The 1st Daegu Open Disc Golf Tournament was held last week and it was a great time had by all. The tournament was held at the Daegu Environmental Resource Park where around 80 players showed up to show off their skills.  The event was organized by Mr. ByeongWook Baek and James Pearson who both did a great job.  Mr. Kim Sung Bae and members from the KPDGA also provided some great support to make this event the first PDGA sanctioned tournament in South Korea (XC-Tier).    Mr. Baek, James, Tom, and all the members of Team Daegu really put in the hours to host a great event.   Teams from all over Korea showed up to try their hand at the course.

Group Picture

Team Daegu

Team Busan

Team Seoul

From the beginning everybody could see that a lot of effort went into the planning of this tournament. The morning was brisk and sunny. A great type of day for disc golf. As players got out of their cars & taxis they could see two large tents and countless portable baskets ready to be used. Tournament central was a buzz of activity. Players registered smoothly and then picked up their custom Daegu Stamp Valkerie as well as a Daegu Stamp Aviar. Players received a course map and a hole by hole breakdown on the rules. KPDGA brought a bunch of discs for new players to round out their bag… oh ya… and buy new bags if needed. Player cards were prepared ahead of time and it gave players a chance to get out to their holes smoothly.

Mr. Baek was an excellent host and “go-to” guy handling the planning and registration

Registering some rookies.

Getting the kids some shiny new discs.

As the first round started, so did the wind. The wind was a major factor for the players. Everybody did their best, but even top players had discs fly the wrong directions. Putting was very difficult and the course was not easy to score on. Overall it was a windy, but beautiful day.

Look at that form!

 Everybody say kimchi

Putting is easy when you can park your drive under the basket.

After the first round everybody was glad to come back to tournament central and get some cover from the wind. Lunch was ordered and a feast of chicken and Chinese food was had. One of the most fun parts of the day was the accuracy challenge contest. Players got a chance to throw discs at baskets about 50 meters away. If a disc landed in the ten meter circle they got a chance to go to the finals. It was a very fun time to toss some stress free discs while the amazing tournament volunteers were totaling the scores.

I even won a basket during the accuracy challenge.

Congratulations to Min for winning the accuracy challenge in the Amateur division.  Are we looking at a future disc golf world champion in the making?

Mr. Baek getting the second round started on time.  Let’s see who is on the top cards…

As the second round rolled around players started to make their moves. The wind died down a bit, and the pros played some special, and difficult, holes made just for the tournament. The pace of the round was very good. There were not a lot of backups and everybody had a good time. Players finished with the sun still in the sky and some returned to the tent victorious.

There was a nice closing ceremony where trophies and certificates were presented to the players. Overall the tournament was great. The main goal was to advertise disc golf in Daegu while getting much needed plastic to some new players. The organizers did a great job and the tournament was a great success. Thanks to all the people that helped make the event possible. I hope future tournaments in Korea will look at the Daegu Open as an example.

Awesome Trophies

-Derek-