2019 Mid America Open | RD1, F9, MPO | Locastro, Presnell, Harbolt, Sanders

hello everybody and welcome to the front nine coverage of round one of the 2019 Mid America open presented by disk craft the world leader in disc sports I'm Brian Earhart joined here by Nate Perkins how's it going Nate it's going great man another GK pro production coming at you yeah I think it's gonna be an awesome round to watch we're watching these players play in the famed harmony Ben's course in Columbia Missouri yeah it's currently in the top five on disc golf course review I've heard nothing but great things about this property and I can't wait to watch this this is actually my top favorite course that I've ever played so really yeah it is a beautiful wooded course very fair and extremely challenging even for the best players in the world and I'm just stoked to watch Nicola Castro I mean we don't see him really played too much he has been on a bit of a hiatus and for those who are newer to watching disc golf this was a former number-one player in the world that I think has one of the craziest shot shaping games with a backhand that I've ever seen yeah absolutely and super unique shapes to really over stable and Heiser's to flex shots um I'm really interested to see how he competes with these younger cats yeah absolutely and getting into hole one they do not let up right from the get-go hole number one is a par-5 833 feet there's a creek right off the bat you have to blast a shot over the creek or lay up short but if you want the birdie it's very very crucial that you push one as far as you can and then as you can see the creek does not let up and there's multiple landing zones to get to the basket a four on this hole is a very solid score yeah hole one was playing 0.65 over par not surprising whatsoever it's not very often that we start is for of course with a par-5 absolutely oak you'll notice how fair these lines are that's a John how specialty is course design he's very meticulous lightly shapes having a landing zone he wants to play so here is Niko I want Messina he's gonna throw exactly what you were mentioning earlier some sort of over stable flex shot but again he's capable of throw a really anything so we might see him throw a few rollers today and he did actually go with a bit of a hyzer flip to flat that is a beautiful shot anything that gets across that Creek in the middle is a very solid start we now have Trevor hor bolt from Kentucky team diss craft member who actually just popped off his best career finish with the earth place finish at Idyllwild so clearly no no stranger to the woods and he is a big hyzer flip thrower absolutely he loves the crank yeah I really loved the crank loves the Mantis you'll see a lot of really interesting shots from Trevor as well yeah he's actually throwing his zeus right here proto zeus and they'll sure to fly great though just medium stability slow highs for flipping for the throne hard that 12 speed is 12 speed it's it's for the disc craft lineup it's about I would say just a hair less stable at a force now we have Andrew Presnell another team disc craft member on the elite team make sure you grab a tour series drone with his name on it and he has a very unique play style actually it's sometimes difficult to pin down he throws a lot of interesting discs he has some discs like his drone that are so beat up that he can throw them as far as a driver so we'll see what he had what he does out here and Andrew is another another player that really demonstrates how important the footwork is to the game his upper body does do some funny stuff but his footwork is excellent yes he is a fantastic athlete used to be a soccer player yeah very high-level soccer players so his footwork is definitely dialed in and then the last player that we have on this is a Iowa local this is a Jacob Sanders on Team MVP he is a fantastic thrower and he's just coming up in the sport I believe he hit this scratch rating mark I think last season so he definitely is poppin off this year he throws hard very hard very far I think he was despite saying that he throws her I think he was laying up with a mid range so yeah that's a vector from MVP and I think it's a little bit too short to attack the green not entirely sure from this camera angle he does have a look but there is a creek right in front of that basket as well nice placement shot this is really all you're trying to do off for that second shot it's just put it a little bit more forward give yourself some sort of look at the basket and you got a line on it right here I think this is the magic drone the drone is one of the most overstable discs that disc craft makes and andrew has beat one into oblivion - winner flies like a understable driver at times it looks like he's found himself in a pretty good position and jacob is just kind of chucking along the fairway and playing for a stress-free par I believe and you can tell nikohl of x' that over Oh a little bit unfortunate right off the lip of that cliff but I think he still should be safe so that cliff is safe right there I believe it is it kind of looks like it's marked that's didn't see any sort of OB indicator yeah Jacob's gonna be putting with the anode today I believe that's a straighter putter from the MVP lineup Oh Trevor gives it a run from the base of the hill not too shabby but again a safer