More EO vids are now live! Check both lead and second card action by lcgm8 Disc Golf either from lcgm8’s YouTube channel or all combined from this article at the discmania blog!

That’s right! The complete play-by-play footage by Paul Ulibarri (pictured), Andre Johnsen, Christian Plaue & Melody King have been uploaded to Youtube by lcgm8 Disc Golf. Check the videos below:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3 

Enjoy!

It’s been a little less than a week since David Feldberg and Valarie Jenkins of USA were crowned as the European Open champions 2011 in Nokia Sports Center Park and we feel like it’s time to look back at the tournament that were described by Mr. Feldberg himself “by far the best event he has played in”. So first of all, lets look at the numbers:

European Open 2011 in numbers

• 168 total players
• 25 125 EUR prize money awarded
• 221 (-35) total strokes of the MPO winner
• 275 (+19) total strokes of the FPO winner
• 30 players under par in total score
• 1078 - the highest rated round (D. Feldberg, R4)
• 32,983 visits at opendiscgolf.com during the tournament week
• 29 - 9 the score of the Presidents Cup
• 30+ hours of live broadcast at DiscGolfPlanet.tv
• 1 274 947 viewer minutes in live broadcast
• 50+ members of staff & volunteers
• 643 lunches served at the tournament center

European Open 2011 in photos

There were countless number of photos taken at the European Open and Presidents Cup, some of which are still in the queue of getting processed. We’ve uploaded a bunch of them to our flickr photostream for your viewing pleasure and more will also pop up in various different sources, our facebook page being one of them.

Concerning the photos there’s still a lot of work to do and we would also be reaaally happy if the hundreds of you guys who took photos at the event would post a link to your online galleries on our facebook wall. If doing it more discreetly suits your style better, you can also send a link via email to janne.lahtinen[at]innovaeurope.com or post them as comments to this article. Below you can see a couple of our favorite snapshots, some of them previously unreleased:

European Open 2011 in video

The DiscGolfPlanet.tv crew juiced up with some local expertise from Finland were able to push boundaries concerning how well a disc golf tournament can be portrayed via livestream broadcast with countless hours of live broadcast and not one but two filmcrews covering the whole course was certainly something we haven’t been used to until now. There’s a whole bunch of archived footage from the live broadcasts available at DiscGolfPlanet.tv, so set your browser that way any time you want to kick back and re-live the European Open 2011.

Also a famous local disc golf film crew, typically titled under lcgm8 Disc Golf were on site and currently they’re working with about 500gB of 1080p HD-material to be published online for free as they can get all the pieces together on editing room. The boys have already put together a 4-minute preview of the tournament which you can watch on YouTube by following this link. And boy if that isn’t 4 minutes well spent then nothing is!

European Open 2011 in media

As a rapidly growing sport in Finland, we are starting to get somewhat notable media attention and many sources did publish stories about the Open throughout the tournament week. There’s a countless number of links that could be added here, but we figure you’ve already done your bit of research discovering a whole bunch of articles, stories and updates about the European Open.

European Open 2011 - the scores

The final scores of the EO2011 can be found from the tournament scoring site: http://opendiscgolf.com/en/leaderboard/open and if you’re hungry for round ratings, you can always go check out the scores from PDGA.com.

European Open 2011, the sponsors

Before even scratching the surface of the sponsors issue, we have to go ahead and throw the name “Innova Champion Discs” out there. We mean, this is a company that has lead both professional and recreational Disc Golf to the level it is now. Without Innova there wouldn’t be European Open and without Innova many of you guys reading this article would probably never had come across this great sport of ours. They are still making the best discs out there and the slogan “the choice of champions” is alive and still 100% true. If you want to stay on top of the game of disc golf, playing with discs not manufactured by Innova is giving the other guys an advantage only a few of us can afford.

When talking about discs manufactured by Innova, another great benefactor of the European Open comes to mind. Discmania Golf Discs has been pushing the sport forward with their innovative line of discs and means to handle business like no other. Discmania is definitely big in most of Europe and will be huge in the States too. So go out and try their plastic!

Big events need help from cities and municipalities and this years European Open was largely backed up by the cities of Nokia and Tampere, which provided the needed areas and infrastructure to build this great event. These cities understand the value of disc golf as a growing sport and are ready to invest in it. This is something we in the Disc Golf community keep in high value.

The tournament hotel - Spa Hotel Rantasipi Eden worked as a great example of a tournament - hotel -partnership working as it should. The staff at Eden were extremely helpful in all things EO and they provided just the perfect nerve center out of the tournament center for both domestic and international players.

Our other sponsors included:

PDGA - Professional Disc Golf Association
Grip Equipment - Official bag partner of the Presidents Cup
Nike - Official equipment partner of the Presidents Cup
DiscGolfValues - Official retailer of tournament fundraisers
Discmania.fi - Official Pro Shop
DGCT - Disc Golf Club Tampere
NOFS - Nokia Frisbee Club
SFL (FFA) - Finnish Frisbee Association

European Open 2011 feedback survey

We’ve prepared a feedback survey for all of you guys who took part in the European Open 2011 experience. No matter whether you were a player, spectator or just spend time following the tournament online, we’d like to hear your thoughts! Your answers will help us to make the next European Open even better!

