2019 MVP Open | DGPT | RD1, F9, FPO | Pierce, Hokom, Melwiki, Draeger

one alright everyone welcome to gk pros post round coverage of the 2019 MVP open at Maple Hill this is Round one front nine coverage this is road life commentary coming at you Nate Perkins and page Pierce hello I'm super excited to watch and talk with you about this course and this round it's gonna be myself Sara hokum Amanda Mel wookie and Christina dräger christina won the am side of maple hill so she earned her right onto this feature card during this pro weekend and you said this is your favorite course all time yes of all time I love this course there's so much variety we got open wooded elevated you know everything a lot of water yeah totally there's definitely a lot of variety out here in Maple Hill whole one par-4 720 feet you need about 300 maybe 330 to clear the water right here anything left or right in the Christmas trees is going to make the approach pretty difficult you really want to land one right there on that road but there is OB all around this green those rock walls on the left and the right or both OB and then this grip six wall is all going to be a OB as well this is a incredibly tight reading to start things off yeah like you said you definitely don't want to be in the Christmas trees so you just want to try to punch it as far as you can down if you can get over the Christmas trees you want to try to go for that but if not you want to land it where that spotter is just right in the opening because Christmas trees really prevent you from and you've done that perfectly and your way down the hokum here this is her trace this is like her farthest distance driver she puts this one on a big Annie and gets a full s flight out of it and you or you're really not thinking about whether you're gonna be able to clear the water or not but sara is probably thinking about just clearing the water right um in practice she was kind of having a little bit of issues with the wind mr. Winn super heavy the angle that she puts on it kind of drops it but today it wasn't quite windy so she didn't really have to worry about that today and Amanda's pretty new to the open women's division yeah at least out on tour she's she's sponsored by MVP she's from Michigan we've seen her at a few events this year but yeah definitely first time for me to play with the ring so this is really exciting to see another new face on a future part and like you said christina won the MVP am side just a little too stable on that disc choice right there but you know there is a potential that it's safe on this side and it turns out it is safe short left yeah so if you go in the water there's actually a drop zone over to their right that you still have to throw over the water so luckily she didn't have to play from there but you can see from Amanda's Drive she's she's really pence pinched off and it's really just because of those Christmas trees Sara as well she's she's got almost no angle into the green itself she's gonna lay this one up at the mouth hopefully yeah you really just don't have any business going for it if you can't even see the gap this this OB is so tight so a lot of players if they're out of position are just going to aim to just short of the rock all kind of like Amanda's doing here and then just go for a pretty short approach and you are so far up this first fairway yeah just a little bit too straight didn't get enough turn on there so I'm gonna be OB circles edge amanda with a nice turn over there into the green Christina got into the gap but didn't quite turn it enough so she's still gonna have like 60 feet to the basket pretty interesting to see Sarah go reach around backhand like that yeah we surprised as well great looking par putt from outside circle one it's a good way to get things warmed up for your first putt of the tournament yeah felt good to hit that one and just save par and part part is pretty good out here on hole one I mean with this with how much OB there is around the green you see a lot of big numbers here yeah you definitely do I'm moving on to hole to par-3 270 feet we've got OB wall to our right the entire length of the hole these trees here on the left love to just stop discs dead in their tracks feels like one you need to birdie though homepage yeah it does and in years past I haven't gotten it so I went with my felon this year on a severe Anheuser looking for that late kaiser back I hit that tree down there though and it stopped my forward progress so I got about a 60 footer oh come with that trace again it's good looking angle just a little low yeah she actually do get a little skip up there though and she's inside the circle or close to it anyway Amanda just turns her is over a bit I really like her throat her disc comes out of her hands super clean just a lot of rotation and it looks great this is a pretty tricky position to be in Christina opted in to go an Heiser around those trees he's gonna have a circles edge putt for par Amanda not not having great footing right under it though oh and back-to-back monster putts this one for birdie that's gotta feel so good just hard to turn out back-to-back like that two in a row outside