McMahon Takes Las Vegas Challenge in First Stop of Disc Golf Pro Tour

Story posted March 3, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Zech Lambert

Ever since Kevin Jones walked away with the Disc Golf Pro Tour title in October, the world of disc golf has been all too quiet.

However, Feb. 25 marked the return of the beloved sport, and despite the lack of fans at the Las Vegas Challenge, there was still plenty of energy and excitement.

After a hard fought first two and a half rounds, Eagle McMahon pulled away in the final round and a half.

His eight-stroke win came thanks in large part to going ten down through the back nine of round three which included eight birdies and an eagle en route to a scorching 1079 rated third round.

He didn’t take his foot off the gas when the final round came around, though, as he clung to only a one-stroke lead over Calvin Heimburg.

McMahon started off six down through six to take his stretch from the previous round’s back nine to a 16 down through his previous 15 holes.

He shot the second-hottest round of the tournament in the final round, earning a 1090 rating.

It trailed only Ezra Aderhold’s third-round 1099 rating, and he capped it off with an upside down Tilt throw and a between-the-leg putt on the last hole to cap off his second Las Vegas Challenge career victory.

Even though he finished the four-round tournament with a 1077 overall rating, what made McMahon’s event even more impressive was the card that he was playing on in the final.

The famed “1050 boys” which featured Heimburg, Paul McBeth and Ricky Wysocki marked the highest rated card in the history of disc golf, with all four players being rated 1050 or higher.

McMahon didn’t bat an eye, showing the world’s best players what he was capable of and not backing down from the challenge of playing with the most elite.

It certainly helped that none of the other “1050 boys” shot up to their potential with none of them even cracking double digits under par.

Specifically McBeth struggled in the final round dropping from third at the beginning of the round to ninth come the end of the event.

McBeth was only three down in round four and was consistently giving himself tester putts near the edge of circle one.

While he did was in circle one in regulation 56% of the time, he only putted 82% from circle one and did not make a single putt from outside the circle in the final round while only being parked twice.

Some of the struggle on his approaches could result from the fact that McBeth had to retire a Buzzz from his bag and put a new one in for the final round.

Whatever the case was, McMahon capitalized on the struggle from McBeth and left him, and the rest of the field, in the dust in the Pro Tour’s first stop of the year.

The Pro Tour marches on to Waco, Texas, for the second stop of the year for the Waco Annual Charity open which takes place March 12-14.

Zech Lambert is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him email zbl5146@psu.edu.