Professional disc golfer and Cranbrook native Casey Hanemayer hosted his third-annual Rocket Bear disc golf tournament on April 27 and 28 and it was once again a huge success, with all 72 available slots filled.
For its first two years, this tournament was a Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) C-Tier, but was bumped up this year to a B-Tier event, so all 72 players had to be active members of the PDGA. It was part of the annual springtime Rusty Ratings series of tournaments, put on by Invermere’s Andre Lodder.
READ MORE: Cranbrook’s Casey Hanemayer hosts inaugural Rocket Bear disc golf tournament
The presenting sponsor of this year’s event was Cranbrook Save-On-Foods, and was also supported by Cold Garden Brewing and Limber Disc Golf out of Calgary, Prodigy Disc, Flex Zone Disc Golf, FunHogz, the Firehall, Encore Brewing and the Heidout.
The sold-out tournament consisted of three rounds, with two at Wycliffe Disc Golf Course — Canada’s third-best course — and one at a temporary course set up by Hanemayer and a team of volunteers at Mission Hills Golf Course. In the past Hanemayer set up his layout before the golf course opened for the year. This year the course was already open, so he rented out the driving range from its new owners, Chris and Kimberly Carrier.
READ MORE: Cranbrook’s Mission Hills par three golf course under new ownership
“Chris and Kimberly are really great people,” Hanemayer said. “They were open to all the options I gave them with disc golf and it all worked out for the weekend, it was really fun.
“I pretty much rented out the driving range for the afternoon on Saturday. Because the ball golfers were out there I couldn’t use as much of the course, so it was a little smaller but everyone seemed to enjoy it still.”
The Carriers enjoyed the event so much, in fact, that they’ve hinted at looking into installing a disc golf course at some point in the future
“Such an amazing thing to see disc golfers and golfers enjoying the property together,” they said. “So much so that we are seriously considering making disc golf a fun time offering.”
In addition to hosting round two, participants were also treated to food and beverages at Mission Hills in the afternoon, plus putting games and long drive contests.
This tournament serves as a fundraiser for Hanemayer’s yearly touring efforts. This year Hanemayer will be touring a bit less and sticking mainly to western-Canadian events, so the fundraiser was more for his trip to Australia in October to compete with the Canadian team in the Team World Championships.
READ MORE: Casey Hanemayer headed to Croatia for World Team Disc Golf Championships
The Mixed Pro Open field was taken down by Noah Higgins of Lethbridge, one of Canada’s top players. He took down Bogdan Szafranowicz, another fixture in the Canadian disc golf scene for many years, in the third playoff hole.
It was a special win for Higgins, who in March suffered a serious seizure in March and was hospitalized. In a social media post after his Rocket Bear win, Higgins said he had a four-stroke lead heading into the final hole of the tournament when he “went into a pre-seizure aura” and became extremely light headed and felt as if he might pass out.
He said he limped through the final hole, finishing with a quintuple bogey which dropped him into a tie for first, forcing a playoff.
“Everyone at the tournament so graciously waited for me to regain a little bit of strength so that I could play in the playoff where I eventually won after three holes,” Higgins said. “Biggest of shoutouts go to my card mates Bogdan, Josh Meijndert and Wilson Mitchell for being so helpful and understanding during hole 18.”
Hanemayer, who’s battled it out with Higgins in countless tournaments, commended him for toughing it out.
“Noah battled and everyone knows he’s a good competitor,” Hanemayer said. “He pulled it together. He was struggling with what he has going on, but he’s a competitor and he won it on the third playoff hole.
“I think everybody really enjoyed the event and it gave pretty much everyone something to watch, the last three playoff holes, everyone went over and watched Bogdan and Noah battle it out for the win, so it was fun.”
As much as he loves competing, Hanemayer said he also enjoys the tournament director role.
“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t like it, right?” he said. “I want Wycliffe to be played more in tournaments, so that’s kind of my reason why I run the event is I want more people to come to Cranbrook and experience it.
“Every year I get a couple new people who haven’t played Wycliffe before and they come and play the event and they’re like ‘yeah I see why it’s rated number three in Canada.’ It’s a really great course and I want every disc golfer in Canada to experience it. And with all the upgrades we make every year it’s just getting better and better.”
The Cranbrook scene overall continues to thrive, as Hanemayer’s sold-out tournament attests to. If you are interested in learning to play disc golf, or play more competitively, follow the Cranbrook Disc Golf Facebook page.
Membership for the Cranbrook Disc Golf League starts at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 30 at the College Course, with the first league night on Tuesday, May 7. Membership for the year is $30. You can send your email address to benloggains@gmail.com if you are new to league this year.