2019 Mid America Open | RD2, B9, MPO | Locastro, Keith, Russell, Rathbun

welcome back everybody to the back nine coverage of round two of the 2019 Mid America open presented by disk craft the world leader in disc sports i'm brian Earhart joined here again by Nate Perkins and we have been so enjoying watching this course be played by these great athletes yeah absolutely well said it's it's really a pleasure Harmonie bins is living up to the hype oh for sure and watching these players with with all slightly different playstyles attack this course has been really entertaining to watch we have Emerson Keith Gavin Rathbun nikola castro and alex russell Emerson has been putting on a putting clinic yes he has and it's so awesome that these players have a platform to play on and that we're able to even watch this I mean this is a relatively small a tear in the middle needs just Midwestern United States Columbia Missouri and we're getting to watch it and we get to watch hole number 10 get played which is one of the most scenic par fives that I've seen it's you know Midwest let alone the rest of the country players get to either go huge aggressive off to the left we saw Nico try huge turnover left gap yesterday a lot of players are gonna play for the birdie four and push straight I just I love the layout of this hole I love the options to get aggressive I love the options to play safe and I love the rewards for both strategies Gavin going pretty quick oh no that was a pretty stubborn branch that he hit and he got a pretty nasty cut role as well what does he have it as hand here that orange just I don't know if we've seen it this round that is gonna be a defender okay and you see that there's that that forehand form looking looking down at his footwork just kind of like a mental reset thing it's a church every time yep but notice this notice the difference in Nico's forehand watch when Nico serves his forehand his it's out in front of them you see that very out in front of them in its it's due to the fact that Nico does not throw a lot of understable plastic when it comes to sidearm so when he's releasing he's releasing on the Anheuser holding on to the disc a little longer get it in front of him to get it actually flying nose-down Alex though I was zooming is gonna go some sort of hyzer flip little hop and in the wood where he hits it is it's just so much lower you know he's hitting a non Heiser it's a little earlier in his in his pool exactly it's it's really interesting especially for sign up him to watch all the different ways players attack this here we go gavin with no run-up wow dude no run-up at all and he pumped that one yeah and it looks like it he might be in a decent position there is a left fairway on the second shot Nico also with horrible line look at the level of commitment he was trying to roll that for sure that was that rate that he threw on I think it was fifteen yesterday through one of the biggest rollers I've ever seen he was he trying to go patent-pending flat to turn roller yeah pretty gnarly to even attempt that shot with that that type of lie that's just straight up experience and that's gonna be a st. Pro that he's rolling so close to getting it to pop over and keep riding the fairway I do love the roller if you are in that left side Alex are just gonna pretty much go same shot off the tee you got down this one hand way up that I didn't realize how far up the fairway he got off the tee the fact that he clubbed down to something a little bit glide ear is that's what you have to do off elevation and that was a fantastic sidearm and his second one turned a little bit too much but he still has a look at birdie and this is a beautiful throw just a little hot maybe he's gonna be circled too can't quite see that where the disk is going here I think he did try but that forehead roller that he tried throwing it looked like that but it kinda turned into a little cut roller I'm not quite sure how I got away from him on that one Emerson from a patent pending stance man that's a fantastic approach shot 15 feet from the basket rock three-d-- on a little soft Heiser had just a tiny bit high and he drops down to 40 feet pretty routine putter shot from Neko excuse me that looks like a little bit further than 40 right there yeah kind of deceiving from the camera angle but this hole clearly even if you have a tee shot in the middle of the fairway a birdie for is not an automatic gimme on this yeah you know it's not often that you say that might have gone in but that might have gone in if it didn't touch that branch yes seriously there's a solid confident putt from Nico from about 20 man you can just sense the frustration coming out of that mm-hmm he's just so just fiery I mean he made the putt he made the putt he's still about to punch his disc yeah he he's one of those players that plays with such momentum like once he gets rolling and he starts playing you know fiery it's scary to watch it's amazing and then you know sometimes you have a couple missed putts and yeah you kind of let me that you yeah kind of lets things get away from him hole number 11 we watched the players yesterday really kind of struggle on this one we have a couple different options off the tee we saw Jacob Sanders