The time is now. Finally, after what seems like a very long off-season to those of us who's home course has been unplayably waterlogged for most of the last three months, the 42nd Wintertime Open takes place this weekend, beginning on Friday 15th-Sunday 17th. The pros will be playing one round per day for a total of three rounds. The event is only an A-tier, and not on the DGPT or Pro Tour, but is often considered one of the primary warm-up events, this year alongside the Las Vegas Challenge which is also an A-tier, before the tour season starts proper at The Memorial.

As many of our favourite pro players make their way to California for the start of the season, Don't Shoot is here to preview the event, provide important details about how you can follow it and take you through both the course and some of the runners and riders for this long-standing season opener.

Coverage

Let's get the most important thing out of the way first - Yes, you will be able to watch this event! Central Coast Disc Golf are providing Next Day MPO1 (lead card) coverage as per their 2020 filming schedule. No further details are known yet, but expect a star-studded feature card and commentary from Ian Anderson and a guest, usually a touring pro or tournament director. While Udisc Live will not be in attendance you can see post-round analysis on Ultiworld's news site or see the scores after they come in on an evening on the PDGA event page if you can't wait for the coverage.

The Course

The 42nd annual Wintertime Open takes place at Oak Grove disc golf course in Pasadena, California. Oak Grove is a special piece of Disc Golfing history, as the first permanently installed disc golf course in the world. Established in 1975, one of the original baskets can still be seen at the course today!

One of the original baskets can still be found at Oak Grove - 📷/u/investinlove

The course itself is a beautiful wooded course in the traditional California style. Trees are often spindly, with many limbs and branches reaching close to the ground. This can frequently lead to many awkward lies with our players having to reach around, stretch out or otherwise improvise a shot to scramble for par if their drive isn't pure.

Being an urban park, there are also some man-made features in play on the course such as light poles which make up mandatories, bins and park benches to avoid and other obstacles adding to the difficulty of the course. As the course is in California we may also see the optional implementation of PDGA rule 805.02, or the Two Metre Rule, which gives players an out-of-bounds stroke penalty if their disc comes to rest more than two metres above the ground. The author is not sure if the rule will be in play at this specific competition, however it is frequently used in California so be on the look out! You can also expect to see skips off of rocks, rollaways and tight low ceilings, starting the season off the way it intents to begin with the other courses on the initial southern swing of the tour having very similar characteristics.

In previous years, the course has played fairly difficult in terms of pro tour courses, with last year's hot round of -13 by Eagle McMahon being rated 1079, and the winner, Adam Hammes averaging around -8 per round. There are expected to be a couple of course changes this year, with last year's event affected by flooding, and with at least one basket being moved back to allow conservation areas to be moved as per the Tournament Director on Facebook.

2019 Wintertime Open winners and ratings - PDGA

While occasionally layouts change between Am and Pro weekend, the AM event last weekend played a par-60 layout with one of the par-4s split into two par threes, and the course played very difficult, with no player able to finish the tournament under par. That being said, the highest rated player at the AM event was 973, so the pros will be expected to shoot far below that, and I expect a total score of around -21 to win the tournament.

2020 AM winner William Marion averaged around 960 rated to win the event - PDGA

The Cast

It's somewhat inevitable that, at the very least the first round will be the Paul McBeth show. Paul is sponsoring the tournament he first played in 2012 to promote his new Discraft range of discs, the first time that McBeth has so publicly sponsored a tournament, and certainly the highest profile one so far. He also recently announced that he would start his season earlier than expected at this tournament, and recently played his first boot-free round after recovering from the ankle injury that forced him to end his 2019 season early.

McBeth has his ankle boot off and is ready to shred the wintertime open.

McBeth is also a multi-time winner of this event and has finished as runner up for the last two years. This, factored in with the location of the tournament which is close to his original home of Huntington Beach, California, makes picking anyone over him to win seems outlandish at best and foolish at worst. Expect to see him on the feature card for at the very least Round One, but most likely for the whole weekend.

Paul's teammate Adam Hammes is also certainly one to watch this weekend. He won this tournament in 2019, and then went on to finish the season incredibly hot, and was picked as One To Watch in my breakout season article. He'll be looking to defend his title, and as a fellow Discraft player, don't be surprised to see him on the feature card for our viewing pleasure too. Look out for his exceptionally accurate driving and long-range putting - he is known for not even using a jump putt as far out as the edge of Circle 2 (20m!).

Elmore is looking to make a big splash in 2020 hoping to win his first A-tier or better of his career - 📷udisc

My dark horse pick for this weekend is one of my favourite players to watch, Sias Elmore. Team MVP's joint highest rated player and the 11th highest rated player in attendance overall, Sias is ready to stamp his mark on the tour this season. His simple and reproducible form and exceptional putt-and-approach game will do him well at a course like Oak Grove where distance off the tee isn't the most important factor to performing well. Expect a charge into the top 5 if his putt is working and don't be surprised at all if he makes the feature card for our viewing pleasure!

Cover photo credit - /u/testiclesalsa on Reddit