A Smithers resident won one of the few disc golf tournament in Northern B.C. with a narrow victory over his competitors last weekend.
Byron Turner took home the top prize in the advanced category, finishing with a minus one and beating his competition only by a few strokes during the 2014 Trilogy Tournament at Ranger Park Sunday afternoon.
“It was great. It was a really clean game, lots of pars and not a lot of bogeys,” said Turner.
“I didn’t win by much though, the second and third winners were only a couple of strokes behind me so it was really close after all.”
But it was the last of the 12-hole course where Turner faced the most trouble, he admitted.
“I birdied out the last hole and dropped back to minus one, which is below par,” he said, adding that he tried to keep the game simple, playing for par and tossing close to the basket.
Glen Ingram and Mark Parminter finished second and third, respectively, in the advanced category after an intense sudden-death three-hole playoff.
Isaiah Sinclair came in first in the novice category shooting nine over par with Val Anderson in second place with 16 over par.
In the tournament, each of the 17 participants were given three brand new discs to play with that are not yet on the market.
According to tournament organizer, Ben Anderson, the discs did give some players trouble, but it also helped get all participants on an even keel.
“It definitely evened the playing field,” said Anderson. “There were people who haven’t played all year and they did really well . . . but everyone was pretty excited to get new discs. It really made you slow down and think about your shots.”
Turner agreed that playing with new discs was a challenge.
“It was really sketchy, you’re not quite sure what they’re going to do,” he said.
Rebecca Goalder, who came in last shooting 26 over par, said the terrain was the most challenging part of the tournament for her.
“It was two holes that took me down, I don’t know what it was, but my disc was magnetically attracted to trees,” she said. “Otherwise, I would have been on par with all the people in my group.”
Despite coming in last, Goalder said she would try it again.
“It’s always a good time when you come out and do it. I’ll never be as competitive as some of the guys here who do it, but it’s fun,” she said.
In total, there were nine other trilogy tournaments across Canada.