throw a fantastic sidearm up the left gap yesterday so we will probably see that from a at least one of the players in this card but really it's dead straight yeah dead straight you got the river on your right the whole way there is an OB line on the cliffs edge by the river and it's it's just low ceiling the whole way too so you got to hit gaps so only a few feet off the ground and it got OB right behind the pin too right behind the pin really treacherous here Emerson is going defender and I believe that's at a 13 speed kind of stable to over stable driver that's 12 it's a 12 speed but yeah it's definitely it's domi pop-top defenders that he likes to throw definitely over stable very similar to to an end of a destroyer probably a little bit more stable than a Zeus yeah and Gavin unfortunate I think he was trying to throw destroyer on that one and unfortunately let it go a little bit we snakes through a couple of the initial trees and really that was the ticket to landing zone Ville he's gonna definitely have a look at birdie from their beautiful shot we might see it flex four hand from his lie and Alex just leaning on these bosses this is his more stable one that he can flex a little bit and when I said at least one of the players was gonna take that left gap I met Alex Russell yeah alex is really bringing the boss back to life I mean not a lot of players I know Kevin was throwing it last year but there's just not a lot of players throwing the boss these days and a lot of players are getting away from those huge rim drivers in general just because of the fact that because the room is so big it's hard to keep them consistent and their flight in them you know really in the molding process but I'm assuming alex has some old bosses from a while back that he trusts pretty well look at a little slip job on the on the throw but he still popped it out there pretty good ways yeah I mean it looked like he didn't have his body behind that one at all and it just left his hand put some fire so Alex was opted to make this hole pretty easy going boss flat to fade flick and then a boss flat to fade flick and he's about 25 30 from the basket yeah and that's really what's been carrying him through this entire season was his big win Bryant the majestic he won the majestic last June which okay last year okay yeah that is no joke Nico with a great flex side arm as well Wow did he just catch something at the end of his flight yeah he did that was a ton of control there yeah nothing really really nice I thought it was really he you know kind of running the pin I soft putter from Emerson so Gavin going with the straddle I'm assuming he's gonna jump this one in oh he does awesome par save always feels good especially after going you know way left off the tee saving that par shows a lot of poise from Gavin oh that one looked a little funky little bit funky I mean it looked like even just an inch higher and he would have been straight in the basket this was that same tricky distance for his straddle putt little low left but still snags the birdie he's smiling he knows exactly what he did it's nice to see a little smile on his face one of the more intense players that we have seen on tour probably ever yeah he's so intense and you know he's gotten a lot of flack for it over the years but really I respect the passion that he brand I love having characters like Ted in our sport we need them to kind of build dialogue too so it's nice to have him around especially on this lead card hole number 12 really almost the same shot you want to throw on the last hole off the tee but now we have a party version of it yeah another low ceiling shot this one 364 pretty much dead straight we saw yesterday that not only do you have to get it off the ground you have to get it just over this berm right here or you're gonna be left with the 50 60 footer so to park this one you've really got to test that ceiling high and I mean this straight shot is just this is what disc golf is all about is throwing all this distance straight and one of the more unique straight throwers is Nico who's going with an extremely over stable disc which is the gold line spirit and to throw a flex shot through that tight of a window is insane yeah with and he did it again if you watched you he opened his hips up slightly early mm-hmm to create that smooth flying des that did not come out with a lot of velocity beautiful flex shot from Kiko he's been doing that for a decade out of it pretty much and this is an explorer Emerson is gonna be a little just more flat out of the gate it's got a little drift to it a lot more textbook of a play yeah looks like he hit that berm and he's gonna have that 50 footer yeah what those slower drivers out there throwing that do you have to make sure they watched the height got away from a little bit I think he still is out in the open for an approach shot seems like alex has like seven different discs that he's flicking all slightly different you have variations of where cuz I I feel like I've seen this one you know what this is this is a star max yeah believe it is super flippy and he's had it for a long time you know to do that is I kind of wished that he peered the gap so I could show people you know or so we could show people