2019 Mid America Open | RD1, B9, MPO | Locastro, Presnell, Harbolt, Sanders

welcome back everybody to the back nine coverage of round one of the 2019 Mid America open presented to you by disk craft the world leader in disc sports i'm brian Earhart again joined by Nate Perkins how's go Nate there this course is beautiful Brian amazing one of the most beautifully maintained and beautifully designed wooded courses that we get to see on tour and we have a lot of really interesting play styles we have Nikko Andrew Presnell Trevor har Bolton Jacob Sanders couple players are shooting some pretty hot rounds so far yeah Nikko and Andrew both solid front nines Trevor stroke Trevor excuse me struggled a little bit on the front and Jacob made some nice putts to find himself back under par and we've got a you disc live leaderboard showing us some stats from around the course emerson Keith five down through 14 and it's refreshing to see you know a lot of the top scorers on this course coming in not in double digits we see the good scores coming in five to eight down it looks like you know through this stretch of the course and hole number 10 is probably my favorite hole on this entire property 996 feet you have a double fairway it shoots down into a funneled mid section of the fairway and then we shoot down another tunnel with a couple different options way back into the treeline for a just a beautiful par-5 we see a lot of rollers coming in on second shots you know we get we get to see a lot of different types of strategies on this hole yeah it opens up a bit but it's still pretty low ceiling and definitely low ceiling access into this green right here if you're coming to play here recreationally just for you know maybe a destination type vacation for disc golf this is one you'll want to take a video on Jacob going big forehand with that panic and that's a more of a safe play I mean it's still again with how tough this hole is that is a respectable play you're gonna see Nico probably going a little bit more recive that looked a little too tight still out there but yeah you you saw what he was trying to do there he was trying to go huge distance off the tee Andrews going drone again off par 5 again please do not buy a drone thinking it's going to fly like that this is this one is beat to oblivion they are very over stable Andrews is just a little bit special Andy throws pretty hard very hard oh it just looks more discs this is like the one shot of the round so far Trevor horrible I mean he's a hundred and fifty feet in front of that drone shot yeah that was huge and I think that was a crank that he threw on that perfect hyzer flip and that's what I like about this tee shot it you know lets the players get aggressive it rewards them for being aggressive and if you're a little farther back you'll take something kind of like what Nico was doing and trying to throw a roller down there just a little early out of the hand from Jacob very fortunate kick though off the trees he does have an inside tunnel to the basket from there still pretty far I'm curious to see what Andrews got lined up after laying that one up and again just a pretty conservative 350 Heiser looks like his ice blue Force which is actually very stable but yes very conservative Heiser Hill stole that nice approach to the basket Trevor gonna have to go pure Heiser right here he's gonna hit that gap he is going for the gap he was trying to do the same exact Heiser Phillip he threw off the tee there that's actually good positioning for a birdie look yeah he's way up there and - I mean he's good a pretty routine putter Heiser to the basket yeah anika with a challenging it looks like a diagonal backwards patent-pending backhand yeah that that's one of the tougher positions you can be for right hand back in yeah just because you're having to fight your body's momentum you're completely going against that it takes a lot of core strength to be able to throw something like that it's so hard not just to get the strength to power the disk but the timing to get the risotto went down and the magic drone comes out again I believe and he's played the hole to perfection yeah I mean he went mid-range off the tee a conservative hyzer and then a straight shot to the pin well done that's what I love about Woods golf just lots of different types of plays on each hole especially good would it golf Trevor wanted that eagle yeah that was for Eagle absolutely huge shot off the tee that definitely helped him get up there just in front great birdie from president as you can see multiple ways to birdie this hole but I don't think anybody's gonna be taking the same route that Andrew took drone force drone interesting ooh chains were messing with him a little kind of looked like he was about to rip the entire chain out of the basket Oh Oh a little bit of frustration there from Jacob a bit of a lazy mark job there but understandably so bogey in that hole is not not the best feeling moving into hole number 11 and the amazing holes just don't stop we have another par-4 flat ground low ceiling sneaking through