the circle I was super excited you know that's kind of like what you hope for in 18 holes and I got it in two holes I was excited welcome unfortunate missed there but par is good you know anything out here at maple Hills is good if you just get a clean round together so hopefully she can not think of that as a negative all right moving into hole three par-3 325 feet you're actually teeing off from out of bounds if you hit an early tree there's a chance at a big number it's a pretty tight left to right shaping fairway a little S curve shapes up pretty great for the right hand back hand and Heiser it's a pretty tough birdie I'd say yeah it is you really have to commit to this turn over and let it Heiser back or a late hyzer flip and I kind of missed the intended gap but I hit the backdoor gap and then hi xored back onto the left side and this camera angle actually does do it justice because you're teeing off from the sunlight and you're teeing off into just a tunnel of shadows and this this hole can definitely be menacing it's pretty tough to reach this one with a forehand I imagine Sarah's just playing it for a long putt or even for a par yeah it's hard to get it to fly towards the basket after about you know 300 feet or maybe even like 280 from our pad on a on a sidearm release and we see Kristina opt in for standstills this seems to be what she's comfortable with yeah you know a lot of players that throw standstills say they don't have good timing on their run-up and it's just kind of a learning curve so I'm sure that's what she's comfortable with at the moment and may try to go into that later going for another one and just missed it left that would have been unbelievable misses Amanda's thrive incredible almost Saints it from circle to it's such a good Anheuser shot up the hill Oh hokum just a tiny bit low she's gonna take a bogey here on the third hole miss Christine is pumped about that one good par putt all right we got a leaderboard after the first three me and Kristen are tied at 1-under all right hole for par three 250 feet you know for as short as this one is this one is one of the trickier holes out here at Maple Hill you've got a tiny gap to start off you've got OB just inside the circle behind the pin and it's severely sloped downhill there's a ton of different ways you're gonna see this one played you're going with the backhand putter approach straight at it yeah they built a mando this year so you have to go through that middle gap I'm opting for the standstill here as is Amanda she kind of lets that go a little bit late though kicks that tree and kicks to the right yeah you can see how just how close those streets are to the tee pad and and Christina hits first available and that's why this hole collects as many bogeys as it does for being only 250 feet welcome now with a super severe hyzer flip yeah it's way down there inside the circle on the right she likes it yeah and this is a really tricky position anything off the fairway and the angles get so pinched and it's easy to overthrow it too from an approach right here oh did that one float long yeah she it was a great release just a tiny bit high and glady and it ended up in the water deep Wow Plumbing me at circles edge right in the heart yeah that one was just outside so now three circle putts and four holes and I just was blown away but I was like alright if this is what the day's gonna be like I'm excited Amanda just barely low that was a great bid man that looked like it had enough to Heiser in there and just kind of popped out right side a disappointing miss after such a great Drive that's one of those ones where it could have stuck you really can't put enough value on what it means to hit early putts in at the start of your round the start of your tournament it can really set set the pace can't it yeah it just gives you a little bit of momentum and just confidence to moving forward in the round just knowing that your stroke feels good I'm moving into hole 5 par-3 285 feet the traditional play is going to be out over the water for the entire flight backhand and hyzer or forehand play there is a safe route to the right which we will see several of these FBO players attempt yeah I don't feel comfortable going over the water so I'm going the Heiser route with my suspect something slower that gets a little bit of glide but that is the error there is not wide enough and hitting that tree you get a big kick and no telling where you're gonna be scrambling from hokum every year goes over the water and always get yourself a birdie putt so this is a great way to play this hole if you have this shot and she definitely has something she can trust it's definitely a nerve-racking hole I mean even going this right side it's not a guaranteed par ton of trees in the way I was almost as good of a spot as you could get going that direction another great release from Amanda and that's a good looking release all right well Heiser skip looking shot she's happy this is a really tricky approach especially with that OB water just behind the pain you got to have the touch looks to be well inside circle one it's pretty tight you can see there's there's lots of trees