Missed putt seals win for Beachy, Raynor

Doubles play resumes Jan. 2 in Cumberland

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For AlleganyPlayground.com

CUMBERLAND — The course giveth and the course taketh away.

When Dan Beachy plays, Dan Beachy usually wins.

And despite it being only one day after Christmas, the disc golf course at Central Assembly of God was not in the giving spirit. In fact, there were moments it seemed more like Halloween — complete with tricks played by invisible ghosts and goblins worked to make a disc bounce or roll just the wrong way and frustrate, to no end, the unsuspecting player who had thrown it.

It was a gremlin — or perhaps a set of lightweight chains — that allowed Dan Beachy’s putt to bounce in, then out, of the first basket on the back nine. The chains, the yellow basket and the blue flag on top, as all inanimate objects tend to do, did nothing. There was no reaction. But for Beachy, it was an unhappy putt.

That missed putt cut in half the two-stroke lead Beachy and teammate Keith Raynor held over Seth Wilson and David Warder after the first nine baskets. And on the next basket, when Beachy and Raynor made par while Wilson and Warder made birdie, the score was knotted at 30 strokes apiece.

Keith Raynor’s forehand drives worked to his team’s advantage.

As the course had taken — and given to Wilson and Warder— the table turned No. 13. There, Warder’s putt for par bounced in, then out — and just like that, Beachy, 38, of Frostburg, and Raynor, 45, of Vale Summit, were in the lead again.

It was a lead they would not give up a second time, as Team Beachy-Raynor finished with a round-low score of 51 on Sunday at Central Assembly of God in Cumberland.

It was the final week of Western Maryland Disc Golf Fall/Winter Doubles League action for 2021.

Wilson, 27, of Cresaptown, and Warder, 31, of Frostburg, finished with a 53. Kevin Spradlin, 42, and Luke Spradlin-Vogelsang, 8, both of Frostburg, finished a distant third (81). Ethan Shreve, 18, of Cumberland, was tied for second with Team Wilson-Warder after the first nine holes. Shreve played solo as the odd man out but, as planned going into the competition, he did not complete the back nine.

Seth Wilson on the tee.

The two-stroke difference could be traced all the way back to No. 5 on the front nine. Going into the effort, Beachy and Raynor led by a single stroke. While they birdied the 180 feet on No. 5, though, Warder and Wilson — and aberration to be sure — bogeyed the attempt. That put Warder and Wilson down by three, and two birdies (on Nos. 7 and 8) could only cut one stroke off the deficit.

Beachy and Raynor made birdie on four of the first nine and though they bogeyed No. 10, they made par or better on eight of the last nine. Wilson and Warder, meanwhile, bogeyed twice (Nos. 13 and 17).

Though well off the leading pace, it should be noted that Spradlin-Vogelsang played from the white tees for only the second time, even though players under the age of 18 are permitted to drive from the red tees for the entire round. Spradlin-Vogelsang used the opportunity to practice with his new Crave disc he received for Christmas — and it seemed to work pretty well, too, considering his team used his drive on multiple occasions as the better chance for a lower score. The pair, by far the least-experienced players on the course, still managed to make par three times on the front nine and three bogeys on the back nine.

David Warder drives into the sun on No. 13.

Doubles play resumes Sunday, Jan. 2, at Central Assembly of God. Registration begins at 1:30 p.m. with a 2 p.m. tee time.

Luke Spradlin-Vogelsang, 8, drives from a red tee on the front nine using his new Crave driver.

 

 

 

 

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