this beautiful section of woods a lot of tinier trees to kind of shape the fairway you're just gonna want to pump something straight and far in this one maybe a subtle turn to the right but as you can see the baskets pretty straightforward off the tee and this one does play right up alongside the river yes there is our OB River on the right side so we might see some aggressive play but I would assume since it is only 703 feet you're gonna see a lot of low ceiling bullets from these players and he squares the little stump in the middle of the fairway still got down there a decent ways there's that ugly onyx from Andrew ah that's low Neko looks like he has a destroyer in his hands not quite sure yeah that's gonna be a destroyer and previously had said that it was the spirit we might see the spirit busted out here in a little bit he said he's got a gold spirit during this round but that definitely was a destroyer and I like this way a lot ton of power on that forehand hmm that's gonna be in prime position to get up and down for a birdie and again the John Howe specialty is giving the players lots and lots of different options to play his hole however they want but there's always risk reward played into all of this and if you play this course recreationally again like I was mentioning earlier this course has three different tee pads per hole and they're all beautifully designed looked like Niko was going for the forehand roller up that skinny gap I'm not sure if he cut rolled into the out-of-bounds as what we saw from the camera angle but we will see Andrew trying to go some sort of flip up to turn didn't quite get it oh man just laces it Wow okay that was beautiful that's about exactly how you're supposed to play the hole there and he's caught some laid cabbage a couple times on this hole so he's gonna have a long putt for his par save it's interesting commentating on a mixed bag Pro especially someone like Nico that's you know pretty much thrown every disc there is to throw it it's almost like you're guessing at this point we probably need to interview him next time next time we play around with them or we eat commentate around with them and the rail from Andrew and good angle but just a little hot actually Oh be right behind the pin this is for Nico's par potentially a bogey if he Oh depending on if he was out of bounds on his previous shot or not such a passionate guy you can just see it flowing out of him how how bummed he is about missing I mean that's a 50-footer that he had and he's still like he still believes that he's gonna make it every single time and that is a solid birdie from Jacob huge sidearm off the tee and then a gorgeous hyzer flip mid-range that is a strong depiction of how the hole was supposed to be played and drew after going out of bounds cashes it in but unfortunately he's gonna take a bogey that OB is right behind the basket yeah that made that Jacob through on the approach was adrift I'm a little unfamiliar with it the MVP lineup they have a lot of fancy words for discs and i-i-i do know their lineup fly is amazing but yeah the drift sounds like it might be a new mold for them forgive me if i am entirely wrong so that is a bogey from nico and jacob picking up a couple sticks on everyone on the card and now we move into a par 3 that as you can see is a low ceiling laser beam tunnel shot off the tee to a mound green we're gonna see some players thrown some again laser beam hyzer flips and i think that's kind of the name of the game on this course now this is an elite-level shot right here throwing 360 dead straight with a ceiling like this is I mean that's a as Jamie Thomas would say the the four-digit seperator hole yep Jacob after throwing a forehand with a kind of a ninja release I like the last-minute flick of the wrist and he's a little bit too short for a birdie look Andrews style definitely allows him to get this distance at the height that you need just a little low looks like there's a little elevation right before you get to the pan now first he'll kind of stops you and leaves you at like 60 feet that's why it almost seems like it'd be worth throwing something faster to just get the distant move I think that's what Trevor just did yeah that looks great that's a pin high yeah 20 feet well thrown potential roller here there we go I believe that's that's the spirit you see it just like you said before it's like a dinner plate superflat we're gonna see just how overstable this is and that's the classic Nicastro line right there guys if any of you have not thrown a spirit they are not supposed to fly like that that is a fantastic flex shot from Niko Jacob goes a little bit long and his approach let's say about 28 feet from 40 feet for birdie to oh god huh Wow drops it in perfect putt from Nico there's a sigh of relief it's a solid looking stroke that he has yeah and a respectable par in this hole if you hit early it's still a super scramble for a four a three in this one and Trevor after easily the best shot of out of the card great too 364 foot low ceiling tunnel and he smoked it yeah he