exactly how strange that max is flying well alex is really like you said before he's sticking to his game plan yeah and this is really the biggest tip that you can take as a as an up-and-coming player is to do what you are most comfortable with in the moment yeah absolutely here we go from 50 feet watch the wrist curl a little follow through another confident run from Emerson yeah he's feeling pretty good get it in there Nico get it in there rooting for you great putt from eco and and as you were talking about a Alex Russell we did see Gavin throw an absolutely enormous spike hyzer from where he was at is that what that was it was an upside down no I I don't know if it was a grenade or not hmm it looked like he threw a machete I know he has thrown that disc in the past and yeah he's parked from where he was at that was enormous and forgive us Gavin for even talking over that that was a huge shot nice par saves from Alex and Gavin respectively hole number 13 again we kind of geeked out over this hole yesterday it's really beautiful scenic fairway and Nate we have this really defining tree yeah really just a great tree beautiful tree we love you tree and we saw Nico throw right past that tree and actually knock it up and down yesterday but it was a huge shot the tricky thing about this hole is the OB left the entire way so you want to throw in a high Anheuser that's moving left to right that finishes right toward that tree but if you don't give it enough juice if you don't get enough a knee on it you're gonna hire out left and then you've got a really low ceiling tricky approach to the green with OB right behind it exactly so Nico is definitely looking to to match yesterday yesterday's shot oh it was and really he's throwing a max distance Anheuser here looks like it was a little more turned over than yesterday Oh an actually looks like there's OB on the right side as well the entire right side of the fairway and he might have a look at the basket but that is a pinched off angle from where he's at I think Everson's potentially playing a little bit more conservative of a shot yeah I think he's reaching for the Explorer there as long as he can get it straight in the middle of the fairway he then has an option to either go above or below that tree it's overrun it a little bit too much and as much as it looks like it's okay that angle to the basket is a little bit pinched off so we'll see if they have to get creative or not from where they're at I'm calling birdy from one of the two right there on that low right position there's Gavin going roller and this is definitely a dangerous play dangerous play but if you have the confidence to execute it's definitely there and I think he did correct and got a little bit more left than the other two ahead of him it looks like that grass is pretty thick and slowing that roller up and I think there is a little bit of sand in the fairway to from being so close to that Creek there's just all day really all day from Alex he's not worried about what anybody else is doing and then I love that because now he's far enough back to where he can make a decision now he's taking this bloke in his route right here Brian hi just to even think about hitting that gap high I mean that was not a nice jaws dropped a couple times his round yeah that was pretty sick to even attempt that he circled to but yeah even yeah even the confidence to do that is pretty impressive and and you know he he threw right where he wanted to off the tee so I'm guessing that that's exactly what he was intent on you can see as you said Emerson and Nico are both pinched Nico can still save me on my another circle to look as neat impossible you did say one of them has to birdie right and Gavin again going a little bit too far right but he might be able to stay through with Wow perfect sidearm Wow Gavin he better be getting on his knees and praying that was man that was a sweet shot though nothing out was like the war just a little bit sawed off yeah I think he flicked it looked like he flicked a rock or something like that yeah it was a sweet gap in from Gavin this is a tester for par sticks it and that's a straight death putt - and being a spin putter like him yeah if he misses it's definitely has potential to to go OB yeah and you can see he hit that one with a with a lot of speed - and I think at that level when you're that good of a putter you have to just say I'm putting this in and that's it and you know what regardless of how much pace you put on it if it goes in it's not a death but Alex tapping in the par Nico not sure what he's looking at over there Missouri Gator some sort of Missouri Gator Copperhead or maybe just a stick anyway moving into hole number 14 for the sidearm players in this card I actually contrary to what I thought yesterday players were taking the up the gut flex line with a sidearm just to make sure that they're not having to play a flare there's a couple different ways to play this hole though yeah and again we're gonna have what does this one have the Obi right behind the pin Brian I believe it does I believe it is I think the fairways are split from 13 to 14 there's that up the middle shot that you called didn't quite get the flex on it that he wanted it's gonna be a