safer play in this hole oh wow that was a funky looking off the cage but definitely pay attention to Andrews potting style throughout the round very unique very low release yeah and Nico was safe from there ended up taking a nice par or actually he musta been OB then and then he got the spot right then if he's happenin they must have yeah so the flags were not circled when the flags were out of bounds it looks like a pretty tough approach right there on that first hole very tough and that's why you saw some of the players in that card own with some more slower discs and trying to play for just a safe five and like you said a part of that hole is saving you strokes in the field yeah hole number two is another really technical par four as you can see we're sneaking down this tight fairway up a hill slightly and then it's bending down to the right the entire way so you really want to put whatever disc you can you know I would say 300 to 350 feet down the fairway straight to give yourself some sort of look at this basket what a picturesque par-4 Wow no kidding and this one played a full stroke over par yeah there is a shorter position that it has been played in the past but this is about a hundred feet farther than the normal position and there's OB all down and its slopes directly toward that OB - yeah so with that said you might see some more aggressive tee shots like Nikko goin roller so this is a beat up race that he's rolling and Nikko is actually going full-on mixed bag not not too many players out there on the circuit going mixed bag no I and it's it's really fun to see the stuff that he's throwing because yeah he's representing just about every company on the planet yeah he has been around for a long long time Trevor almost getting over the hill but a little bit of a cut roll to the left he'll probably be laying up for a par from there oh that was a flippy disc that was either a heater an Avenger SS I believe and that was pretty good that was solid it's so tight on this fairway that the placement is so much more important than distance and that was an adventure SS that Andrew threw it's usually the disc craft line up one of those two discs that the pro players are rolling Jakob actually pushing way down that ferry with a sidearm which I do like Trevor almost in that line pinball yeah and that's pushing forward that's a great shot very good shot and this is about prime positioning for a birdie and he smoked this doing this just a beeline it's got to have a so oh my gosh that was flawless in the bullseye I believe that was a mantis that he threw there he can actually a tracker from Oh tracker okay a little bit more stable than a mantis yet did have some movement a little bit of movement and he does throw a lot of like seasoned discs that I've noticed and throws them clearly very well yeah so this is actually a Cena sfrom Nico mm-hmm that's a disc he's had for a long time yeah he loves throwing the cena's I think it's a kind of a glide list putter yeah it's got like a little like a little thumb track yeah kinda yell on it 200 and that's it that was a great double kick right there that looked like it was kicking out of bounds yeah this hole is especially with this pin position this is brutal players are happy to just be taken apart on this one and there's that famed the step with Sheppard with Trevor step button almost caged it Nico from about 25 yeah I hate to say it but this is definitely his his most difficult distance that's the distance that we've seen Nikko struggle with over the past four or five years yes and four or five years is correct because for a time he was hands-down the best putter in the world yeah I mean he was Player of the Year for three years in a row yeah so you know for those of you who have not watched any old footage of Nico when he was on top 2009 it's extremely impressive and that was right when you know disc golf post-production coverage was starting to take off and there are definitely some videos of him out there I highly recommend it yeah and you can still see the influence today I mean we just commentated on GK pros coverage from Idlewild and Kevin Jones had mentioned that he's modeling his his putt off of off of watching those same videos from Nico and in 2009 and 2010 so pretty cool to see yeah it's fun to see some some veterans of the game playing with some newer players and after a pretty wide spread of scores on hole number two we are moving into hole number three which is a bit of a shorter hole but still no no joke of a hole 262 feet kind of snakes a little bit through these woods and then over the crest of the hill you're gonna see a basket right down there players are gonna be throw it a lot of flex outs yeah you know when the drone is flying this show that it's that it's a pretty tight hole very very tight and I believe that the pin position again has moved back from where it usually is catches a late tree I think that was a soft X zone that's still not too bad as you can see there are a lot of trees in this fairway so sometimes inevitable to be hitting one and the nikko also catches one still not too bad yeah they're gonna have a couple long looks Jacob's throw is really like almost robotic and very very clean it's almost like he programs the angle right from the start and nice follows through right on that line very nice shot from Jacob yeah he's definitely got