threw an ESP Punisher oh no that's it was that's a I think a 12 speed disc but doesn't glide as much as most distance drivers from their lineup so you can really control it like a fairway doesn't quite have the distance that the force and the Zeus have but definitely fills a niche role that a few discs craft pros are throwing hole number 13 par 4 beautiful beech on the left side nice shot of the creek there the real catalyst of this hole is that fallen branch you want to position yourself specifically to either throw underneath or over the top of that tree it really shapes the hole and as you can see it kind of cuts a little bit to the right and then approach shot to the basket is really really challenging righties are gonna have to throw some sort of long bending shot to the right off the tee or roller as I've seen it in the past and again we've got OB right behind the pin right to the left of the pin the entire length of the hole and it looks like Trevor is pulling out the big Z crank that's gonna sit down and it does really getting it in plays is the first step obviously but if you really want a good bird you look putting it as far as you can into that optimal landing zone as necessary so that's why you're seeing Trevor pulling out the crank and I believe Niko has a distance driver as well getting the full flight on that one oh I going yeah me I mean if that was a mando he he would have made that that's I've played that hole a few times and that's massive that is a huge shot from Nico yeah full flight with that destroyer that's like not even fair yeah what a beautiful shot and Jacob throwing a really clean you know safe shot the middle of the fairway but again he's gonna have to deal with that fallen branch and have to choose over-under looks like Andrew didn't quite get this one turned over as much as he wanted still a decent position for sure he's gonna have four there the things that that branch that trunk rather is that the perfect height mm-hmm and and what you can do it you know he had the choice of either the low forehand or the high mid-range turn over yeah then that high shot probably brings in a little bit more risk with that River off on your left yeah exactly you you could roll bounce off of a random tree and kick out of bounds so I like to play from Trevor Trevor and then president old does try to go for that over the top shot oh that he is close that's likely inside 15 feet of the bucket they are not making an easy on these players out here oh no Nico oh and he just barely squeaked by that one and he's got a circles edge putt for birdie this is such a visually appealing property though Brian it's this is really enjoyable to watch anytime you give one of the world's best designers full reign over a property it's kind of off to the races at that point and what you're left with here is just one of the most yeah like you said visually appealing and challenging courses that we get to see all year yeah I've got a good feeling that we're gonna be seeing this one for years to come hopefully on the the disc-off pro tour next year I've heard some rumors because this is a test event I believe okay yeah I mean they had a stacked field this is an 84 person MPO field this week so and Nico after having the biggest drive that I've ever seen in the whole unfortunately doesn't capitalize on the up and down and this you know the card here just showing you how tough the whole truly is and that fallen branch if that ever goes away the scoring spread is gonna completely change on this whole whole number 14 is a bit of a break for the players 311 feet there's a couple different routes you can take if you have a sidearm you're probably gonna throw a wide sidearm that flares up to the basket there is some random patches of sand though so you have to be very wary of where you're playing your skip from players that have no sidearm could throw a roller around the outside or a wide turnover with something but as you can see Nico even one of the best back end players I've seen is throwing a sidearm Oh middle gap I like that get a little skip oh yeah very soft skip maybe one of those sand sand patches that you were referring to yeah really soft dirt or sand or something where it's almost like velcro and once you hit it and Jacob has shown that he's very capable of throwing fast with this forehand and I like this inside route because if you do hit it like we were talking about how soft the ground is that's the route that you can actually pin next to the basket if you go wide you have to trust a flare shot and like I was saying earlier looks like he's reaching for his event dress has to throw a roller yeah Andrew is it's one of those players that is owned most entirely backhand with that you definitely have to be a bit more creative on certain certainty shots and certain scramble opportunities he's gonna have about a 45 50 footer at the basket yeah you know we've seen some players rise to the top with with just the backing you know I'm thinking of Dave Alberg and James Conrad but in this day and age really there it just helps to have that