Proceed to the survey following this link —>

Round 3, often nicknamed “moving day” is well on it’s way and the lead cards are already teeing off. The weather in Nokia has been a little windier than on the previous rounds and the risk of rain seems imminent, as rain fronts are sweeping over nearby cities.

Moving day of course means the end of the tournament for some people as only the best 72 + ties proceed to the final round in MPO division. Ladies are safe for now, since the whole womens division will be attending the final round. The heat is also on in the lead cards as the top players are fighting for a spot in the final group.

We are expecting a big gallery for tomorrow and if you’re thinking of coming to Nokia, think no more ‘cause this is probably the best chance to see world class disc golf in Finland until the next European Open, to be held in 2013.

If you’re following at home today, these are the links you probably want to keep open in your browser:
- Live Broadcast @ DiscGolfPlanet.tv 
- Live Scoring Round 3 (final group will update hole-by-hole)

As usual, here’s a couple of snapshots from Moving Day so far:

All photos: © Emmi Marttinen, European Open 2011

If the opening day of European Open was dominated by Europeans and rain,
Friday’s second round was the opposite. Americans took the lead in (in
Finnish terms) scorching heat.

Paul Ulibarri took the lead after a solid round of 55. David Feldberg shot
the best round of the day – same as K-J yesterday - and is in second place
together with Nate Doss, who also played convincingly. According to David,
playing in the same group with Nate helped them both to play better.

- The ability to play under pressure, together with other experienced
players, meant a lot today, said David.

Denmark’s K-J Nybo is the fourth name on the lead card, only 2 strokes
behind the leading American trio. Simon Lizotte (GER) astonished the crowd
on hole #13 by landing his drive less than ten meters away from the
basket, and is in fifth place with American Will Schusterick.

Players who are particularly happy about their second round include Avery
Jenkins (USA), Juho Rantalaiho (FIN), and Markus Källströn (SWE), whereas
Nikko Locastro (USA) and Seppo Paju (FIN) were not content after an
average round.

American players also dominate the women’s division. Valarie Jenkins
repeated her score from the first round, 70, and Paige Pierce improved her
game as expected, and is now in second place together with Melody King.
However, Anne Matilainen is only one stroke behind, so anything can happen
on the third round.

The competition continues with the third round on Saturday. The weather is
expected to be about five degrees celcius cooler than Friday, and there is
a chance of rain.

Check out the standings after Round 2 at:
http://opendiscgolf.com/en/leaderboard/open

Once again, lets finish the day off with some snapshots from Round 2:

Man of the hour - Karl-Johan Nybo currently in the lead

The top groups have just started their rounds, as finnish summer is treating the players and the gallery with hot and partly cloudy weather. First group consists of KJ Nybo (DK), Paul Ulibarri (USA), Ville Piippo (FIN) and Simon Lizotte (GER). Be sure to follow our live scoring here and the DiscGolfPlanet.TV live broadcast here!

to wrap this off, here’s a couple of snapshots from Round two:

After a defeat in Presidents’ Cup on Wednesday, Team Europe players
stepped it up and came back to the course to play the first round of
European Open with unforeseen determinance. Round 1 saw some phenomenal
play from Denmark’s Karl-Johan Nybo (-11), as well as from Simon Lizotte
(-9), Ville Piippo (-9) and Seppo Paju (-7), who will all be playing in
the top two pools on Round 2 tomorrow.

KJ set the course record at 53. Will we see even better scores on Friday?

America maintained their solid play and good touch on the Nokia course
during the first round, with Paul Ulibarri as the best US player on the
second place at a convincing -10. The rest of the spots in the top two
pools tomorrow will be manned by Nate Doss (-8), David Feldberg (-7), and
Nikko Locastro (-6).

In women’s division, Valarie Jenkins (+6) took the lead with Anne
Matilainen on the second place (+8) and Melody King (+9) on the third.

Check out the final scores after Round 1 at:
http://opendiscgolf.com/en/scoring/open/1

Better weather expected for Friday

During the first round, the weather kept everyone on their toes, and a
thunderstorm halted play for an hour and a half around 1pm. The delay
caused the last pools of the day to finish their rounds as late as 8:30pm,
but at least the last ones got to enjoy the beautiful evening sun that
came out after a day of rain.

The European Open week continues tomorrow Friday with the second round.
Day 2 will show who has what it takes to play consistently on the
challenging European Open course. Some players – among them Nikko Locastro
– will certainly be hungry for even better results, so we are expecting
another great day of disc golf in Nokia. The weather will be clearing up
and there is no rain expexted for Friday.

To commemorate Thursday’s rough weather here’s a couple of snapshots that show the course and it’s surroundings at their worst:

All photos © Jenni Riutta & European Open 2011