Drama fills FDL season finale

C. Mallery/Warder edge Shreve/S. Mallery in playoff
Von Hagel/Spradlin take Rec Division win

* Results: Week 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6Week 7Week 8
* Allegany County Disc Golf Club on Facebook
* Winter League begins Jan. 1 at The Glades

CUMBERLAND — For the fourth time in nine weeks, Colby Mallery and David Warder were paired together in Allegany County Disc Golf Club Fall Doubles League action.

For the second consecutive week, the pair earned an Advanced Division victory. This time, though, it took a playoff hole to seal it.

Mallery, 19, of Mount Savage, and Warder, 32, of Frostburg, overcame a four-stroke deficit after 13 of 21 baskets on Sunday at Central Assembly of God in Cumberland en route to a one-stroke victory decided on hole number 22. The expected layout was 21 holes, including the traditional 18 plus three more from the short tees in the woods.

David Warder (pictured on No. 3) and teammate Colby Mallery overcome a four-stroke deficit to win in a playoff.

For Mallery and Warder, along with Bill Shreve and Scott Mallery, 21 holes simply weren’t enough.

This week’s format was best shot, with no cap on consecutive drives. Colby Mallery, the club’s November Player of the Month, chose to add the following conditions: Each team started with one disc. When a team birdied a hole, each teammate added a disc. Throwing for par had no effect, but throwing for bogey (or worse) caused each teammate on that team to lose a disc until the next birdie.

Making the most of their big arms, the younger Mallery and Warder birdied No. 8 from the long tee to pull within three strokes. They threw for par on Non. 9, then earned one stroke back on each of Nos. 1-3 to forge a tie. It was decided that the playoff hole would be from the corner of the soccer field fence to basket No. 2. While Mallery, 54, of Mount Savage, and Shreve, 46, of Cumberland, are no slouches when it comes to driving or putting accuracy, they could not keep up with the two younger men on the back 10 that required longer drives. With the rest of the field watching the playoff, it showed. The younger Mallery overthrew the basket. Warder parked it. The elder Mallery and Shreve, meanwhile, threw decent lines but simply couldn’t match the distance of their opponents.

Shreve and Mallery held a three-stroke lead after the front 12, which included all 12 baskets from the short tees. That makes sense, as accuracy on shorter drives, approach shots and putts all play to their strengths. Shreve and Mallery finished the front 12 with six birdies and an eagle — the latter coming on S-X3 in the woods, on a drive and putt from about 25 feet out, both from Shreve — while Team Warder-Mallery managed five birdies from the short tees.

Luke Spradlin-Vogelsang watches at teammate Noah Davis throws an approach shot towards the No. 7 pin.

Things changed over the final nine holes from the long tees. There, Mallery and Warder threw for six birdies compared to just two for Shreve and Mallery.

Despite the second-place finish, Shreve finished atop the Fall Doubles League Advanced Division standings with 98 points. Colby Mallery was second with 94 points and Scott Mallery was third with 81 points. Shreve and the younger Mallery each played all nine weeks of the FDL season while Scott Mallery played seven weeks. Warder, in just three weeks of play, tied with Ethan von Hagel for fourth in the Advanced Division standings.

Rec Division

Jay Goodman’s drive from the long tee on No. 7 set up a birdie for him and Keith Raynor, and the pair forged a tie with Rec Division opponents Ethan von Hagel and Kevin Spradlin with four baskets to play.

Von Hagel, 19, of Cumberland, and Spradlin, 43, of Frostburg, led by one stroke after the short 12 baskets. The major difference was that Raynor, 46, of Vale Summit, and Goodman, 20, of Frostburg, threw for bogey on the first basket of the afternoon — No. 3 — while von Hagel and Spradlin threw for par. Both teams finished the front 12 with three birdies each. Von Hagel played down in the Rec Division in order to complete an even field.

Thank goodness for Spradlin that he did. Spradlin, who has been playing regularly for 16 months, is solid enough from the short tees but lacks the ability to drive with any distance; von Hagel doesn’t have that problem. The team used Spradlin’s drives on seven of the first 12 from the short tees. From the long tees, it was mostly all von Hagel, as his drive was used six of nine times — and the other three were somewhat generous.

Still, it was just good enough to keep ahead of Raynor and Goodman.

With the shared win, Spradlin finished atop the Rec Division standings over the nine-week Fall Doubles League with 87 points. He was the only Rec Division player to compete in all nine weeks. Noah Spradlin, 23, of Frostburg, was second with 56 points (over seven weeks). Nicholas Willmon, 28, of Oakland, finished third by earning 34 points in only three weeks of play. In four weeks, Raynor earned 27 points — good for fourth place — while Matt Marsh, 20, of Oakland, rounded out the top five with 24 points in three weeks.

Youth Division

Luke Spradlin-Vogelsang missed weeks 7 and 8, while Noah Davis earned 26 points in the same timeframe to leapfrog his former soccer teammate for first place in the Youth Division standings. Clinging to a four-point heading into Sunday, the two were paired together — which meant the order would remain the same.

Davis, 8, and Spradlin-Vogelsang, 9, played 13 holes and finished six under par 48 on the modified division standard. They started on No. 1 and birdied the first basket of the afternoon, earning a second disc. They birdied Nos. 4 and 5, too, but gave one back with a double bogey on No. 6.

The pair finished with four birdies on the front nine, then ended their day with birdies on the final four holes — Nos. 1 through 4.

With the shared win, Davis remained atop the Youth Division in the final Fall Doubles League standings with 62 points. Spradlin-Vogelsang was second with 58 points. Both players competed in seven of the nine weeks of action. In only a single week, Haley Griffith, 11 of Wyommissing, Pa., finished third with six points.

Players in all divisions weathered a start-time temperature of about 32 degrees plus a in-and-out wind of 8-10 mph. A few snowflakes fell.

Week 9 notes

1. Scott Mallery won CTP on short No. 2 and chose a Streamline Drift driver. Luke Spradlin-Vogelsang earned CTP on short No. 3 (prize TBD).

2. Fall Doubles League was completed without an ace; the $89 in the ace pot will move over to Winter Doubles League starting Jan. 1 at The Glades in Accident.

3. The Allegany County Disc Golf Club has collected $371 in registration fees (not including the ace pot).

4. Twenty-seven (27) different players completed 96 rounds of disc golf over the nine-week Fall Doubles League. That compares favorably to the 2021-22 Fall/Winter Doubles League, during which 23 players completed 134 rounds over 18 weeks.

5. The points re-set to 0 for all players starting Jan. 1 in Week 1 of Winter Doubles League. There is likely to be a slight tweak to the points system for Winter Doubles League.

Week 9 play in both the Advanced and Rec divisions was about as close as it could get.

Week 9 (of 9) is in the books.

 

Jay Goodman drives from the No. 5 long tee.

Keith Raynor drives from the long tee on No. 5.

 

Ethan von Hagel attempts an uphill put on No. 6.

 

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