Discing as a numbers man

Yesterday, I got up at 4:30 AM and drove 100+ miles to play in my first disc golf tournament of the year. First of all, the right elbow injury which caused my first event to be this late in the year had NO issues. I did tweak a calf muscle late and cramped my right shoulder changing my shirt in the parking lot after it was over.

Since I was physically and personally unable to play Saturday, I played in the 50+ group as opposed to the Am3 group. Though I had never played the course before, I shot a very good first round and a respectable second round.

How the Professional DISC Golf Association rates tournament and club play is by a number created based on how well the best player(s) that day did and subtracting from that number points for every shot worse than the best player. The amount of points subtracted (anywhere from 6-14) depends on the overall difficulty of the course that day.

My round ratings were 867 and 838 which meant I had by best played event ever. In spite of that I finished 7th out of 10.

The cool thing about ratings is that they can be applied to other events. All I need to do is find the round scores that are closest to my round ratings and that would determine what my game yesterday would have scored there.

In the Am4 division held the day before which I am eligible because my player rating is 819, (best in the world is over 1,050) I would have finished third with the ratings I had yesterday. In what probably is my next event on Aug 13, my ratings from yesterday would have finished third, one shot out of first in Am4 at last year's event.

Though not 100% guaranteed like the time I played Am4 in an event last year where my arm had major issues and I missed cashing by one shot, I expect to cash for the first time at an Illinois Open Series event after not doing so the first 8 times.

I also went to the PDGA site to look at all the 50+ year old players and found the #1 player in Illinois is ranked tied for 21st in the US and my rating puts me in a tie for 881st.

Two women in the 50+ bracket have a better rating than I do but I question one listing as the person is significantly in first, someone who was recently added, and has a first name of James.