Nearly 50 competitors from across Texas traveled to Research Park on Saturday, March 4, to compete in the Texas A&M Disc Golf Club’s first “BTHO Bogeys” fundraiser tournament.
While the team will end their competitive college season in April at the national tournament, seven divisions of competitors teed off at 9 a.m. Saturday including emerging professionals and amateur disc golfers looking to get a Professional Disc Golf Association-ranked tournament under their belt.
Competitors played in separate morning and afternoon rounds that ended at 3 p.m. A closest-to-the-pin competition and other disc golf mini games were played for select prizes following the end of the final afternoon round. Funds from the tournament will help pay for the club’s travel and national championship expenses.
“I think it’s really good to host local tournaments out here at Research Park,” team captain, club treasurer and finance graduate student Ben Mueck said. “It really brings everyone together. We get to come out and enjoy the beautiful park, it’s a nice day, and we also get others to support the A&M team, which is super cool.”
Aggies love to support Aggies, so it’s great there was such a solid turnout, Mueck said.
“Everyone loves to play Research Park for tournaments,” Mueck said. “It’s nice to get a rated round out here.”
Sign-up was slow at first, but in the final days before competition the numbers grew, said mechanical engineering senior Max van Noort, a four-year member of the club.
“We were at least hoping to get half the spots filled, but now we have 49 people playing, which is really solid, as a portion of their entry fee helps our teams make it to nationals,” van Noort said.
The fundraiser tournament was fun, said construction science junior Diego Avila, the Mixed Amateur 2 Division winner.
“I got convinced to play last minute, and I thought why not support the team and play this weekend,” Avila said.
The No. 5 A&M competitive squad will travel to Marion, North Carolina, to compete in the College Disc Golf National Championship April 5-8, according to CollegeDiscGolf.com.
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