The 9th edition of the Spa Hills tournament was held on 22nd and 23rd July 2023 in Toplice Sveti Martin as the 7th round of the Croatian Disc Golf League in the 2023 season.
The weather conditions in the days before the competition were quite unfavorable for the organizers, and numerous storms and frequent rain made it impossible for the entire course to be arranged at an adequate level, and this particularly related to several fallen trees and larger branches that fell over the paths on which the game was going on. But, all in all the course was in rather good shape to play.
The competition was played on an 18-hole course set up on a golf course and in the surrounding forest areas, and started on Saturday at 9:20 am. Playing conditions were quite good on Saturday, with no significant wind, and occasional short and light rain. The plan was to play two rounds of 18 holes, but due to the announcement of a strong storm, the second round was stopped at around 16:30. At that point players have had 5 to 8 holes left to play. Competitors have finished the hole they were playing, headed to safety, and the competition continued on Sunday morning. After the second round was completed, and after a short break, the participants played the last third round, and the tournament ended with the Winners ceremony at 15:30. On the second day of the competition, the playing conditions were ideal, and the participants could show all their skills.
A total of 82 players who arrived from Austria, Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia participated.
In the highest open MPO category, 33 players participated, and all places on the podium were taken by Austrians - first Leon Sonnleitner with an exceptional -25 compared to course par and an average round rating of 1.019, second Stanislaus Amann with -20 and third Samuel Gould with -14.
In the highest women's FPO category, 8 players participated, and the victory was won by Slovenian Andreja Bernjak with +14. Second place went to Danica Pajtak with +26, and third to Ira Molnar Goricki with +29.
In the lower MA3 category, 16 players participated, and the Austrian Martin Josef Nittmann won with +3. Second place went to Slovenian Andrej Slavič with +9, and third place to Marin Grbac with +10.
In the lower women's FA3 category, three players participated, and the winner was Mojca Bernjak from Slovenia with +58, who after three rounds was tied with Marina Starcic Krvavica from Rijeka, but was better in the sudden death tie breaker. Austrian Christiane Kasses took third place.
In the lowest MA4 category, 22 players participated, and the young local Petar Mikić won with +12. Second place was shared by Austrian Markus Scheibl and another local Dino Harambasic with +15.
The fact that the competitors were ready to perform well is also shown by the fact that they broke both the men's and women's course records. In the men's competition, Stanislaus Amann broke his record from December 2022 (Jingle Hills tournament), which was 50 throws (-8). He even broke that record twice with an identical score of 48 (-10), which he played in the 1st (rating 1034) and in the 3rd (rating 1036) rounds. Along with him, the previous course record was broken by the winner of the tournament, Leon Sonnleitner, who played a 49 (-9) in the second round.
In the women's competition, the record was held by Ana Gorički and Andreja Bernjak with 62 (+4), and in this tournament it was improved by two throws by Andreja Bernjak, who played the first round at 60 throws (+2, round rating 917).
You can find a list of the 10 best results on this course in the PDF document on this page.
Side events were Ace pool, Overachiever and CTP.
The overAchiever award is given to the player who played the tournament the most over his rating, with the fact that the competition includes only female and male players who already have at least 20 rounds included in the rating, because it is a bit easier for those who have just started playing disc golf to play well above their own rating, unlike those who have been playing disc golf for many years. Third place was taken by Dino Harambašić, who played the tournament 49 rating points above his own rating, while first place was shared by Petar Mikić and Davor Galic, who played the tournament 61 above their own rating.
52 players paid the registration fee of €1 for the Ace pool, and the only ace in the tournament was scored by Zoran Krečar on hole 8, thus taking home the entire amount.
The CTP (Closest to the pin) game on hole 9 was won by Andrej Slavič whose disc ended up 0 cm from the basket, that is, resting on the pole.
The results of the competition can be found on the PDGA website.
All photos taken at the tournament are added to the Google Photos Album and can be downloaded and used for social media.
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