the backhand stroke figured out very clean and it looks like all of our players do have a look at the basket yeah you can tell how severe that slope I mean he know he knew it he laid that one up and he still got a little trickle down to 18 feet whichever it's gonna go and stuff this one in that that is such a controversial putt right there did the way that he steps forward in the weights like I mean his foots an inch off the ground it's it's so difficult Brian because these players are they're the officials yeah there's the ones that have to say yes or no every time he does step like that it's interesting it is definitely an interesting putt but as of right now it's it's illegal yeah legal play and we're seeing some players kind of struggle on this one and and miss a couple putts short Andrew cashes his comeback or after kind of rolling away a little bit a lot of times in those step putts it's really too close to tell and you know unless you have video coverage to watch it over and over again yeah it's one of those things where unless you see a huge stance violation it's it's hard to make the call it is and especially as it being a self officiated sport exactly yeah because it's never personal no whole number four par-3 288 feet but it plays very downhill with a sloping left fairway and still pretty tight tunnel you're gonna see some pretty understable discs I think being thrown here anything that gets away from you is just gonna fade out to the right I believe this is a focus that he's throwing you're correct this is a jawbreaker focus and as short as this hole is hold for also plate over part yeah it's the shape of this hole you have to throw a hyzer in it this is exactly what you need to throw here push the disc hyzer initially with something under stable just to match the initial angle of the hole but then as it fades down that elevation you have to eventually get the dis nose down just like Nico did yeah a beautiful shot from like Castro and Jacob trying to take a similar route goes a little bit more turned over and still look at this that he's lining up that is a overhand putter shot off the tee you know I actually don't don't mind that at all I like the idea of just trying to get the disc to hit ground as soon as possible yeah I think that green dust needs to go in timeout two holes in a row it's rolled away when it's not supposed to oh wow jinx it step with Trevor look at that back right pocket he loves it that's the play in the hole tomahawk putter 50 footer Oh a really nice putt from Andrew and and you had mentioned it before how low his putts are coming out I mean he that putt was below the cage and rose just above the cage before it made it Jake with a slightly early release and not sure if there are any you know lead card jitters that he has not sure how many feature cards he has been on but let go that one a little bit too early he's gonna have to tap in for a par it's all a birdie badge Anika yeah that shot he threw up fatigue I wish I wish they had a follow flight to show exactly how many angles that disk actually had highs are flat drift right flatten that's the shot multi angle angle shot not just a flex it's got multiple anyway moving into hole five par four this one goes straight up the hill you have to blast a distance driver and if you really want the birdie you want to get as far up there and to the right as possible because then we're sneaking back down the hill to the left to see the basket here very challenging in position that they've chosen for the players really forcing an aggressive tee shot that's a beautiful flexure huh yeah that's uh that's about what you want there folks I'm position look at that thing turnover Oh gets a little love a little bit of tree love and he's right pretty much up there where Nico is great shot from treasure and Trevor no that was the big Z crank yes that's definitely his favorite distance driver this is a force from Andrew oh okay another one way up there yeah sneaks a little bit on the right side if he's on the dance floor and that's what I love about this course it makes you throw a lot of distance drivers on these types of shots but you have to be precise about the angle which i think is so crucial for designing a championship-caliber wooded course he was trying to go looks like he was trying to go some sort of roller or tomahawk but I think he rolled in the wrong direction kind of looked like the PD I gave him pretty recently no and he just parks it okay you must put a little bit of magic into that desk before I get to get to it because that was a beautiful sidearm just a little little wide from Trevor a little bit why I thought it was gonna have the Flex that it needed but a little bit too early this is a buzz ss that's gonna be circles edge yeah decent 3035 feet Trevor kind of in jail there that putts kind of difficult to run so he'll just have to settle for a par there a walks that one in there always feels good to get a nice circle to putt after missing one from inside circle one and GK Pro did want to apologize for missing a couple of Jacobs shot he's known as being a little bit faster of a player so he he's gonna walk up to I am yeah he's gonna walk up to a couple of these shots and just kind of throw him so we would like to apologize to the viewers for that and great putts by Prez no and Nico that's a great birdie to get especially