stable destroyer from Nico and again he's gonna be trying to throw this with some strong Anheuser oh yeah just a common theme here on this course with with the low ceiling lines that you have to hit over and over and these you know branches that look like they're flimsy and they're not they're slamming all this sorts of discs down and Nico's what I thought looked perfect off the tee got shut down pretty quickly this is gonna be Emerson stiletto might be leaking a little right and I'm I'm really not sure if that's out of bounds or not I know we saw Nico going to bones yesterday but I'm not sure if it was it was that exact spot but still a pretty solid for him yeah good looking for Han super flat no wobble at all and then even though alex had been playing the Flex sidearm pretty much all round he goes with the only straight hyzer sidearm and parks it bullseye bullseye again not following the gameplan of anybody else on this card again there's the orange flag so there's definitely some OB pretty close see if Emerson can keep this round up his just putting a set yeah yeah his his late range circle one pudding has been outrageous and I he just looks so confident knocking those putts in and it's definitely making the round a little bit easier for him when you can cash in putts like that and Gavin might be the only one I know putting with the warlock and Emerson might be the only one I know putting with the Keystone and I believe and that is not a beer folks think is a frisbee and I believe it is a glide II bila sputter is that correct yeah attitude yeah and I with him having such a college spin putt a glider your putter is probably a decent option for him hole number 15 par 4 we watched one of the best rollers I've ever seen on camera but that is not a standard play Nico yesterday through a very aggressive roller but we see a lot of up the gut air shots we see a couple of sky-high tzer's on the right side just to position themselves to get up this hill and to the left to this very guarded green really beautiful par-4 that's been designed here yeah I love this par 4 and I really hope we can see another roller today maybe a couple rollers but look at this look at the way that this hole finishes if you don't get yourself in position on that right side of the stairs there's there's really no chance pay exactly if you're not playing a really aggressive shot to get up the hill it's really important that you place it where you want to put it here's that forehand staring down the gap down at his feet oh yeah laces that defender that was so smooth and hopefully he doesn't get caught up in the base of that tree that would be a real shame after that shot this is just prime stuff here from GK Pro right now the if you guys want to learn how to watch how to throw a forehand you you found the right video yes seriously we have all sorts of different sidearm players we have touched sidearms we have flex sidearms we have yeah it's it's been really an enjoyable to watch and Alex gets out of the gap and it's also stuck in kind of the base of that hill I'm not sure if they're gonna have another sidearm to the basket or not that's got to get up yeah and you can see the major difference in Gavin's sidearm and and the envy of the rest of the card is how far his arm is away from his body yes coming through he really gets his elbow off his side and you can tell that if the space was more open for him he'd be able to really smash one and he does it again and that needs to keep going yesterday that roller was absolutely smashed up the hill looks like Gavin gets up too close to the base you go trying something over the top what weight is that where his shot just landed was that the same okay and how his guess he found a gap up there and he's he's at 45 feet from being completely out of position so impressive and unfortunately Alex kicks a little bit too far to the left and Emerson it this is a beautiful camera angle here yeah it is that's an explorer that's peered down I think it did just small differences in the woods it can be the smallest difference between hitting one of those soldier trees as you say and missing it and being underneath the bucket yeah no tiny tiniest bit of an inch can totally mess up a shot so he actually did he he peered the shot hits the tree rolls all the way back down the hill and has to go overhand and he's in danger of carting his first bogey of the tournament Brian oh my gosh I mean he's he's feeling it he's nearly done he's 14 holes through round two and has not bogeyed which is insane here absolutely insane oh yeah nearly fainted which is definitely a cause for concern but hopefully he's okay Alex carting the par this is really great to spin that one back I'm super happy that you guys did that GK Pro because I I just love watching that putt just straight down and straight back up yeah everything about Alex's game is simple and in pretty textbook and I love the way he plays especially how he putts Oh solid comeback from Emerson and the bogey free streak continues I mean he there's no there were no legs involved with that at all he told all rest hurled that with his wrist and uncurled it straight at the pole and that's the beauty of being a spin putter that's one of the benefits of just having