if lanes in the wooded courses in Pittsburgh!! Back to back course record 51's at Deer Lakes and Moraine! Watching the lead card on 15 @ Moraine was a highlight of the weekend. With the crowd all the way down the road. Good stuff!!

…also very glad Sarah is ok.

 

[NSDallin]

Here's an idea:

Nominate Sarah Hokum for next year's ESPYs -- the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage.

thats actually a really good idea, but with this happening literally weeks after the espys, there may be much bigger stories in the eyes of espn that unfold within the next year. I definitely see no reason why they wouldn't seriously consider it as a nominee tho. Its a professional sport, and one that has been slowly striking their fancy as of late. This could actually happen. whats the process for getting Sarah nominated for this?

 

[the_lung]

No matter what you think about the delay in the start of the round after Sarah's accident, no one should fault Paige for giving the 1st place trophy to Sarah at the award ceremony. It was the ultimate class act. And if you weren't there, you wouldn't understand. After Sarah and Paige's emotional speeches, there wasn't a dry eye in the place. The disc golf community has never bonded together in unison as a family like they did on Friday and Saturday. It gives me chills now just thinking about it again.

 

[JNichols]

Did ANYONE take video of the Awards Ceremony????? I missed it and REALLY want to see it.

 

[@iDiscGolf]

I can't believe the debacle this Championship has turned into. :doh:

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