2019 Vienna Open in Bratislava
The new competitive Tri Point Tour series were suppose to be open in Vienna. The event attracted a lot of interest beyond the borders of the region, however, due to environmental concerns in Prater park in Vienna, the tournament was canceled just a few days before its start. Fortunately enough, just 60 km away from Vienna, the course that annually host BTS Urban Mayday was available even at the last moment. The group of Slovak organizers in Bratislava led by Richard Kollár was able to prepare the replacement event within an extremely short time – just four days. And thus the tournament with a combined name 2019 Vienna Open in Bratislava became a part of 100 years anniversary of Comenius University and 64 competing players from eight countries enjoyed the beautiful sunny weekend playing one of the most challenging courses in the region.
In MPO Laurenz Schaurhofer from Austria started with an excellent first round (-9) rated at 1041 and he did not look back. This was the highest rated round so far for Laurenz. He carded also the best second round (-5) and even with the slower third round he was leading before the 6-hole final where he dominated once again (-4). The second place goes to Michal Kúdela from Slovakia who started well in the first round (-6) but struggled a bit in the second round (-2). However, in the more windy Sunday third round he carded the best score (-2) that brought him just two strokes behind Laurenz before the finals. A solid final (-1) gave him a large cushion on the second place 8 strokes ahead of Stan Amann who finished third. Stan had a good second round (-4) but in the third round he struggled on the tricky Hole #1.
In the women division (FPO) the local favorite Katka Bodova tried to separate herself from the start as well. However, her first round (+2) rated at 938 was just two strokes better then excellently playing Irmgard Derschmidt (Austria). Her round (+4) was 920 rated and that is her third highest rated round in her long career, and her highest rated round over the last 7 years. The next two rounds and finals did not go as well for Katka but she was able to finish with 19 strokes lead ahead of Irmgard. The third place went to Alessa Schwarz from Germany who have already tried the Bratislava course before but due to its technical difficulty did not want to come back. But her second try at the course without so much wind went much better then she expected and she finish the event with 860+ rating average despite the difficulties at Holes #1 and #7.
In the female junior division only two players competed but both of them were among the best four in the region. Only 16 years old Natália Nádaska from Slovakia earned her first big win after playing an excellent 850+ rated average over the three rounds that ranks her close to top European players in the division. Lea Schadenhofer from Austria played her first tournament abroad (and certainly not her last) in Bratislava. She started slower but she improved in very round and in the third round she played the same score as Natalia.
In MJ18 three Slovak players competed. Already 11-years old Tomáš Mozola crushed the division with almost 870 rated three round average. Kamil Miko finished second ahead of 7-years old Šimon Pekarovič who showed some amazing skills not only during the tournament but also in the up and down putting competition where he made it into the last 5 players. We hope that Tri Point Tour will bring even more competition in the junior divisions in the future as there is really a huge potential in the whole region. Particularly, FJ18 with further great local talent is definitely the one to look for this season.
Overall, the event went very smooth despite the unexpected relocation from Vienna. Many thanks belong to Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics of Comenius University that strongly supported the event, and also the Natural Sciences and Electrical Engeneering Faculties, as well as Slovak Association of Frisbee and many Slovak volunteers who helped the event to be well organized on such a short notice.
The tour will return to Bratislava next year in May but before that 5 more events are waiting for the players this year – Smolenice Open (Slovakia) and Ybbs Lake Challenge (Austria) in June, Orség Open (Hungary) in July and Krpáčovo Open (Slovakia) in September. The tour will conclude in October in Budapest (Hungary). We are looking forward.
