It was a dull, wet, windy, cold and dreary Saturday.
It would even become a snowy Saturday, said information received from the Parkland Association of Disc Golf (PADG.)
But the Sas-Kam Open Disc Golf Tournament was still held September 22, after thunder and lightning had forced its postponement six days earlier.
“Conditions weren’t ideal by a long shot, but it was better than lightning which forced us to hold the event a week later based on safety concerns for our players,” said Trevor Lyons the tournament chair with the PADG.
The Kamsack event was one of the sanctioned PADG events whereby disc golfers could qualify for the Farrell Agencies Champions Challenge to be held in Melville October 14.
And that is just what Melville disc golfer Josh Gregory did. Holding off a late charge by Yorkton’s Ryan Seitz, Gregory held onto second place to earn a berth in the Championship Challenge, it said.
“Qualifying is awesome because it finally feels like the monkey is off my back, because last year I qualified so early in the year,” said Gregory.
As for the inclement weather, Gregory said he just tried to play through it without letting it get to him.
“Playing in the cold was not that bad once you got moving around and I did not even notice the snow,” said Gregory, who then added, “The wind on the other hand was very hard to deal with because it was not a constant steady wind, it was very gusty.”
The open division was topped by Regina’s Gage McKay, who shot rounds of 64 and 62 for a total of 126 after 36 baskets. Gregory went 65 and 66 for 131, while Seitz was 70 and 66 for 136.
In the 50-plus division Lyons topped the field shooting 72 through 18 baskets, with Karl Kreutner of Inglis, Man., second with a 74. Rick Goroluk also of Inglis, was third with an 81.
In the Junior Division a trio of Kamsack golfers went head-to-head with Cameron Allard taking top spot with an 82 through 18 baskets followed by Bobby Taylor with a 99, and Brooke Taylor at 106.
Dixie Daniels was the lone entrant in the ladies division.
The Sas-Kam Open was also the third and final stop on the Yorkton Co-op Sowing Your Oats Tour.
“The Co-op Tour was a new initiative this year for the PADG, and we have to thank the Yorkton Co-op for making it happen,” said Calvin Daniels, PADG president.
The tour encompassed the Grain Millers Tournament in Yorkton, the Co-op Cup at Whitesand Regional Park (near Theodore) and the Sas-Kam Open, with participants earning points for participating in each event, and for how they finished within the various categories.
“The Yorkton Co-op has outlets in the three communities so it was an idea we came up with to focus on those local courses,” said Daniels. “For a first year we are happy with the ‘tour-within-a-tour’, especially considering the suspect weather we’ve had in September. We are already looking forward to building on the Co-op Tour in 2019.”
Topping the tour in the open division, Ryan Seitz earned 46 points at the three events, with Regina’s Gage McKay second with 45 points. Josh Gregory was third with 30 points, while Duncan Holness of Broadview was fourth with 28 points.
The 50-plus division was captured by Yorkton’s Calvin Daniels with 36 points, edging Trevor Lyons, also of Yorkton with 35. Karl Kreutner was third, with 13 points. Rick Goroluk of Inglis, Man., was tied with Dorian Bush of Yorkton for fourth, each with 12 points.
In the junior division Cameron Allard took top spot with 13 points followed by Bobby Taylor, 12 points and Brooke Taylor 11 points, all of Kamsack. Payton Popowich of Yorkton and Austin Derbowka of Theodore rounded out the top five.
The ladies division was topped by Dixie Daniels with 10 points, the information said.
