Allen Becomes 5-Time Ledgestone Open Champion, Young Cracks First Career DGPT Podium

Photo by Brittany Dickerson

Both Catrina Allen and Heather Young entered championship Sunday at the Ledgestone Open with a chance to stamp their 2020 seasons with a signature moment, and they delivered.

For Allen, it was her first Disc Golf Pro Tour win of the season, while Young was able to land her first career Elite Series podium.

Allen outlasted the competition in wire-to-wire fashion, starting with a 3-under par first round that put her in a tie for the lead. She then rattled off back-to-back 9-under performances that put her in control. 

Her second round was a master class off the tee. She hit 89 percent of fairways and was also in Circle 2 in regulation 89 percent of the time. Allen had an eagle and a seven hole birdie streak that featured four consecutive parked shots during the 1014-rated performance. She posted another 1000-rated round in her third time around Sunset Hills to build an 11 stroke lead headed into the final round.

She went on to birdie five of her first six holes during round four and was steady from there to take home the win.

Young saved her best round for last after progressively improving her score for the event. While she has been able to gain quite a familiarity with being on the lead card in her budding career, she had yet to crack the top-3 at any Elite Series event.

She battled back from a tough start to shoot even during the first round and continued to climb from there. A 4-down in round two put her in third where she was able to stay with a 5-down in round three. With hard charging players, both youthful and experienced -- trying to climb the leaderboard -- Young made the most of her opportunity. 

She was 1-under through her first eight holes and then took off to shoot 6-under the rest of the way and lock down third place without a doubt. Her scorecard remained unblemished despite two out of bounds strokes, thanks in part to a perfect day from inside Circle 1x, where she drilled 12 qualifying putts.

Meanwhile, Chris Dickerson and Kevin Jones finished strong at Eureka Lake to wrap up top-5 finishes. Ezra Robinson (T-11th), Matt Orum (T-11th), Cale Leiviska (T-16th), Sam Lee (24th), and Alden Harris (T-25th) also had great showings.

Dickerson continued to build his final round reputation with a 1084-rated 11-under that vaulted him into third place. He has now finished second, second and third in his last three DGPT events while shooting a rating of 1080 or higher in the final round of all three. Dickerson turned in his double digit round despite two bogeys, and like his Tennessee counterpart in Young, posted a perfect putting mark from inside the circle.

Dickerson showed his great scoring prowess in bouncing back from both bogeys with birdies and never went two holes in a row without birdieing. He also tied the top percentage for Circle 2 in regulation on the final day with an 89 percent.

Jones also solidified a top-5 spot with his fifth place finish. Jones was a lead card staple all weekend long, starting his event with a 1077-rated opener. It was an impressive 10-under performance with just one bogey on his scorecard at Northwood Gold, which showed its teeth as one of the toughest courses on tour during the first two days.

Jones never quite reached his first day peak again, but was able to remain in the mix at the top of the leaderboard throughout the weekend. He has notched top-5 finishes in two of the last three DGPT events, while also winning a Silver Series event in between.