forehand oh yeah and actually we see another different play from Trevor here I don't know what disc that was it actually might have flown like a glide hyzer flip up the middle gap which I really like watching yeah you're correct Brian that was a glide when you're challenged and old uly4 the disc craft team manager yeah yeah you know what you're talking about now that's the Paul Ulibarri and that's just one of those mistakes you never want to make hit the tree right in front of you still leave yourself a comeback ah it hurts clear visual frustration from Trevor rightfully so good putt from Andrea looked like he had that little branch like right right in his face yeah and little things like that can mess with your putt more than you think yeah and this this is definitely messing with Nico's putt right here he likes to bring it down them something was bugging him there I'm not sure if it was a butcher I think he was actually out of bounds Owen right there unless we missed a shot because he did to happen a par right there I think he did skip off the top of the basket okay just yeah completely missed his shot sorry about that guys and Trevor clearly frustrated after a three-putt hitting that tree moving into hole number 15 par 4 574 feet not the longest par 4 in the course but the second shot shoots straight up this beautiful hill to a really scenic green players can go up the gut as far as they can they can throw rollers there's a sky hyzer route to the to the right side again another John house specialty hole lots and lots of different ways for the players to achieve the optimal landing zone off the tee gorgeous staircase and the basket is sneaking up into the left here he'll go in Wraith you think yeah that's that same destroyer actually unless he's rolling rolling this one and that probably is that flippy Wraith that we've seen him roll oh yeah that's the wraith look at that angle that is such a high level roller angle to hit he was definitely one of the high one of the early ones pushing the limits on the on the roller and he's still in my book one of the best rollers all-time he's way up do not get up that hill a better shot there's is so aggressive and that's kind of been his career as being aggressive he's amazing with those types of shots Jacob dips a little bit on that sidearm and skies it he's gonna have a probably a wide-open shot to the base of the hill it looks like Andrews lining up something hi is there a little gap up there oh there sure is yes there is a stall Heiser or kind of a Power Heiser with something medium stability I think he took a force out there and that's totally fine I'm not sure if you're gonna have too much of a birdie look but I think you'll have an uphill Heiser at the basket the course has just been really on top of Trevor today I mean he's 4-over par moving into the final four holes of this round definitely looking to score here this is a crank it just shows you how far Danny goes roller actually was yeah good good air shots are getting into the middle of the fairway or close to the base of the hill and Nico's is up the slope Wow look at that release dad it's a that's such a good Heiser flippin the thing I like about his throw is you can tell the angle he's throwing his body doesn't you know he doesn't make himself guess when he's throwing those angles it's really really nice to see yeah I totally know what you mean it's almost like he's programming the angle from the get-go yeah so what's so sweet about this Goffman everyone's different well it's interesting now it's to especially with younger younger kids getting into the game they actually have players to study now yeah you know back then you know when I was coming up in the game there were barely any videos out there so yeah I learned your own style and yep but now we have we go over the overseas and see all the young kids in Finland they're all throwing the same gosh no doubt dude that was eye-opening because of players like Nico who had toured for so long and had gone out and done clinics and shown people how to throw and Nico just playing this whole to perfection and personal does have a look for a birdie here he's often for the toss in it's got a chance oh just low from that angle it looked like it was I'm just gonna go for it and a par is respectable for sure on the shoulders especially with the pin position I think changing from where it usually is at I think it's more straight up the hill and now we have a hyzer up the hill where if you're not in good position attacking this basket it's not feasible so that birdie from eco is disgusting yeah hole fifteen played a full half stroke over par moving into hole 16 this is only the second hole during round one that actually played under par played a quarter stroke under par at 231 feet pretty much dead straight here yeah slight slope to the left I think you'll see some players opting for a forehand just to fight that left sloping sloping fairway but again like you said pretty straightforward kind of thrown up these players a bone here at the yes final three holes and Nico going with a