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AUBURN -- A record number of players turned out at Dragan Field for the biggest disc golf tournament ever staged in the state of Maine.  Seventy-three players competed in eight divisions at the Dragan Disc Golf Championships, a PDGA Champions Tour event and the flagship event of the inaugural Maine Championship Series.

As usual, the Pro Open division was tightly contested, with just five strokes separating the top eight players.  In the end, it was Massachusetts' Tim Walsh who emerged victorious, going wire-to-wire to claim the $500 guaranteed first place prize and his second career Dragan Championships title.  2003 defending champ Mike Dussault played his way from the second card into a three-way tie for second with Jason Southwick and Dr. Doug Ertman.

In the Pro Masters (over 40 years of age) division, Steve Hartwell of Massachusetts set the pace as the first round leader, but it was last year's runner up, Brian Shoff of Brunswick, who cruised to his second Dragan Championships victory in deja vu fashion.  Just as in Shoff's 2002 Pro Masters victory, he bested Rick Williams of Massachusetts, who carded a second round 55 to jump to second place, by five strokes.

For the second year in a row, Heather Azato of Delaware claimed the Pro Women's crown, becoming the first back-to-back winner in event history.  Azato shot an impressive 64-67 on her way to victory.  On the Amateur Women side, Danielle LaMountain of Massachusetts shot a 75 and an 80 to win the title over local Tracey L'Italien.

The Amateur 1 division proved to be a see-saw battle through the first round and the first half of the second, before Dragan Field's own Kyle Enman turned it on and claimed his first Dragan Championship.  Norm Fitzgerald of Rhode Island held the first round lead with a strong 51, but a rocky start in the second round brought him back to the pack.  Enman blew through the course in the second on his way to a course record score of 48 and a three-stroke victory over Gary Cyr of Massachusetts.  Cyr padded his second place finish with the only hole-in-one of the day, claiming the $268 ace pot on hole 17 in the first round.

Amateur Masters also saw a tight battle right to the last hole, with Dragan Field's own Gordy Adell holding off Mike Connell of Massachusetts and Chris Clements of Winslow by a single stroke.  Adell and Connell shared the lead after round one, two strokes ahead of Clements and Dragan Field owner Bob Enman.  Clements shot the low score in the second round, but it was not quite low enough to overtake Adell.  The win for Adell was his second Maine Championship Series victory in as many tries this year, joining Pro Masters champ Shoff as the only two-time winners in the Series thus far.

In the Amateur 2 division, local up and comer Ryan McMaken went wire-to-wire to win by five strokes over fellow Mainers Peter Bucklin and Kevin Lord.  McMaken was the only player in the division to shoot both rounds in the 50s.  Amateur 3 proved to be a run-away victory for local Stephen Beaulieu.  After tying fellow local Robert Brooks at 66 in the first round, Beaulieu ran away from the pack with a blistering 60 in the second to win over Brooks by 11 strokes.

Prior to the start of the tournament, the annual Discraft Double Dragons Pro-Am doubles event took place.  In the one-round mini-tournament, AM 1 champ Kyle Enman teamed with Delaware pro Jake Azato to shoot a doubles record score of 44.  Not to be out-done, local pro Nick Mardas and his amateur partner Peter Hartson matched Enman and Azato's 44 to tie for the victory.  Trophies and prizes were split among the four players.

Following the tournament, the top nine scorers from the day were invited to take part in a special 9-hole round called the Innova Dragon's Tail Nine.  Jake Azato blistered the course, shooting a record score of 28, including the first ever recorded two on the 480-foot par-5 eighth hole.  Dr. Doug Ertman finished a close second with a 29, a score that also eclipsed the former course record of 30.

Notes of note: Pro Open was the only division that featured every former champion from the previous three years of the event (2001-Walsh, 2002-Daniel Marcus, 2003-Dussault).  The three pro division winners are the only two-time champions of the event in any division.  Ertman and Dussault are the only players to finish in the top five of Pro Open in every year of the event.

Gabe Miller won the award for driving the furthest to play the event.  Miller drove all the way from Oregon to finish in third place in Am-1 for the second year in a row.  Miller, along with Gary Cyr and Kyle Enman, earned invitations to the United States Amateur Championship (September 10-12 in Milford MI) with their top-3 finishes in Am-1.  Enman also earned an invitation to compete in the sixth annual United States Disc Golf Championship (October 14-17 in Rock Hill, SC) as the Maine state representative.

Complete Final Standings