Sometimes Nice Guys Finish Second

*I think the story of the weekend was Ian Thurston. He's a man who deserves kudos for a variety of reasons. First of all, he moved to Pro faster than anyone in recent memory.  (Maybe J. Spring moved faster.)  Most people in the club take forever to change divisions, but Ian Thurston doesn't care. He made the move early and deserves credit for it. Second of all, he's one of the nicest guys you'll meet, especially in our little subculture. So, when he has a day like he had today and finishes second in Pro, he gets the headline. Nice work, Mr. Thurston. You shot really well, fought through some adversity, beat some good Pros, and cashed. Plus, I got to see the first round. That back nine (excuse me, I'm sorry, Bachnein) score of 24 was fantastic.

Future Pro Champ Chris Young and Nice Guy Ian Thurston

*Lock downs were the next best thing happening at Burke View. Chris Young seems to have locked down the Pro win. I don't know if he's mathematically locked it down yet, but its got to be close. Emmett's gone back to Colorado and Young Bucks has dodged the rest of the field to hold onto his lead. I predicted that he wouldn't be able to handle the pressure of first place all year, but he's proven me wrong. Not that it's hard thing to do, but he showed me.

*James Sweat also pulled of his own stone cold lead pipe lock down. He's going to drop a GMPS score of 66 and add a score of 91 or so. Unless Jon Moorer wins the Finals and James doesn't do anything good at Sugarbush, the Sweat Machine seems to be Vermont's Best Amateur Disc Golfer of 2011. Nice job. And in all honesty, he deserves it. He battled all year last year with eventual winner Jim Conroy and current Pro phenom Ian Thurston. It's nice to see James Sweat hanging tough for another year and bringing home the win. Not to toot my own horn, but this really fits in with my previous message of being unemployed to improve your discgolfing.

*Not that Jon Moorer doesn't deserve tons of credit. He's had a seriously good year. He's won tournaments, been on the top card as much as anyone or more, and flicks way better than you can. He would have been very deserving of an Am 1 win, but this just might not be the year. Expect great things from him in 2012, The Year of the Spring. (Plus, first and second place in AM 1 actually both fit into the unemployment = disc golf success plan. Loyal readers, I promise, I won't lie to you.)

*And, in that other division, Andy Powell has also locked down his own win. He also hasn't mathematically eliminated the entire division, but he's really, really close to doing so. Murray has a chance if he wins again at the Finals. If not, Andy's the man in that division he's been playing in since the dawn of time. (Whoops, sorry about that. I meant not to be a jerk this time around. I'll try better in the rest of the blog post.)

*Lyndon State. Wow. That place looks unreal. The tee boxes are quite nice. I can only imagine the work that goes into a project like that. (It's probably five to six times as hard as putting in 8 or so Fly 18 Pads at Waterbury and then not following through with the rest of the install.) The mowing and cutting of brush that's been done at Lyndon is really what makes the course so amazing, in my opinion. Last year some of the holes were very scary, because of the bushes and knee to waist high weeds. This year, the place is immaculate. Everything is trimmed. The fairways, greens and even the rough are very, very well maintained. Nice job.

*Emmett Cosgrove is gone. He went back to Colorado and I think it's definitely a shame. He was a good addition to our community. He's a great disc golfer and I've played plenty of good rounds with him. I think the GMDGC was better with him as a part of it, but that's life. Chris Young probably doesn't mind, at least from a point series perspective. It'll also add another element to the Twin Falls Point Series. Probably though, Emmett will win that without a challenge. (Between you and me, he's already gotten rich off the points series this year. Next year there's going to be a rule to prevent this sort of thing, or at least limit the chances of it. I think we'll probably end up calling it the Emmett Rule.)

*Circle Three won't be able to cover the Finals. We'll be looking for another field correspondent to send in some updates. Interested? Get in touch if you are.  This guy down below, he'll probably do something spectacular at the Finals and we'll all need to know about it...