Tournament Details Page!

Virginia Team Invitational - March 17-18, 2012

Results

Match Play

Championship

Commentaries

Debbie's Notes:

First off it was an honor to be selected again as the team Cowbell/Charlotte woman. There has never been a repeat woman except for me. This event is so unique in that it's a true team event and it's played match-play. I love both aspects of that. Bob joined me this year as my caddy, which was a blessing because Hawk Hollow is a beast of a course and it was nice not to have to carry my bag the whole time. And it's getting me used to having a caddy. My father will be caddying for me at the World tournament, so I better get used to having one.

We camped at the Grange again this year and Jennifer & Walt camped with us. Jennifer is a great golfer and friend and it was great hanging out with her again. We got to play the Grange's courses and it's famed Tiki course. Awesome! I so want one! It truly is a putt-putt course for disc golf. At night all the baskets are lit up. What a wonderful experience.

On to the actual tournament... round one was against Michelle Horn. She beat the snot out of me. She played the best disc golf that day that I have ever seen her play. Hawk Hollow was a perfect fit for her style of play. I tried and tried, but she had me. Hats off to you Michelle, well done! Round two was against Becky Sonnheim. Becky played solid. Unfortunately my heart went into ventricular defiberlation and lasted for about 30 minutes. That pretty much cost that round. Round three was against Airlee, whom I beat at the Savannah Open. I guess it was payback, because she got me. I was exhausted from my heart episode, so that one got away from me too.

Sunday was a little better... Round four was against Victoria Pruitt, a solid NC disc golfer. She came from behind to push the match. Round five was against Christine. I finally won one match at VTI this year.

Charlotte/Team Cowbell won the division despite my personal play. We lossed in the semi-finals to Team Unity. I played Sarah Demar, who was incredible. It was an honor just to have played her. She played so well, her form was awesome.

We did the same thing last year. It is still a very rewarding event and I love the team aspect of it. I have grown very close to all my teammates and hope to be invited again to play.

Bob's Notes:

Debbie had been so impressed by last year's VTI experience and she was so excited to be a part of it again this year, that it left me with pretty high expectations for the tournament & trip... I wasn't at all disappointed.

I really enjoy camping.. especially with Debbie.. especially beside a disc golf course. We've been camping at the IDGC, Lake's Edge, Flyboy's Aviation, and now the Grange/Blockhouse. Each has been a wonderful experience. The added bonus of the "Tiki course" made this one even more memorable.. what a wonderful concept, and so well implemented!

This was my first experience with team disc golf as well, and I'm glad that we were with team Cowbell (Charlotte) as the togetherness of this team far surpassed that of any of the other participating teams. They did everything together and genuinely had a good time with each other. I felt that I was a welcome part of the group even though I was "only a caddie" for this trip. Aside from camping & competing together, we also ate together. Two of our meals were at Angelo's Italian restaurant which was fantastic!

As for the tournament itself, that was quite the experience as well. Hawk Hallow is the real deal! I was physically spent just caddying this monster for 6 rounds. The layout, distance, terrain, and variety made for a wonderfully challenging disc golf experience. I would have loved to try my hand at the course, but I was doing good just to stand upright by the end of it.

The thing that stood out most to me from watching Debbie compete this time was that each of her opponents had their best round against Debbie. They all played great throughout the entire weekend I thought, but I was surprised at how the accuracy and level of play from each of the other ladies peaked when playing Debbie. It didn't appear to be an intentional, conscious thing for any of them to play their best during that particular match, but each time I thought to myself that I must be imagining it because of a probable bias, they would whip out some incredible shot that far surpassed what they had done on the same holes in other matches. I can't explain it, and it wasn't a bad thing.. it was just very interesting to see firsthand. There's little doubt in my mind that most of Debbie's opponents would have beaten me in matchplay at the level of play they were demonstrating when matched against Debbie.

Debbie's heartracing issue was obviously a great cause of concern for us. Most seriously is the obvious medical risk invovled. Aside from that, it is very tough to see a great competitior playing hard, then be almost completely stopped by something like this, and then to be too weakened from it to give a full effort afterwards. I don't know that the scores would have been different necessarily, considering the level of play her opponents were demonstrating, but to not even be able to give it a decent effort because of unexpected physical limitations was tough to see.

I was proud of everyone's effort, and pleased that team Charlotte made it to the semi's, winning their division again this year. Hopefully, I will be able to be a part of a great experience like this again someday.