a straight wrist oriented into out putt is when you're in a tough position you don't have to have this big swinging pendulum motion you know similar to Nico's you know pitch / push putt you can really get yourself out of some tough situations if you have a good spin putt hole number 16 Nate have you figured out what the shot is here it's a beautiful fairway and it's very technical but it's just it's a really challenging tee shot yeah it really is it it has the appearance of being a dead straight hole but it's really not it's got just enough of a drift from left to right car excuse me from and you know what I I have misspoke and we are one hole too early this isn't you're talking about 17 this is 17 we are now on 16 which is actually a lot more straightforward of a hole than 17 we will get back to that conversation later this is a par 3 gives the players a little bit of hope before the tricky 17 that we were speaking about Emerson does sawed off the forehead a little bit and as you can see the baskets right at the top of the hill here sorry to confuse all the listeners Alex again he's he opted for that the pure Heiser rather than the Flex and I think that was smooth that was that Star Max and Alec this bag I'm not sure what this green one is that Gavin's Thurn it might be a machete that's a Firebird it's a Firebird okay oh and a stable one too no it left his hand on Heiser but it stayed on Heiser Kaneko actually club enough for this one stable destroyer gonna start it on the right side that was a solid father follow-through from nico that was perfect and back-to-back days he's in the bullseye simple up and down with the justice from Emerson and Gavin from about 30 feet for a par so it's smooth putt great birdie from Alex when they go in it just looks so easy yeah they have a little bit of nose down to him and what he's really feeling it they just kind of dropped really really pleasing to watch Emerson cards the par yeah the more I watch this these these rounds and commentate on the more I question my own game and wonder why I do I so hard at the putting green yeah exactly it's crazy and back to the conversation we were having and hole number 17 super challenging tee shot it's uphill right away it looks like you want to throw some sort of flexion but the fairway straightens out really quick so you can't get a disc to actually fade left to right that far right the brake is is so late in the in the flight to it's difficult to get it to go up that hill fly straight and then brake yeah I like Nico's play here and you'll be seeing it in just a bit alex is gonna go forehand again again trusting his best shot probably something pretty flippy okay there there might not be anyone that is relying on the forehand as much as him at his level I know and I I thought I didn't know how the hole is supposed to be played but now Alex just puts it to right around circle two's edge yeah just flip the boss up there late flip yeah no problem a boss 13 speed driver Nico trying I think he was trying to go for that cut roller again and just unfortunately my cold it a little bit too early ever since flicking a Explorer I believe yeah so he actually he likes what he saw he liked what he saw with Alex's shot and threw a pretty good shot himself he's gonna have he's gonna have a look and here we're gonna get another look at it flips it up maybe just didn't didn't quite get the penetration that he needed yeah a little bit a little bit sawed off he didn't quite get it to go right to left oh yeah that's got to keep going forward I think that was a middling yeah that was great when he gets ahold of him I've been playing with Gavin for a little while and when he gets ahold of a disc he's right up there with all the top distance throwers really oh he had all the annihilate discs you don't lie there in Illinois there are a lot of Gavin Rathbun stories at certain holes Palace suite yeah I remember the day that Nico found out that Gavin could throw further than him we were at the memorial tossing some shots down by the fountain and he was pretty bummed robably not happy about that yeah so Emerson is actually gonna take this anchor and he's gonna try and start this one out right and drift it the whole way down there and he he does it he's inside circle one and that's the Ranger he's been raining putts from all day that's such a technical shot and he makes it look easy it's super easy to drift that the flippy mid from right to left like Daddy I know you love throwing that John my favorite child yeah I think if you do have it the skill ceiling on that is very high you can get the distal and really soft decent look they're never sent from his today his money range and this is another great view we're right up on the player and yet again the Keystone goes in the basket this kid is on fire folks I'm just so stoked to watch this Emerson is on fire he is leaving this card behind he's 14 down through 17 holes here and 14 down for two rounds but still I mean even with the hot round being a six and round one he is eight down right now and I believe the course record here at the harmony bins gold layout is an eighth down so he's he's tied he has a chance to to beat the course record great birdie from Alex after nasty sidearm I wonder what