Today is the day we’ll find out the names of the 24 World Champions in disc golf for 2012. At the end of two rounds on Friday, it was the closest battle in history in the Men’s Open division with just four throws separating the top five finalists. 22-year-old Paul McBeth is currently in the lead with the 2011 Rookie of the Year, Ricky Wysocki behind by two.
Wysocki is just 19 years old and lives just 25 miles south of Charlotte, giving him an advantage in endurance as well as being acclimated to the heat and humidity and extra time to practice on the area’s courses. Cale Leiviska and Michael Johansen, a local favorite, are currently tied for third place at just a throw behind Wysocki. You can’t count Will Schusterick out either, he is just one behind at fifth place, and the 2011 World Champion, Nate Doss, has snuck back in the race, eight throws behind the leader. He’s followed by Dave Feldberg at seventh place and Garrett Gurthie and Finland’s Seppo Paju are tied for eighth place.
In the Women’s Open division, Sarah Hokom has held onto her lead all week and current sits six throws ahead of three-time Women’s World Champion Valarie Jenkins. The 2011 PDGA Female Rookie of the Year, Catrina Allen, is 11 throws behind Hokom at third place, while Courtney McCoy and Sarah Stanhope Cunningham are at fourth and fifth place respectively.
Kenny Climo, 13-time World Champion, who has declared his intention to become the “greatest Masters Champion ever to play the game,” is on his way to doing just that. Climo is known as “The Champ” and is currently nine throws ahead of JohnE McCray and Barry Schultz who are tied for second place in the Master’s division.
The Men’s Open division finals will begin at 4 p.m. EDT on Saturday at the Hornet’s Nest. If you can’t be in Charlotte, you can watch the competition live at DiscGolfPlanetTV.