flex sidearm I believe I like that little follow-through that he had yeah that held it up for a minute yeah beautiful shot yeah as you can see the opportunity for sidearm is presenting itself and the players that have them are taking them so I think if you are throwing a backhand with this basket being slightly left it's gonna be a slightly flippy err disc that the players are gonna throw backhand or they're gonna go left side yeah that left side does leave room for any slight Anheuser and if you have that shot I love to play on the ground - Andrew Lena that one really softly some sort of medium stability putter that's the focus jawbreaker focus yeah it's a beaded beaded butter from disc craft that's kind of Sherpas going a little bit faster he went with the globe buzz I love a bit of a maybe a mini death button oh yeah spin it back please look at that and he was outside a circle one and from a straddle yeah to do a straddle stepper with one foot that's takes a little bit of coordination yeah it's a great putt just look at that rising but I can't get over it and segreto right on the pole very very unique we could be looking at our first star frame of the round oh no and I said it too soon a little quick on that putt no wait he's been hitting a lot of really long circled two putts this round but potentially just getting a little bit too far ahead of himself taking these putts for granted it's definitely a younger player he's younger but has been playing for a decent amount of time yeah yeah he has been playing for a decent amount of time just got a few few things to work out and he's gonna be competing oh definitely and that's the thing with winning at the top level of the sport it's not all the flashy stuff that like you know the rollers that people are saying and whatnot that Nikko is thrown on the last hole it's doing all of the simple stuff correctly every single time yeah footers getting up and down from 250 feet once he figures that out he'll be right up there with everybody else and has been and at multiple tournaments this year hole number 17 is very very challenging tee shot 526 feet so seemingly short for a par 4 but one of the most technical shots on the course you'll see even the most technical players like Nico is still figuring out what the heck he's gonna do here and I think he has that roller Wraith in his hand it's uphill it flexes to the right and then you have to immediately flex back to the left super challenging and you don't have a lot of room to flex either you have to throw something very very stubborn where there's not a lot of movement left to right yeah the thing about a tee shot like this is well there is a prescribed line as you're saying there's a few different ways you can actually have different ways and yet Presnell went with the putter and just put it right out in the middle of the fairway and then you see Trevor is actually going with max distance driver he's throwing a 13 speed crank here look at this late flip okay and he got some tree love there snuck through a little bit on the right side but take what you can get out here especially on this hole and I've played this hole many times and I still don't know what the optimal shot shape is maybe a little flex for hand from you from a lefty I think that's a decent you know decent play but again that tree line on the right side is so tight that you don't have too much room and Jacob was an absolute Jail over there on the left that looked tight yeah super tight he throws forehand roller and he still has 250 left to go to this pin and Andrew after probably the best shot and the card still doesn't have the friendliest approach to the basket he's gonna go straight with that focus great tree kicks there pretty much appeared the line he's about 20 feet from the basket Niko lining up another roller Oh and just before it gets down gets redirected and he'll be getting up and down for a four I actually like the roller play here if you can lay it down it's really challenging to do but if you can hit that hill and just sneak through a couple trees since the disc is vertical it's definitely gonna make the profile easier to miss trees with oh and he loved it was that heading straight for the pin Brian I think it was and they unfortunately was clipped out but we'll see where he landed hopefully he did hit something cuz he had some heat on it I want to replay that one back and look at his little wrists follow through and a little replay on pres nails approach to the basket their little nose up Stoll putter shot from Niko yeah that's a good shot to hit that small gap like that oh yeah and here we go the third overhand putter shot from Trevor of the round put himself - circle - he definitely has a putt okay so it looks like he did hit before he made it through that gap unfortunately but he's got circle one putt for his par oh wow Trevor and that's a birdie after from the right side another putter yeah putter tomahawk putter tomahawk - Circle down foot true combo kinda shows you how important it is just to cover ground on this hole just to get some distance