emotion he's feeling all right and we saw yesterday holy thing was crazy yesterday right here in that round one this hole is outrageous bananas you could say there there's just so much OB that you have to clear early Oh be right here that we're flying over right now next to the short pad you have to hit this beautiful landing zone Peninsula and then you have two or three different fairways that are all carved out beautifully to get down this Pharaoh and if most of the flight on this second shot is directly over this giant OB Creek right here and don't worry it snakes back to the right yet again on your third shot to the basket to try to snag that birdie for this is a phenomenal finishing hole my guess is we're seeing another boss or hand from Alex bring it back to life give this man the signature boss and congratulations to Alex for getting the bump to team champion earlier this year so sweet we could potentially see one well-deserved thank goodness he does get a kick straight down I believe he is in bounds I am really rooting for this kid to get the birdie and the solo course record is that a case down the heat is through you know I looks like a mid-range I'm guessing that it's a gatekeeper what a beautiful tee shot that was hit it on Heiser on the left side let it pop up to flat and not turn over it just slowly pushed nose down and drifted to the right perfect landing from Everson whatever just said is that Gavin's been flicking he is hammering on that thing and today for some reason it's been coming out a little bit too left for him yeah that's a boss probably a stable boss yeah and just aside just as I said that alex is the only one throwing a boss we've got to boss me and he's been throwing it a lot forgive us Gavin for neglecting you there Nico again just a tiny bit early and that looks a little left but short of the obeah should have some sort of look so here is where things get tricky because you have to start making decisions when you're out of position it looks like Nico has decided to lay that one up short and directly into the yeah yeah hopefully he's not too pinched up against that I couldn't did Alex go ABI I couldn't see his lie right there he must have fallen right in that little crea I didn't quite tell there so after coming up a little short Nico has another decision to make do i his a ballsy move there oh my gosh just over the OB what a sick shot wow that was especially to finish the round to throw that that confident of us flex sidearm which is not as strong as shot yeah I mean you're risking two strokes to gain one stroke and again he did it's the tree sticks Emerson does have a look at the basket it's gonna be a tough one but still he avoided the OB for a second time yeah pretty fortunate too for the reaction off that tree we saw yesterday any time anyone hit a tree it's just directing straight back yeah that Creek Gavin with a safer play on the right side he might still have some sort of corridor to the basket I know John how cool likes to give players lots of scramble opportunities from the rough and that was smashed and the crowd loves it I need to work on my forehand yeah after watching this round I think the both of us need to number one hit the gym number two old oh he sneaks just passed it wow he's just got so much so much pop on that forehand I mean he was sailing 80 long yes that went clean Nico's known aggressive flex sidearm again it looks like that is not a open gap that's a really small gap Wow he is proving us wrong time and time again it clearly a lot bigger of a gap than we think Gavin is going down the gap but a little bit closer to the opening yeah he's been he's really been a pleasure to watch today yeah Gavin is a very strong player no no and he wanted it he knew he wanted it I don't know if that did creep into the outer bounds or not based off his reaction it looked like it went a little long and I know we had talked about it earlier that with being such a fast spin putter that that's what had I was coming to play yep and Nico unfortunately misses another one from the dreaded distance that he'd been struggling with this round Alex snags a par the solid part mean he was throwing great today just had a little bit of trouble scoring but finishes at a 3-under very respectable round and I'm not sure yeah he did snag a par so that that area where he did run his putt to was safe it looked like so he's gonna go back-to-back bogey-free rounds and finish out an 8-under tying the course record that was an absolute budding clinic buddy Emerson is that the first one we've really seen him miss I mean we saw him come up a little bit on some circle two putts but that was extremely impressive and really impressive really impressive around from from Gavin as well it was nice to watch him come out and we don't get to see him too often and and it's always fun to see a new face on these types of cards again such a pleasure to watch this course get played by all these great athletes you know honestly one of one of them the most enjoyable videos that I've done in recent memory and again we have Zach Johnson and Joel Freeman jumping on to the lead card coming to round 3 again make sure to subscribe to gk pro and we will catch you for the round 3 coverage thank you guys