We left Virginia and drove up to Avery's house in Medina, Ohio. We did our laundry and hung out a couple days. Mike Sommerfeld (2000 Am World Champ) drove us around town to run errands and get some entry fees sent out to the upcoming big tournaments. It's getting so that if you don't pre-register for tournaments you don't get to play in them. It wouldn't be so bad but we don't have enough money to pre-reg for more than one tournament at a time. So we sent out our Pro Worlds registration and that was a mighty big chunk of money. About $900 for the whole crew: $525 for singles, $75 for divisional doubles, $50 for mixed doubles, $80 for the driving, putting, and mini golf contests $75 for the banquet, $75 for a flymart table... it just kept adding up. We also had to send off $276 for Kansas City Wide Open entry fees. Most of the other big tournaments said that they would hold a spot for us but a few still wont. Hopefully we'll be able to scratch up some cash soon so we can play in those tournaments. Dave tells me I should think about pulling some strings as the 'Competition Director' but I figure that would be a pretty blatant abuse of power.

The Canton Hall of Chains tournament used to be a SuperTour when I started playing disc golf in 97 and 98, but these days it's dropped to B-tier status. It is however a very good B-tier. Two top notch courses at Massilon and Canton. After Saturday's rounds at Massilon, Dave and I were solidly in 1st and 2nd place. I had a three stroke lead on Dave, J. Gary Dropcho and Kevin Stewart were tied one stroke behind Dave.

Sunday morning at Canton started with Dave's slight cold hitting him full power. He pretty much took naps on half the tees and I was surprised that he even finished the round. Dave dropped to 7th place while Stewart and Dropcho shot great and moved into a tie for the lead with me. Avery also shot out of nowhere with a new course record to sit one stroke behind the three leaders going into the final nine showcase. Some tough luck in the finals left Stewart winning, Dropcho in 2nd, me in 3rd, and Avery 4th. We made a little bit of cash and held a doubles at Canton on Tuesday that brought in a little bit more. Even though Dave was sick, the Shule Monkey still saw to it that he cashed.

Next we drove down to Kingsport, TN for the Lakefront Open B-tier on the small but pretty Warriors Path course. How small? Get this.... We played a 72 hole tournament: I shot -36, Dave shot -34, Avery shot -22. (-92 combined), and none of us even finished in the top ten. We had been all set up to hold a MaceMan doubles on Friday before the tournament but none of the locals wanted to play doubles for prizes and they held their own $5 cash doubles instead. We gave up and played in their doubles. The local park ranger also threatened to fine me for selling a towel to someone without a permit... whatever.

Avery gets the Shule Monkey for the Melbourne Open next weekend.

The big story in Kingsport was that Brad Hammock showed up to play. Brad has sort of been missing in action for the past couple of years, and I think the last place he was seen was at the 1998 World Championships. Since then he had hurt his hand in an automobile accident. Brad shot a -23 for the tournament and had a tough last round, but still seemed to enjoy getting back into the sport. We should be seeing more of him this year as he gets his game back into top form.

Right now it's Monday morning. We spent one more night here at the Warriors Path campground (very nice) and plan to head for Florida sometime today. When we get to Melbourne we will be spending two days at a beachfront resort. Avery won a two night stay on a CTP during the Triple Crown. Should be fun... and relaxing. Monday after the tournament (memorial day) we will be hosting a MaceMan doubles at Spacecoast National. That's the disc golf / ball golf course that we played earlier in the year. Hopefully some people will show up to play.

-Todd and Crew

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