Saturday morning was quite a bit different as we arrived to the course for the third round of the 2015 Aussie Open. Instead of the intense sun, heat and humidity, the skies were overcast and there actually was a chill in the air. After two days of blistering heat, it was a welcome change. As players started to arrive at the Mundaring Sporting Club, they were greeted by a blustery wind that would only continue throughout the morning hours. The locals seem to embrace the wind, as the breeze coming from the southeast means a calm ocean and, apparently, some really low scores…again.

Simon Feasey started the day with a three shot lead over his closest competitor, but would open up his first few holes with a statement that he wasn’t going to give anything up easily. Carding birdies on 7 of his first 9 holes, he would open up a seemingly insurmountable margin over the rest of the field. It was as if only he could feel no breeze at all, until he cooled off a bit on the back side. At that point, however, he was so far ahead that a few bogies wouldn’t loosen his grip on what, at this point, seems like a mere formality. After three rounds, he now sits comfortably 10 throws ahead, and he has too much experience with this game to take that significant of a step back. On the other hand, you never can tell at Mundaring, as there is OB everywhere and the high winds could pick up again.

Val Jenkins continued to put on a show today. Starting with a birdie on her first hole, she would never look back and rolled through the front nine with a score of even par on the first section of the course. I bet half the field would pay for a nine like that, especially considering the unpredictable and steady wind. The back nine is certainly considered to be the tougher section of the course, but Val continued to push on, only being slowed down by an unfortunate bogey on the 10th, and a double bogey on the nearly quarter mile long 16th hole. She would come in with a score of 69, or four over par, putting her at a score of six over for the entire event. This would see her in 10th place in the Open division, so I bet most of the guys are glad she didn’t decide to play with them.

Remember yesterday when Simon Lizotte and Paul McBeth went nuts and broke the course record? Well, it happened again today. This time, they were on the lead card together, so they continued to feed off each other. After a birdie on the first hole, McBeth decided to lay up on the 200 meter-long second, as there is an OB creek that runs perpendicularly through the middle of the fairway. Throwing a successful layup, he stepped up to toss a sidearm from around 250 feet, hoping to park it next to the pin for another tap-in birdie. When he let go, it seemed to be heading right where it was supposed to (surprise, surprise), but maybe had a bit too much speed. It skipped just in front of the pin, only to hop up and settle itself right in the middle of the chains for an eagle 2. All Simon and the rest of the group could do was watch as Paul looked like he was running away.

He would let a few slip through his fingers though, and as Paul was making a bogey 4 on the very short 8th hole, Simon was quietly putting together a hot round. He took advantage of a few good breaks and as they completed the tenth hole, both players were sitting at -7 for the round. For those of you who don’t know, Simon is the current World Record Distance holder, and on hole 12 he showed why. Twelve is a left-to-right shot off the tee, and players want to put themselves in the right position to be able to reach the pin, which is recessed down a drastic hill. The pin is protected by OB on all sides, so not only a nice drive is required, but also a deft touch around the green. Most normal right-handed throwers choose to throw a soft anhyzer off the tee, or maybe a side arm. Simon is not normal though. Instead, he found an alternate flight path, up and over the 100 foot tall trees that protect the fairway on the left side. As his disc slowly drifted down and nestled itself in the middle of the fairway, you could almost hear the jaws hitting the ground. He would complete the task at hand by laying up to a manageable distance to make yet another birdie.

This seemed to light a fire under Paul, as he would go on a tear from there. Making birdies on 11-16, he would step up to the tee of the 17th hole with delusions of grandeur. As he does for most events, Paul showed up early last week to practice the course and during one of those rounds, he aced hole 17. And then he did it again the next day. Easy hole, right? Well, there is a significant amount of OB that protects the tricky green, and today Paul threw right into it. After making a four, it opened the door for Simon to make a move once again. Simon would finish with birdies on his last three holes, and both players would sign their card with a score of 52, or -13; another course record. The lead card will be rounded out tomorrow by Ricky Wysocki and Dave Feldberg, and they are slated to tee off at 11:30am.

The final round tomorrow will put to bed the first-ever Major Championship in the southern hemisphere. This has been huge for Australian disc golf, and tournament organizers Chris Finn and Rob Kyle have a lot to be proud of. Not only is the course great, the entire tournament experience has been a blast for everyone involved. If anything, we can only expect to see this great event grow in the coming years. For now, we’ll have to wait and see if anyone can catch Simon, Val and Paul in their attempt to become the champions of the 2015 Aussie Open. A complete listing of scores is available at pdga.com, and as always, check out live scores as they come piling in tomorrow to witness a piece of disc golf history! 

Photo Credit: mastersdiscgolf.com