One word to describe Saturday's Olathe Open is hot. Two words are hot, humid. Three words are damn hot humid. But thanks to the Olathe crew of Bob Hayett, Andy Lewis, Tom and Cindy Butler, and Bryan Guthrie (others I missed?), not only was there plenty of water on the course for both rounds, but the course was ready and the pins got moved. Thus, all 67 players who started, finished, although a few of them kind of staggered to the finish line. Not staggering at all in the 94° heat was Justin Atwater-Taylor, who after throwing a Star Aviar Driver directly into the chains for an ace on the 270-foot island hole #2, sprinted the length of the hole to grab his disc and then continued to the shelter to give and get some high-fives, before slowing a bit and going back to the tee to get his bag. Justin split the ace pool of 198 bucks with homey Tom Butler, who "Buzzzed" the short #12 (205 feet) during the first round. This ace propelled Tom to a five-throw win in the am masters division over Jeff City's Todd Hohenstreet.
As you can see below, it was very competitive in the open division, with another homey, Dave Hemmeline, shooting a 45 in the final round to edge yet another Olathean, Bryan Guthrie, by one throw. In the pro masters, KC's Brian Gammon edged Don Carter of Emporia in a playoff. It must be noted that their 36 hole total of 112, was 10 throws worse than the amateur Mr. Butler.
Because eventual advanced winner Wes Lubberts was not a PDGA member, I could place him in any division I wanted to try to make the competition fair. So, even though he had signed up to play intermediate, after reviewing Chappy's local ratings, I told him that he had to play advanced (and that he could win it!). Playing his first-ever tournament, Wes, who lives right next to the course, was the only advanced players to shoot under par during the second round, to come from behind to edge Atwater-Taylor and Disc Golf Dick's Parker by three throws.
Had this not been a PDGA event, I would have been very insistent that the 933-rated Andy Lewis play advanced. However, the guidelines say that you can pay intermediate until your rating is 935, so he was perfectly within his rights. And he shot really, really well—a 101, which was 4 better than KC's John Riley. As Andy's golf time is going to be different soon when his first child arrives, I'm glad he got a chance to snag a "W" at his home course. I'll let the "talking heads" out here do their usual "bagging" chatter, but sharp-eyed readers might notice that he scored better than Lubberts and tied for 7th among all players—pro and am!
A couple of other people who don't call Prairie Center their home course, also won. Leslie Palmer overcame a three-throw, first round deficit to better Becky Stebbins in the intermediate women's division. Bret Long prevailed in the rec division by two over Jeff Hamilton.
Thanks goes once again to the Olathe crew for all the heavy lifting in getting the course set and water out there. Also to Becky Stebbins, Cindy Butler, and Bret Long for the assist in scoring and breakdown. And thanks to all the entrants for making the event possible and the good attitudes on a hot and sweaty afternoon in the dog days of August in Kansas.
Rick Rothstein
Tournament Director
2008 Olathe Open
August 2 • Prairie Center Park
Olathe, KS
MPO 1 Dave Hemmeline 23664 48 45 93 $165.00
MPO 2 Bryan Guthrie 24398 48 46 94 $90.00
MPO 3 Ken "Tank" Franks 25447 49 46 95 $55.00
MPO T4 Kevin Babbit 11110 47 51 98 $20.00
MPO T4 Arturo Villarreal 22661 51 47 98 $20.00
MPO 6 Bobby Villarreal 23184 51 49 100
MPO 7 Fred Smith 20578 55 46 101
MPO 8 Joe Hesting 24884 50 52 102
MPO 9 Hans Coleman 21416 56 55 111
MPO 10 CD Steiner 2883 59 54 113
FPO 1 Tavish Sander 23043 61 59 120
MPM 1 Brian Gammon 27214 59 53 112 $95.00
MPM 2 Don Carter 18063 53 59 112 $45.00
MPM 3 Kurt "House" Miller 23182 56 58 114
MA1 1 Wes Lubberts 53 51 104 $67.00
MA1 T2 Justin Atwater-Taylor 33117 51 56 107 $39.00
MA1 T2 Dick Parker 20250 54 53 107 $39.00
MA1 4 Brandon Boone 24512 52 56 108 $25.00
MA1 5 Nick Winkelbauer 33406 56 55 111 $20.00
MA1 T6 Justin Starks 34668 56 59 115 $5.00
MA1 T6 Chris Timko 8525 56 59 115 $5.00
MA1 T6 Jason Colbert 15915 56 59 115 $5.00
MA1 9 Lance Dwyer 28866 60 60 120
MA1 T10 Tim Becks 33437 58 63 121
MA1 T10 Mike Bailey 61 60 121
MA1 12 Cecil Cameron 17658 57 65 122
MM1 1 Tom Butler 22969 52 50 102 $50.00
MM1 2 Todd Hohenstreet 27830 54 53 107 $34.00
MM1 3 Ken Hostetler 27150 58 55 113 $20.00
MM1 4 Eric Garberg 6872 55 59 114 $15.00
MM1 5 Roy Nelson 20974 61 55 116
MM1 6 Tommy Thompson 24927 56 65 121
MM1 7 Bill Turner 12349 69 62 131
MG1 1 Kevin Myers 28010 60 58 118 $45.00
MG1 2 Lee Hansen 16064 62 61 123 $25.00
MG1 T3 Stan Balke 28792 67 67 134 $10.00
MG1 T3 Bill Grother 30329 67 67 134 $10.00
MG1 5 Charlie Tull 69 70 139
MA2 1 Andy Lewis 30120 50 51 101 $60.00
MA2 2 John Riley 36258 51 54 105 $49.00
MA2 3 Jared Jenkins 33248 58 49 107 $42.00
MA2 4 Brandon Hopkins 35623 56 56 112 $36.00
MA2 5 Elliot Hicks 33394 57 59 116 $31.00
MA2 T6 Dan Loomis 35956 62 56 118 $21.00
MA2 T6 Ken McNickle 35234 59 59 118 $21.00
MA2 T6 Ben Taylor 20537 60 58 118 $21.00
MA2 T6 Ian Schmidt 57 61 118 $21.00
MA2 T6 Bobby Domsch 59 59 118 $21.00
MA2 T11 Brian Palmer 31925 59 61 120
MA2 T11 Mike Krueger 60 60 120
MA2 13 Will Babbit 36682 60 61 121
MA2 14 Eric Koklmeier 32120 55 69 124
MA2 T15 Neil Roth 30572 61 65 126
MA2 T15 Dean Uhlmann 34827 62 64 126
MA2 17 Zach Young 67 61 128
MA2 18 Mike Allen 63 70 133
MA2 19 Mio Sillings 36401 68 71 139
FW2 1 Leslie Palmer 33867 79 72 151 $22.00
FW2 2 Becky Stebbins 26383 76 78 154 $12.00
MA3 1 Bret Long 36462 58 58 116 $42.00
MA3 T2 Jeff Hamilton 31525 59 59 118 $29.00
MA3 T2 Brady Maasen 57 61 118 $29.00
MA3 4 Ben Patterson 63 62 125 $20.00
MA3 T5 Tom Lansing 32727 65 61 126 $7.00
MA3 T5 Dusty Spaulding 61 65 126 $7.00
MA3 7 Shane Whitaker 36333 75 72 147
MA3 8 Kevin Elrod 74 75 149
