CSU Monterey Bay’s disc golf club hosted the fourth annual West Coast College Open (the only intercollegiate disc golf tournament on the West Coast) on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 7-8, and saw the largest group of participants (33) the tournament has had to date. CSUMB, UC Santa Cruz, and University of Oregon all competed for the grand prize, the Stancil Johnson Cup, which has stayed in the paws of the Otters since the growing tournament started in 2005.

On Saturday, CSUMB Otters, U of O Ducks, and UCSC Banana Slugs competed in round-robin style match play to determine the qualifiers for the final round on Sunday. At CSUMB’s Oaks course, Oregon beat CSUMB 6 ½ to 4 ½ and UCSC 9 to 2. In the round between CSUMB and UCSC the score was 8 ½ to 2 ½ in CSUMB’s favor.

Sunday’s first round took place on the Cypress course and was judged by stroke play instead of match play. UCSC’s Chris Edwards finished first in the round with a score of 50 (par is 54), two stokes below second place UCSC’s Samuel Aldrich. The overall team scores however, determined that the final round would be between Oregon and CSUMB at the Oaks course in the afternoon.

In the final round, the Otters won nine of their matches and the Ducks won two, keeping the Stancil Johnson Cup in Monterey. Top two seats for the Otters, James Lustenader and Danny Kerfeld both won their matches by large margins.

Merle Witvoet is the coach for the Otters and has been teaching the disc golf class for two years. He took over the class where Dr. Stancil Johnson left off.

“I’m impressed with how much respect the students have for the sport,” coach Witvoet said. “These kids have a lot of class.”

Johnson had been teaching the class since 2000, and is one of the founding fathers of the sport—a legend among disc golfers worldwide. Johnson’s dedication to the sport and to CSUMB gives good reason for the tournament being named after him.

Professional Disc Golf Association 2008 World Champion, Dave Feldberg, has been coaching disc golf at University of Oregon for 2 years and is the Ducks coach.

“Teaching is my passion besides playing,” said Feldberg. “There is a perfect throw, no one can do it, but we have to build that technique and the skill comes with practice.”

CSUMB’s first seat James Lustenader said, “We did well. It was a lot of fun and a great challenge with Oregon here.”

Logan Grasseth, first seat for University of Oregon, plans to host another intercollegiate tournament in the spring in Oregon and has invited both the Otters and the Slugs to attend.

“It was a blast,” said Grasseth. “We definitely need to get everyone up to Oregon and keep it going.”