at that pin position yeah two down through five on all first five holes I'll play over par yeah super super solid spread of that hole hole number six par-3 331 feet this one is a subtle bender to the left as you can see by the drone drones flight here we have this tight gap and you can't just throw something over stable on this shot you have to push a hyzer forward towards this dead tree with something medium to understable and the bass is gonna be tucked right back here I love this hole I love what the designer is forcing the players to have to throw yeah so when you throw an overstable disc it likes to get to the ground quicker so you're saying that you want to throw a more under stable hit it on Heiser still but when it rounds that corner it starts flipping us flattening up to flat and it wants to stay in the air still exactly so Niko did play the over stable shot but he had to play a flare to get to the basket so if you are gonna chance the ground play over stable disc is fine but I love that this hole makes you play options I think he goes with a raptor here yeah he's just outside a circle 140 feet left Oh Trevor ripped that one it definitely looked like he went with something stable but you're not gonna you're not quite gonna get the park job on that line no and that and that's the thing that the disc is not quite shaped here the holes not quite shaped for over stability you can give yourself a putt with that type of shot but if you want to get parked you have to throw something a little bit flipper but with how good a putting you know these players have really giving yourself an opportunity is more important and if you guys ever wondered what the deal is with the fan the Fanning that's going on on the tee pad cuz I know I wondered it's actually a grip thing it's not - look at this okay he had better grip on that one he sure did oh my gosh but yeah when you see like when you see Jacob Fanning his throwing hand with his opposite hand that's not to like look cool on the pad that's to help him with his grip yeah cooling the hands off getting some sweat off mhm and it's also just nice I guess it's like a meditative kind of thing like a routine yeah definitely a routine based oh sweet putt from he go nice putt from Nico for sure it's not an easy hole to get and you could tell he played a pretty big flare and he was still circled too Andrews gonna tap in for the bar as well as Trevor yeah I mean you and this this is 330 feet it played a third of a stroke over par mm-hmm there's only if you hit early on a lot of these holes you are scrambling to save that par yeah hole number seven par three five hundred and ten feet but very reachable off the tee if you can throw straight and far this this hole is beautiful I love the fact that the designer is letting the players now play with elevation after all sorts of you know wooded shot shaping we just get to pump one out there into the open pretty downhill too it looks like the basket this year is pushed back into the right so we're gonna see some players have to flip something up flat and then drift it off to the right so very very tough shot here that's really really really early he's just gonna have to pop one out into the open on that second shot and I think that is the magic drone really just playing this one for par huh yeah I mean with how tight that gap is too I think you know whatever your bread and butter is to get it out in the open is what you should be doing and clearly for Trevor that's the crank nice and low and safe I think that's the name of the game out here the part does not look so bad no especially after watching one of your competitors hit the first available gorgeous highs affair I'm Jacob yeah I think the general consensus on this card is just three is good and the the optimal shot to actually to this hole seems a little bit too hard to execute in the moment a nice idea from Nico with the forehand just a little too turned over he's got 70 or 80 feet left to try and save a par Jonah's own he he likes throwing the soft X zone x' but again I've seen him reach for that yellow drone more times than not so couldn't quite tell him that one yeah he teed off with drone up shot with a soft zone aha he clubbed down a bit just such a great midline up oh yeah hands down my company needs a cell and Brian yeah a glide las' you know stable to overstay well you know putter mid-range hybrid every every pro from the disc craft line pretty much have it has one in the bag is that your signature dis issue that is my signature so the zone it's my favorite just there is awesome shameless plug Trevor taps in for a par gets out of that hole unscathed taking the three in the hole hole number eight par three the players get to take a bit of a break from the daunting shot shaping and they actually get a shot at a nice run yeah this is the first hole on the course during round one that played under par that's played to half a stroke under par looks like there is some danger some OB short if you don't quite make it all the way up the hill yep just hit the line with your bread and butter and whatever you can get up there relieve a backstop behind the basket yeah Andrew actually didn't take that one right at the pan he took it to the right and definitely a player yeah definitely a safer played you can come in sideways so you don't you know potentially have some bad crowd