Centralia Was the Place to Be for Area Disc Golfers Saturday

A large number of Effingham area disc golfers traveled to Centralia Saturday for the Southern Illinois Tour kickoff event. The Van Man Discs event was presented by Dynamic Discs, and was dubbed the Buena Onda Blastoff. Buena Onda roughly translates to "cool". 

It was a big field, with 158 DG players signed up for the event.

That included 33 players in the Advanced Division, the scene of a lot of action.

Three players, including two local competitors, were tied for the lead after Round One. Joseph Garland from Effingham and Cole Mintert from Mattoon were tied at -2, along with Ike Homburg of Indianapolis. 

The second round included a wild finish on the 18th hole that left Garland and Homburg tied at -3, along with Josh Schenkenfelder and Nickolas Fritz. Garland and Homburg each shot -1 in the second round, while Schenkenfelder went -2 and Fritz shot -4 after +1 in Round One.

The four players tied for the top at -3 then began a sudden-death playoff. While Garland, Homburg and Schenkenfelder played in the same group in Round 2, Fritz did not. Fritz won the division championship on the second extra hole.

Also, Mintert shot +2 in the second round to finish even for the tournament and in a tie for seventh place.

Other local players in Advanced Division included Mark Jones who finished ninth at +1, going -3 in Round Two after +4 in Round One, and Hadley Majors who finished in a tie for 10th at +2, although his day was brightened by recording an ace. Andrew Burgholzer finished 19th at +9.

In the Intermediate Division, Ben Ruholl finished 12th at +3.

In the Recreational Division, Ben Keller finished tied for second at -3, while Bob Feldhake finished fourth at -2. Noah Lohman finished 13th at +6.