exactly and we're seeing some miss putts here from present and Sanders Nico hoping to make the adjustment here and that's a decent par really on this hole if you're out of position it's I wouldn't say crapshoot but you have to get creative on that second shot really regardless of where you land and I think that definitely justifies Nico trying to just throw a roller and get lucky down the hill double bogey from Sanders president after thrown a really clean tee shot takes a par there and I would not be ashamed of that Nate Perkins hole number 18 of harmony bends is one of the most beautiful finishing holes I've ever seen 870 feet par 5 and I'm not sure if they're playing the the rule here there is a section of this landing zone that was bricked off by I think it was John how's that bricked it off and if you landed it it should be right around here if you land in this tiny bricked off area on the landing zone John Howe decided that it was not rewarding enough and gives you relief on either side of that that spot wow that's a rare studying the the landing zone to the point where he really really truly wants the player to be rewarded for making the first shot and this first landing zone is no joke there are multiple ways to get to the basket after that but this shot is so scenic and anytime you have this much OB in the woods on a par-5 you're gonna have some numbers and this whole place nearly a full stroke before there's so many different ways to play this play this hole there are I think two or three different no fairways to get to the basket with after your first shot but the first task is to just get down there that's gotta get back left and it did I think he isn't a decent position to play up the fairway couldn't quite tell from that there's that same drone that we've seen that's gotta get up a little bit who catches one of the last trees in that fairway I went a little late from Jacob I think I think he ended up okay there is an OB Creek on that left side oh and as you can see Jacob is pretty quick player yeah and he'd just double bogeyed the last hole I mean he's he's been struggling he's been on and off he said some big ones but now he's over par and he definitely knows it and that can cause you to kind of Oh No just a horrible reaction to find the OB on the left side a little bit too low he was trying to get aggressive and cut the corner there we need a word for disc off tilt you know and you're bad poker and you go on tilt this would be it right here how long until moving into his final few shots but that as you need it just is brutal Brian that OB is just a sucks own and that's the thing with throwing a backhand on this shot if you kick any tree with that that clockwise spin that could that's going OB okay now all four players have now found OB left on the on this hole 18 yeah it's it is so pushing and so scenic and it is a crazy way to cap off this course and now these players have no choice but to cross this OB creek to approach the pen it never ends it snakes through the entire hole there's multiple landing zones it's kind of like a an enlarged hole 17 in Idlewild yeah like a little yes and what's crazy about this hole I've seen a three on it okay it is possible and and that's why I think it's such a good hole is it's an eagle as possible birdies possible and then five and above is extremely possible especially if you're not pinpoint with your shots EKOS kick was just so brutal I mean he was definitely looking to cross onto the green with that destroyer approach and yeah such a brutal kick left and Andrews left with a little window and that zone is gonna be about 20 feet to the left you know this is just so different for for all the spectators everyone tuning in here I mean we this is this is the lead Carter the feature card you'd call it this is round one but these scores we are just not used to seeing numbers like the yeah I mean we're used to seeing as you said in them double digit rounds from from these players but you know around like Nico's you know I believe this is gonna keep him at 6-under par that's a solid round out here especially with the pin possessions that they're you know putting these baskets at a couple of double bogeys on this finishing hole and you know a single bogey for Trevor a par on this hole 18 is extremely impressive and that hurts from Andrew though yeah he was four down going into that hole and that's gonna bump him off the lead card two down for the round Trevor and Jacob both finding struggles there but Nico with the six down yeah that was clean and he had a couple of clutch putts and through a couple of absolutely flawless tee shots to put him in good positioning and we'll see here where we at Neko is actually tied for the lead with Emerson Keith Alex Russell just the stroke behind and Joel Freeman for down and then we have Gavin Rathbun from Illinois Jay clobber from Iowa dance litter also from Illinois and Ron converse all right Oklahoma thank you so much again for joining us for that back nine coverage make sure to subscribe to gk pro and we will catch you for round number two