play I squares it that looks like he went back safe actually just short of the creek that is definitely a relief oh gosh okay again just a little low on six or a little high on six and a little low here on a he throws those laser beam hyzer flips really really enjoyable to watch this is also online that's about as online as you can get yeah again with the overhand putter that that's just not a very it's not just actually haven't seen that yeah in a long time if ever over time shot yeah it jacob taps in for a birdie from about 20 and check this out check how low he's gonna start this starts it from like below his waist and there's not a lot of players that hit the basket with a rising putt yeah yeah most players are kind of dropping it in like a basketball like just dropping it down in the cage he is every bit of a push putter almost like a scoop of butter that's fast though you know yeah definitely puts a lot of pace in the putt nice spread of scores there from the players we're gonna move into hole number 9 par-5 684 feet this hole is kind of tricky off the tee you want to push one far and straight with a tiny bit of fade to the left so again whatever you can get out into the open now we have a double fairway to work with so the right gap is a little bit more open but if you do find yourself in a bad position the left gap does give you some sort of route to the basket but as you can see on the second shot taking that that right gap is gonna give you a bit more of a direct spot to the basket so threes are definitely get a ball out here yeah that's that classic Houck design where there there is a dual fairway but a lot of the times one of them is kind of a deceiving fairway and it's not really the way you want to go it's more of like a scramble opportunity nice and he loves you know making sure the rough is play he loves making sure that the trees just serve his bunkers and not jail and that's about how you want to chalk it up right there subtle Heiser with a driver and now he has a route through that right gap it's super refreshing as a just a fan of disc-off to watch watch this placement golf through the woods yeah it's amazing it's a hard balancing act as a designer for sure Jacob accidentally Yanks his hyzer flip to the right instead of pushing it forward he's gonna have to get up from the bottom of that hill I think Nico's thrown a spirit right here which is a very over stable disc from gateway actually and that is maybe a more seasoned spirit than yeah the spirits that super pop top over stable mold right some are and some come out looking like dinner plates and they're all very over stable Trevor going through the middle gap with a crank and pretty decent positioning and for those of you who actually don't know after watching that beautiful sidearm go through that left gap Nico Nico's uncle is Dave McCormack who is the owner of gateway so the maker of the wizard and whatnot so that's why you'll see some various gateway plastic in his bag and he used to actually throw a mainly gateway bag yeah and he is putting with the wizard right now yes which I was putting with the wizard for for a few years before we before I was sponsored by dis mania and it's great but a good putter yeah and still one of the more popular putter molds absolutely a little bit of a roll way on that last shot still a scramble opportunity Trevor's gonna get aggressive on the second one through the left gap oh my gosh it's so special to to see a player throw that hard through the woods like that oh yeah taking one out of the Paul Ulibarri handbook just as long as you can no fear and that's a good shot and I think he clipped one of those trees early and these players are finding some trouble here on hole nine if you are any bit off the fairway on this hole it is a very challenging task to get back in the fairway Nico with a solid play on the elevation in the ground oh that needs to settle that's not that same green disc is it no that was that was an DIA that was Trevor's I believe okay good here's that here's the green disc okay yeah that's what I was referring okay yeah that that's the one that we put in timeout earlier yeah and Trevor's is now down the hill Trevor's is now in timeout oh great hi Jacob walks another one in look at this hop get in there there's the confidence from Jacob that I've seen previously that's a nice putt date especially with a drop off behind the basket like that to believe this is for single bogey no way that's deflating it didn't roll as bad as it could've and now he's pinned up so far against those rocks that it's actually gonna be a little bit tougher he's gonna probably take his 11 inches back behind his lie and stretch out for a straddle and he does hit it for the bogey I can't count at all that's that was for single bogey yes great birdie from Neko especially after his Drive kind of snuck a little bit too far to the right he did find himself up there yeah him and Andrew both had a solid front nine here but the course record is eight down total for the yeah which is rare usually we'll see a lot of courses we play on tour with double digits you know horse records but Nico with a four down on pace for that course record Andrew at three down Trevor with a bit of a tougher front nine and Jacob at minus one pretty respectable make sure you subscribe to gk pro and we will catch you for the back nine you