Konopiště Open Final Round Recap – The German Rises from Ashes
Wow. Just wow. If you have paid any attention to our social media channels, you have probably heard what happened today. If not, please sit down as this is about to get exciting.
The story of the final round is a story of three men, battling for the victory. Granted, the 2014 European Champion Seppo Paju (FIN) shot a stellar round today, including a mind-boggling eagle 2 on the 288 meter (945ft) par 4 hole 9, to secure the 4th place in the tournament with -9 round today (-27 altogether).
However, it was the German-Danish-American trio of Simon Lizotte, Karl-Johan Nybo and Paul McBeth who kept the whole gallery in suspense from start to finish on the lead card today.
Battling neck and neck
Going into the final, Simon was in the lead with -22, KJ just one shot behind at -21 and Paul at -19. Simon caught somewhat of a slow start with par on the first hole followed by his first bogey of the week on the 2nd. While Simon retracted to the background a little bit, Paul McBeth came charging through the gates, birdieing the first 2 holes and tieing the lead with Simon and KJ who missed the birdie on the first but made up for that with a text book birdie on the 2nd hole.
Paul McBeth started his round strong
After this, for quite some time it looked like it the battle for the win would be between KJ and McBeth, with Simon lagging a little behind for the best part of the round. KJ and McBeth were more or less tied to lead until the very last hole. Both McBeth and KJ had a single stroke lead over the other at certain parts of the round, but the gap was never bigger than that. All in all we saw some amazing golf on the course, with a total of 32 birdies and 2 eagles between McBeth, KJ and Simon on the final round.
The miracle on hole 17
With 2 more holes to go, KJ and McBeth were tied to the lead and Lizotte was sitting at 2 strokes behind. On hole 17, traditionally being a pretty simple birdie for the big arms of the lead card, many already counted Simon out of the battle for the championship. Sure enough, both KJ and McBeth scored strong birdies on the 17th. What surprised not only the gallery of a approximately 350 disc golf fans on the course, but also Simon himself, was his 2nd shot that found its way in the basket for an Eagle 2 from 55 meters on the steep uphill hole. With the disc landing in the basket, the gallery exploded and Simon’s confidence experienced a boost rarely seen in any sport.
Simon’s Eagle on hole 17 changed the game
KJ and McBeth still have the edge on the last tee
With the Eagle 2, Simon had the honours on the last tee, just one stroke back of the co-leaders KJ and McBeth. Simon took his understable putter and performed the same hyzer flip line he had done on the 2 previous rounds. This time his drive landed about 12m short of the basket, leaving him an oppurtunity to birdie with an outside the circle putt in cross wind. Next on the tee was Paul McBeth, who shanked his drive wide left, leaving him about a 20 meter straddle putt for the win.
KJ was the third person on the tee, awarded with an opportunity to park the hole and force McBeth to make his difficult putt to conclude a playoff. Surprisingly enough, the same thing that happened to McBeth, happened to KJ, who’s disc trailed wide left, about 30m from the basket. KJ continued with what seemed more like a lay up than a legitimate try to throw in for the championship. Wise play, since going all in with the downhill 2nd shot might have had placed him pretty far, should it have trailed past the basket.
Next up was McBeth with a chance to take the title from his difficult, but still McMakeable putting position. The wind was on Paul’s face on the putt and it landed just a couple meters past the basket. Que in Simon Lizotte, a German risen from the ashes, with his 12 meter putt. The crowd behind the basket exploded in applause as Simon threw his putter in to force a 3-way playoff with McBeth and KJ.
3-way playoff to settle the champion
The playoff holes were to be 1, 17 and 18, with Paul first on the tee thanks to his best round score, a course record setting -13 from the final. It seems Paul wanted to make sure he won’t leave the drive short like we saw many players do over the week and gave his midrange a little too much juice, resulting going OB long. With a fairly difficult drop box to continue from after going OB at 40 meters from basket on this downhill hole, with OB left and long, McBeth’s hopes for victory melted after the tee shot. He tried to throw his disc in for a 3 from the drop box, but sailed past the basket, resulting in a 3rd place finish at Konopiste Open.
And then there was 2
KJ needed to make this to stay in the game.
With McBeth out of the competition, only Lizotte and KJ remained in the battle for the championship. Both had good drives of the tee with KJ around the circle’s edge short and Simon just a couple of meters from the basket wide left. The pressure was on KJ with the birdie putt, knowing Simon would very likely make his for a deuce. KJ lined up his putter and found chains comfortably on the pro side of the basket. With Simon tapping in his putt, the duo was back to hole 17.
@paul_mcbeth goes OB with his drive while the Europeans birdie the first playoff hole. 2 men remain! Next up hole 17. #crazy #DGWT #KonopisteOpen #discgolf Video, jonka Disc Golf World Tour (@dgworldtour) julkaisi
Final hole of the day
The steep 175 meter uphill hole 17 with OB all the way on the left side had served both players well during the 3 tournament rounds, with Simon carding birdie, birdie, eagle and KJ carding birdie, par, birdie on the 2nd to last hole of the course. Both players landed their drives right where they wanted to be and KJ was the first to throw the upshot. KJ’s 2nd shot landed near circle’s edge wide left, while Simon put his upshot to a mere couple meters from the pin.
The long uphill Par 4 hole 17 treated Simon well this week.
Much like on the 1st playoff hole, Simon was to have the advantage on the green, with KJ faced with a make-it-or-break-it putt. This time KJ’s putter did not find enough chains to stick in the basket and Simon was able to tap in his birdie for the championship. What a race to finish!
Recap on the moving day action
During the final round, our social media team was posting numerous play-by-play videos from the lead card. As a result, you can find a timeline of the lead card action on our instagram account. Make sure to check out all the clips here! There’s also still a lot more other videos being put together on the editing board, so make sure to check back on our videos section later on!
Our cameras followed the lead card and the 2nd card.
Our production crew is currently piecing together a wrap up show to be released later tonight. The show will feature select plays from the first round, as well as player interviews and Disc Golf Metrix analysis by the 2009 disc golf world champion Avery Jenkins. Stay tuned for the show this evening and in the meanwhile, go check out the wrap up show from Friday!
Scores & Stats
We also highly recommend checking out the leaderboard and Metrix stats from all 3 tournament rounds. The stats are available for registered users only, so make sure to register here if you haven’t already! And if you’re in luck, registering may pay off in a big way, as we’re raffling a limited edition DGWT Grip Equipment bag among our followers after the event.
