Morning Sentinel
Skowhegan native 17th at U.S. disc golf championships
By SCOTT MARTIN
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel Thursday, June 21, 2007

By SCOTT MARTIN

Staff Writer

The Toboggan Course at Kensington MetroPark in Milford, Mich., was unlike any disc golf course Jason Dore had ever seen. It was much longer than the course he was used to in Fairfield. It also featured drastic elevation changes.

Dore handled the course pretty well, despite being shocked by it. The Skowhegan native shot a 2-under-par three-day total of 184 to finish 17th at the Pro Disc Golf Association's United States Amateur Disc Golf Championship. Jake Newell of Emporia, Kansas topped the 91 player field with a three-day score of 173.

"It was ridiculous," Dore said of the course. "It was totally different than anything in Maine. It was longer and the elevation changes were crazy. The conditions were just totally different."

Dore saw the 8,824-foot long course for the first time on a video of last year's championship, but didn't have much of an idea of how tough the course would be until arriving for the tournament Thursday. His home course, Quaker Farm Disc Golf in Fairfield is quite short in comparison at just 4,430 feet long.

"I got a look at the holes and how (last year's winners) played them," said Dore of the video. "But it is too different from where I play to get a chance to practice. There are no elevation changes like that around here."

Dore closed the tournament with back-to-back rounds of 62, even par, to finish 2-under in his first national championship tournament.

A baseball and basketball player at Skowhegan, Dore picked up disc golf about five years ago. His father, Ryan Dore, got him into the game and Dore soon fell in love.

"It's been addictive," Dore said.

He started playing in tournaments a year ago, and competes on both the Maine Disc Golf Champions Series and the Maine Players Tour. He won his first tournament, on the Maine Champions Series, at Quaker Hill last season. On the Players Tour this summer, he is ranked second in the pro open division behind Ben Dunlap.

"If there's a tournament, I'm going to be in it," said Dore, a math major at the University of Maine at Farmington. "As long as I have time, I'll play."

Dore earned his spot in the U.S. Amateur Disc Golf Championship by winning the advanced amateur title at the Dragon Disc Golf Championship on June 2. He shot a two-round total of 99 (50-49) to beat second-place finisher Pete Hess by three strokes.

Scott Martin -- 621-5618

smartin@centralmaine.com

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