Vanessa Porterfield/courtesy photo
More than 100 professional and amateur disc golfers will be in the area for the annual Colorado Open on Saturday and Sunday.
Sponsored by Dynamic Discs, the two-day event will take place at both the Glenwood Springs Golf Club, where they have set up a temporary disc course, and the Fire Mountain Disc Golf Course in New Castle.
“It brings tons of professional and recreational disc golfers from all over,” Tournament Director Vanessa Porterfield said.
Porterfield, who took over the tournament three years ago, says players mostly come from throughout Colorado and the bordering states.
“We have a competitor coming from as far away as Hawaii this year,” Porterfield added.
Porterfield and her husband, Assistant Tournament Director Brandon Hesser, took over organizing the event after the long-time-running tournament had a two-year hiatus after the previous director retired.
“This will be the third year it has been back. It’s usually held in the spring at the start of the disc golf season,” Porterfield said.
Porterfield said she and Hesser fell for the sport five years ago when she was pregnant, and they both picked up the popular sport and subsequently opened Gypsy Disc Golf, a retail disc store in New Castle.
She said there are around 10 disc golf courses in Garfield County alone.
EVENT SCHEDULE
Saturday and Sunday’s tournament will include two of Colorado’s top pros. Joe Rovere of Lafayette and J.C. Kester of Palisade will both be competing.
The pool play tournament will get underway Saturday at both Glenwood Springs Golf Club and the Fire Mountain course in New Castle.
The tournament will be made up of 14 divisions, including professional categories of Open and Women’s Open division, Pro Masters 40+, Advanced, Amateur Masters 40+, 50+, 55+, 60+ men and women, and an intermediate and recreational division.
“The first day they’ll play at both courses. There’s two pools, one pool will starts at Glenwood, the other New Castle, and then they swap,” Porterfield said.
She said Sunday is trophy day, with the final two rounds at the Glenwood Springs Golf Club.
Trophies will be awarded to first, second and third place finishers.
Porterfield said the trophies were handmade by a local metal artist.
Saturday, there will be an insurance policy on hole 4, if anyone gets a hole-in-one. And, depending on disc brand, they will win $5,000 to $10,000.
Porterfield said spectators are welcome.
“A lot of people are amazed to see some of these guys throw,” Porterfield said. “The more spectators the better, then the more people will understand what the sport is about.”