Stadler, a Colorado Golf Hall of Famer and 13-time winner on the PGA Tour, was interviewed on the Golf Channel telecast and noted, “I can hit driver-6-iron about where they can hit their drive,” he said of the competitors. “It’s amazing how guys these guys hit it.”
Especially at a mile-high altitude.
Though none of the World Long Drive competitors eclipsed the 500-yard mark, as had been hyped by the Golf Channel broadcast crew, they weren’t far away. Ryan Reisbeck of Layton, Utah and Ryan Steenberg of Rochester, N.Y., hit the longest balls during the televised portion of the event — each at a whopping 485 yards in the quarterfinals. (And that’s no typo.)
On the women’s side, world champion Phillis Meti of New Zealand set a record for the circuit with her 406-yard pop in the semifinals that benefited from a great bounce, rolling 66 yards.
In the end, claiming the women’s title and $7,000 on Tuesday was fourth-seeded Troy Mullins of Los Angeles, a smooth-swinging player who knocked one 374 yards on the seventh of her eight attempts to pass Meti’s 363 mark. In the preliminaries, Mullins had hit one 402.
Then in the evening’s finale, third-seeded Maurice Allen of Pine Hills, Fla., upset the new world No. 1 Reisback, who failed to get any of his eight attempts in the 55-yard-wide grid. Allen’s only counting ball went 436, which earned him the victory and $20,000.
“Welcome to the new world of sport,” Allen said. “This is action-packed.”
Allen and Mullins are pictured in a WLD photo.
]]>Spectators will get to experience that next week as the World Long Drive Association Tour pays a visit to Denver for the second annual Mile High Showdown. The event, which features both men’s and women’s competitions, is set for Monday and Tuesday (July 24-25) at Park Hill Golf Club. The action runs from 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. on Monday and from 9 a.m.-noon and 5-7 p.m. on Tuesday.
The 5-7 p.m. session on Tuesday will be televised live by the Golf Channel.
The Mile High Showdown, with purses of $50,000 for men ($20,000 to the winner) and $15,000 for women ($7,000 for the champion), marks the second-to-last stop on the World Long Drive Tour leading up to the season-ending World Long Drive Championship in early September.
Among those entered in Denver on the men’s side are 2016 WLD Championship winner Joe Miller, last year’s Mile High Showdown champion Tommy Hug (pictured) and the top-ranked players in 2017: Will Hogue, Ryan Reisbeck, Justin James, Tim Burke and Maurice Allen.
Phillis Meti, the 2016 WLD Champion, is in the field on the women’s side.
For the men’s event, two groups of 16 players each compete in a round robin. The top eight players in each group advance to a double-elimination tournament, with the best eight overall advancing to the match play quarterfinals.
For more information on the Mile High Showdown, CLICK HERE.