by David Feldberg
The finals were held in Arvada , Colorado, at the Birds Nest run by PDGA #387 John Bird who was a great addition to our staff. With over a 100 players registered, a beautiful course, and amazing 80 degree weather the event lined up to be a success. With this being the Final of the whole tour Latitude and the Next Generation Tour would be crowning there first champion and sending them to Europe in 2017 to play disc golf!!
Friday-
The discgolfcenter doubles brought out 30 teams featuring such players as Patrick Blazek. Local Pros Alex Johnson and Tyler Kirkpatrick took it down with a score of -13 (41).
Next was the Keen Big Distance Contest which Anthony Moreno threw 540 feet, and Junior Ethan Tschaunce threw just under 500 feet to claim the contests.
There was also a Voodoo skills challenge and Paragon mini challenge. Cliff Davis dominated the regular size discs and Oz Oswald claimed the mini skills challenge.
The feature of the field events was the DD putting contest in which the top four plus ties would make a final that would be seen on Terry Miller productions. The top five had a great battle were Elijah Montoya was faced with one putt to win. He missed just low and Rob Gilmore claimed the basket and putting title.
In the single competition it was very exciting with big swings. Rodney Tripp of Utah was in 8th place in intermediate going into the final round and carded a -16 (1010 PDGA rated round!!) this catapulted him into an 8 stroke victory in intermediate men’s division. In the Advanced Masters Rob Gilmore shot an -8 in the final round and walked away with title.
In the Advanced Men’s Brian Guice won wire to wire shooting an amazing -35 on the weekend averaging 998 rated golf. Shane Sparkman was the only other player in the lead group to shoot -12 or better. He finished second just above Jake Peters and Scotty Wiant last years Halloween champion who tied for third place.
Next Generation Tour Final winners
- Advanced Men – Brian Guice
- Advanced Women – Missy Gannon
- Advanced Masters – Rob Gilmore
- Advanced Grandmasters – Jeff Knudsen
- Intermediate Men – Rodney Trip
- Intermediate Women – Suzanne Wicklund
- Recreational Men – Mitch Rand
Thrilling conclusion of the series
The series came down to one stroke Jake Peters of California birdied his last four holes to guarantee he was headed to Europe in 2017. The season leader Kolte Breck shot himself out of the running leaving only Jake and Robert Craig from Arizona with a legitimate chance. Craig shot great and was the leader in the clubhouse with one group yet to finish. In that group was Jake Peters who managed that birdie string to tie for third thus beating Robert Craig in the series. With all the pressure just one mistake and Peters would have lost the grand prize. Cameras, Terry miller, crowds didn’t phase this future pro.
He won the Grand prize: a trip to play disc golf overseas.
“I am honored to be crowned the 2016 Next Generation Tour Champion. To walk away with a one stroke victory after traveling to four events and literally thousands of miles across the United States is truly mind blowing. The Finale was an incredible weekend that capped off an amazing season of disc golf”, Jake Peters says.
Top five in the series
- Jake Peters – 419 points
- Robert Craig – 390 points
- Kolte Breck – 302 points
- Bill McDonough – 260 points
- Josh Mathieson – 207 points
The future – Next Generation Tour 2017
What an amazing first year it was for The Next Generation Tour. I want to thank my Assistant TD for the Tour Synthya Whitaker for her immense help and great artwork on the trophies and discs. I need to thank my other TD’s JohnE McCray , Tim Skellenger, HB Clark for running there events and being a part of the series. I also want to thank Latitude 64 for there generous support as the title sponsor as well as the other tour sponsors. Keen, Paragon, Voodoo, Discgolfcenter, Delta Disc Golf Carts , Dynamics Discs, Westside Discs. We had many other local sponsors, helpers and supporters this year. We just want you to know with you this tour wouldn’t have been possible. Thanks to all the competitors and look forward to bigger and better things from the. Next Generation Tour in 2017. We are actually going to blow your mind , stay tuned!!!!
