Wolodkin nets first club win

Warder, T. Farris tie for 2nd
Glow round set for Saturday (5/27) at 8:45 p.m.

FROSTBURG — David Warder told Sam Wolodkin that “the pressure is on” as the two headed to the No. 15 tee.

Wolodkin looked at Warder, offered his signature smirk, and proceeded to shank a left-handed backhand drive from the tee towards the basket 145 feet away. Despite the awkward release, the 20-year-old Frostburg resident’s disc somehow sliced throw dozens of trees and landed approximately 15 feet from the basket.

No pressure indeed.

Wolodkin vowed to miss the put, and he kept his promise. With the par-saving putt for a third stroke, he remained tied for first place with Warder, 32, of Frostburg, headed into the No. 17. Like Warder’s drive, Wolodkin’s tee shot sailed right early.

No pressure, though. He calmly sank the putt from a fair distance — well outside of Circle 1 — for the birdie and the lead. Warder settled for par. Wolodkin birdied No. 18 for a bit of breathing room and sealed his first outright win with the Allegany County Disc Golf Club on Friday night to kick off Memorial Day weekend at Hoffman Park Disc Golf Course in Frostburg. Wolodkin was presented with a commemorative Hoffman Park Disc Golf Course disc to recognize his achievement.

Wolodkin finished with a seven under par 47. Warder and Tim Farris, 26, of Wiley Ford, W.Va., tied for second with a 49. Bill Shreve, 47, of Cumberland, placed fourth with a 51. Shania Farris, 26, of Wiley Ford, was one stroke behind Shreve with a 52, and Kevin Spradlin, 44, of Frostburg, placed sixth with a 53.

Wolodkin paced the field with seven birdies, while Warder and Tim Farris tallied six apiece.Warder’s total included five in a row, from Nos. nine to 13. Spradlin added five (plus an ace), while Shreve and Shania Farris finished with four each. Spradlin, who began playing disc golf on a regular basis in August 2021, also threw his first ace of his disc golf life. He threw his Axiom Eclipse 2.0 Hex disc 130 feet from the tee pad to the No. 9 basket. It was the fifth ace in club history, behind Shreve, who has two, and one each from Caleb Campbell and Tash Scolaro. It was the second ace during a club round at Hoffman Park Disc Golf Course, which opened on May 14. Shreve threw the first approximately 51 minutes into the club’s very first round on the course on Opening Day on May 14.

Halfway in, only two strokes separated the adult field. Wolodkin took 23 strokes to complete the front nine. Warder needed 24 strokes, while Mr. and Mrs. Farris, Shreve and Spradlin all needed 25 strokes apiece. Wolodkin and Tim Farris tied for the best on the back nine (24).

Youth Division

Luke Spradlin-Vogelsang, 9, of Frostburg, used experience to outlast newcomer Wyatt Dare, 13, of Ellerslie, in a two-player Youth Division on Friday night.

Spradlin-Vogelsang finished with a score of 34 over nine baskets. Dare, playing on a disc golf course for only the second time of his life, finished with 49 strokes. It was 10 strokes off the score of 39 he threw two nights earlier. This time, though, Dare was using his new mid-range disc that offered a little more stability than what he was used to. He tinkered with that and mixed in his putter to throw for par on No. 2. He had a bogey on No. 1, but ran into trouble on No. 4 when he carded a nine.

Spradlin-Vogelsang, meanwhile, continued to experiment with rollers and other imaginative throws. He managed par on five of nine baskets and settled for bogeys on two others.