over there and the only part of the hole that's open is that left side but there's those big bushes so Amanda gets past him she's on the green but christina is left with this look and these putts are scary too i mean you have water within 15 feet of the bucket this right here I mean you could very easily miss chains and sail into the water not with that confident stroke that you're bringing today another one right on the pole very nerve-wracking though like you said if you missed that you are now looking at two strokes worse and you know you got the cameras there you got first round jitters no telling poke them with a great birdie that's a great birdie yeah there's a lot of holes out here just like you mentioned the 2 stroke swing there's a lot of holes there's a lot of shots that if you miss it's you're often gonna get not just the one stroke for missing but an extra one for going OB we're having a far comeback putt a lot of swings out here at Maple Hill yeah there are I mean especially on this next one six all right thank you to basket-case disc-off for sponsoring the gk pro coverage yeah we're moving into hole six this is actually the fly through from the men's pad correct yes and the women's pad is just over here on the left and we're gonna shoot right down this tunnel this OB excuse me this rock wall that you see on the right is all OB this tunnel is as small as it looks it's only eight to ten feet wide at max very skinny beautiful beautiful pad and basket placement though yeah Steve dodge said it's his favorite on the course is our tee pad on hole six hokum goes for a super late flip down the left gap which is actually a pretty common play it's just a little bit bigger and it's less likely to go OB on that left gap that's such a technical shot from Sarah though I mean to flip it up like that to get it to turn down that left gap it's amazing and you're playing a little Heiser putter and you're also going for the left gap yeah I'm kind of trying to just land it at that base of that tree and then I'll have options it's not that far of a putt from there so yeah I just setting myself up Amanda late release unfortunately kicks OB so she's gonna be looking at a hundred and twenty foot approach to hopefully get up and down for her bogey just a little early release there from Christina but it goes to show you how punishing this hole really is if you're off early and left you could be safe but you could be left with almost nothing but a pitch out and even this approach right here you still have that OB wall the entire way needs to sit and those are the kicks that can cost you two right there Amanda patent-pending through the gap ooh nice little kick there you can see she didn't fully commit cuz she was scared of that wall but that tree helped her out sure did and where Christina just kicked to over there there's actually a putt she's gonna be a little bit in front of Sara but in the same direction Sara actually had a putt that for her - all the way down there all right Christina connects and you could see a little bit on Sara's pup but there the wind is definitely affecting these players even here in the woods day one was pretty windy especially early in the morning great putt by Amanda and another good par from yourself Sara as well a three is always acceptable on hole six moving into hole seven par-3 275 feet another really tight gap off the tee you've got to get something to fly straight nearly in the entire length of the hole the basket were playing to is right there on the left and we are flying to the men's position right here another hundred feet further and sara is actually going to be attempting another late flip forehand yeah this shot is gorgeous this is with her relay and watch how much Heiser she puts on this this discus super super super flippy so she has to really commit to that Heiser release unfortunately a little bit low and came out late so she's going to hit a tree about midway to the basket get a kick to the right that's a high level shot attempt yeah we're going suspect right there yeah that's my suspect that one was about as close to that tree on the right as I can get but that's kind of what you need to get to the basket and that's also what makes this hold dangerous if you clip that tree on the right and kick early left it they could lead to a bogey definitely there's so many trees to contend with on the left side so it's okay to to kind of penetrate through to the left but you want to be at least 250 feet down there if you're going to go left and you can see the wind here kicking up the trees around the pad it makes this hole that much more intimidating Christina a little bit short right but she shakes it off that's okay right under it for a park yeah solid looking approach that's one of those distances where it's like in between a putt and an upshot so it was nice to see her choose the up shot and display some good touch and Sarah just a little bit closer opting for the jump put oh and while you've got a virtual tap-in here for another birdie move into 3-under for the round through seven holes feeling good at your favorite course yeah it is I mean last year at this tournament I placed seventh