Action is suspended due to air quality at the 2023 PDGA Am and Junior Worlds in Peoria, Illinois. Photo: Justin Anderson / PDGA

Mother Nature played a role for the record-setting field at the 2023 PDGA Amateur and Junior Disc Golf World Championships.

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Smoke from wildfires to the north rolled into the Peoria, Illinois area on Tuesday, raising the Air Quality Index into the 200s and thus enacting the PDGA Mid-Event Suspension & Cancellation Guidelines.

The competition was suspended in several pools on Tuesday and for the entire event on Wednesday.

Axel Olson lines up a shot at Wildlife Park on Tuesday. Photo: Justin Anderson / PDGA

For those in the 800-playeer, 12-division combined World Championships that were able to finish their opening-day rounds, the action was intense:

• In the A Pool in MA1 at Am Worlds, Axel Olson, Chuck Hoffman and Carson Smith (-8) battled to a three-way tie at Wildlife Disc Golf Course. The three have a two-stroke lead over Will Parris and Tanner Young.
• In FA1, Hannah Lengel was the clubhouse leader before Round 1 was suspended on Tuesday.

Judah Kooistra had two hot rounds on Tuesday to jump to the top of the leaderboard in MJ18. Photo: Mark King / PDGA

• In Junior Worlds action, MJ18 opened with a two-round day at Sunset Hills and McNaughton. Judah Kooistra finished the day at 21-under, three strokes ahead of Patrick Yu. New Zealand’s Levi Stout is in third place.

Eliezra Midtylng torched Bradley Park twice to build a big lead in FJ18. Photo: PDGA Media

• Eliezra Midtylng opened the week with a 482-foot drive in the distance competition and followed that up by dropping bombs at Bradley Park on Tuesday. Midtylng opened up a three-stroke lead in the first round and then took off with big drives and putts from deep with a 955-rated second round. She leads by 11 strokes. Trinity Bryant made a big jump in the second round to move into solo second place. Lillianne Waite and Grace Dykema round out the lead card, two and three strokes out of second place, respectively.
• In the MJ15 E Pool, Jasper Wirth opened with a 2-stroke lead after rounds at Sunset Hills and McNaughton. Dominik Connors is second; Edward Xiong and Jack Hefferan are tied for third. In the F Pool, Sylus Williams, Asher Weideman and Josiah Davenport shredded Eureka Permanent with 9-under rounds for a three-way tie at the top. Herman Bentzen Hinkel will round of the lead card and is tied at 8-under with Stephen Tait Morgan.

Therese Cuevas average nearly 100 points above her rating in two rounds on Tuesday. Photo: Hayden Henry / PDGA

• In FJ15, Therese Cuevas dropped a 968-rated second round at Bradley Park to open up a 6-stroke lead. Cuevas averaged nearly 100 points above her rating on Tuesday. Kayla Hess is second at 2-under. Virginia Polkinghorne had the second-hottest round of the day to rise into a tie for third with Addison Woodard.
• There’s an Estonian at the top of the leaderboard in MJ12. Taaniel Mahine hit double digits (-10) at Washington Park and leads a super-tight field by one stroke. Luke Sindall and Finland’s Eino Kymäläinen are in second at 9-under, ahead of a five-way tie at 8-under.
• Play was suspended and FJ12 and MJ10 will hit the course on Wednesday.
• Wisconsin’s Genevieve Davis holds a three-stroke lead over Norean Woodhead in FJ10. Hayden Harper is in third.
• It’s a tight race in MJ8 as Rylan Haag leads Vejas Mikuzis by one stroke.
• In FJ8, Sarah Wadsworth has a three-stroke lead over Hanniel Midtlyng.