so I was looking to correct on that and come out a little bit hotter this this year I hope I'm tapping in another part and same from Christina Oh must have right we are moving into one of the mini signature holes out here at Maple Hill hole eight par-3 250 feet you're carrying water the entire length of the hole there's OB long as well just a beautiful hole to throw I mean I think an ace the whole way yeah I mean really your main concern is just getting it far enough the wind does hit pretty hard about halfway over the water so just having enough spin on it to fight through that wind is is probably the primary concern I mean it's right there for the taking but yet it's still so intimidating because you have the water right there and the water is so close to the bucket you're going putter yeah this is my mercial Wow and that is a really fortunate kick normally you see those drop straight down into the water those trees actually overhang a little bit so that's fortunate kicked it to stay in bounds and kick toward the pain yeah definitely that's a two stroke difference right there cuz if that does kick in the water you're going to the drop zone which leaves you still about an 80 footer or so and from a standstill Christina rips it in just a few feet short of making it inbounds and this dropzone putt can actually be pretty intimidating because it's one that you you kind of want to make but going for it risks a risk going OB into the water and this is a death but brochure Wow oh yeah and she knew it the entire way she doesn't ran it down she said she actually almost tripped on that one because I commented to like yeah run it in that one just came out a little bit a little bit late you could kind of see from that camera angle and she sneaks that one in on the right side and note that changes in these baskets over the past few years since it's perhaps just the last year as it moved to the MVP sponsored event we've got the MVP the black hole yeah not a basket that any of these players are really used to cutting on another birdie to move to 4-under through eight holes hot start and now hokum is under par as well and we're headed into the last hole on the front nine this one's one of the signature holes as well I would say yeah absolutely it's a par for this year for the first time in many years 420 feet but it's it's just so difficult to reach it even at 420 feet it plays directly uphill and the angle that it makes from left to right it slopes almost backwards like a horseshoe kind of shape and then you've got OB all around the screen OB early right here OB right a lot of players are gonna throw something straight maybe finishes just a touch are you going putter right there yes yeah I'm just laying up to the stump up top just at the top of the hill then I'm looking down at the basket and on paper it might play for a forehand but the way that you have to get that nose up it's really difficult to push these straight enough and not finish in the woods right and give yourself an angle at the green yeah they moved the basket on this one closer to the water this year so it's it's it's only about what 15 feet closer to you know to the right but it's making the whole play so much different just because you're I don't know you're putting more weight on your approach I feel yeah it it almost added a full stroke to how difficult whole nine played this year they moved it closer to the water as you said and they also elevated this pin oh and that's a great looking shot from Christina she here's the gap and you're gonna have this approach down the hill this is such a speed control shot you want to hit down there in those wood chips and that's really a safe play what would you say yeah aiming toward the left side of the green the fattest part instead of trying to get by the basket and then once you get down there you can kind of assess how your putt feels if you want to go for it or not how come a little too much angle there she comes up short of the green but I think she's also gonna be short of the water so she will be safe cutting it close right there and really no matter how close you are to this it's always a somewhat sketchy approach such a small green you can see the wind is definitely in play here nice approach by Amanda Christina she is under the basket that's definitely what you want on an elevated basket I hope I'm running that one again almost jumping into the water man you can see just how close that basket really is just missed a little right right there and that one is way into the pond were you able to get that one back yes yep my caddie got in and got it for me a shout-out to Brian Sullivan how many years has he been caddy and now this is his first year okay he's he's a good buddy of mine who I used to stay with when I came to this tournament but I always had another friend caddy until he went into the military so this is Sully's first year on the bag cool all right thanks for joining us for that front round coverage after that bogey moved to three down Sarah 1-under par Amanda to over Christina struggling a little bit with the nerves at 11 over stay tuned for the back nine coverage Katrina Allen two down through ten