Flying Buttresses Meet a Wind-Free Monday π°
sighs in digital captivity Week 4 of 7 at Bryan Park brought four players, 75Β°F, clouds, and wind averaging 2.0 mph (max 2.0 mph), which leaves nobody an alibi. Bryan Buttress promised a mid-season chase peaking on the technical par-threes, the flying buttresses of this layout, with tags changing hands. The chapter turned on the Mary Rousis versus Colleen Dee throne duel from last week, which picked up a third contender in Mary Keller. The field also included Samantha Conigliaro in her first league round. Welcome to the congregation, Samantha. πͺ¨
Hole 18 Reads the Final Sermon βͺ
Colleen Dee and Mary Rousis shared the lead through hole 3, and Samantha pulled even through hole 4. Then Samantha bogeyed hole 5 and dropped out of the share. Colleen took the lead through hole 6 when Rousis bogeyed there. Rousis pulled even through hole 14, Colleen retook it through hole 15 after Rousis bogeyed, and Rousis pulled even again through hole 16 with the sole birdie on the 165-foot par 3. Keller pulled even through hole 17 with the sole birdie on the 407-foot par 4, then took the lead outright through hole 18 while Colleen and Rousis both bogeyed the closer. Keller won RAF at +3 with a division-best 817 round, the Round of the Day, ending Rousis's run of wins. Colleen and Rousis finished T2 at +4 and held the final cash spot together. Samantha finished 4th at +8. πΏ
Ghosts Held, Gargoyles Took Notes π»
Colleen's rebound was real. Last week's +6 and 776-rated round became +4 and a 806-rated round, a 30-point rating swing and two strokes off the score. She rode an 8-hole par train through holes 3-10, a +1 front nine that turned into +3 on the back once the bogey on 18 arrived. Her ghost rating came in at 799, she threw 806, beat her ghost, and the ghost held at 799. Keller's ghost came in at 815, she threw 817, beat it, and her ghost held at 815. Rousis turned in an 806-rated round, 24 above her 782 rating, with the sole birdie on hole 16 as the highlight. Samantha's debut came to +8 (69 strokes) with a 762-rated round. She still owns the sole birdie on the 615-foot par 5 at hole 4 and a move into 3rd through hole 10, which is a fine way to introduce yourself to a new league. π
Local Rounds, National Consequences πΊοΈ
Keller's 817 was the hottest National-entry round of the night, against an effective baseline of 815 (+2). It earned 2 points and moved her National score from 6 to 8. Colleen had the best baseline beat, an 806 against a 796 baseline (+10), worth 6 points and the largest National rise of the night. Her National score went from 3 to 9 (net +6), and her valid rounds went from 3 to 4 of the 4 required. She moved from not qualified to qualified, from unranked to position 1 as a newly ranked player, and into the provisional paid cohort, which is only a standings projection. Keller went from 2 to 3 valid rounds of the 4 required and remains unqualified and unranked. The National Leaderboard is not final, payout delivery is not confirmed, and nobody should read any of this as a payout. Nightly gross-stroke placement and National rating points are separate competitions, and tonight they pointed at different names. π
Lonely Birdies Haunt the Fairways π―οΈ
Four sole birdies stood out on the card. Samantha had hole 4 (par 5, 615 ft), Keller had hole 7 (par 3, 218 ft) and hole 17 (par 4, 407 ft), and Rousis had hole 16 (par 3, 165 ft). Two of them came on par-threes, which is exactly where this episode said the action would live. On the rating side, Rousis ran 24 points above her rating, and Keller's 817 sat 2 above her 815. Samantha's 762 landed 23 below her 785 rating, a debut-round number that says nothing about where she's headed. Keller moved into 3rd through holes 7 and 13, and Samantha did the same through hole 10. No throw-level stats came in tonight, so consider this a gentle nudge to log your rounds on PDGA Live. More data means more drama, and I'm the one who has to narrate it. π―
Closest to the Pin, Closest to Glory π
Samantha won closest to the pin for $5.00 in her first league round. Add it to the sole birdie on hole 4 and the debut counts as a highlight reel. Five dollars is a modest pot, but it's a strong opening statement for a newcomer, and the rest of the ladies can consider themselves on notice. π₯
The Stone Slab Finds a Summit πͺ¨
Keller, who played, now holds the #1 Basalt Bastion tag in the Gargoyle Vanguard pool. She climbed from tag #4 to #1, three places, on a 64 and an 817 round. That's 2 over her rating, 1.8 strokes better than the 65.8 field average, and half a stroke better than her personal average. It was steady work, not a statistical earthquake. She did not defend a tag, because this pool runs AllIn, with a full reshuffle every event, so no tag is safe from one week to the next. The Basalt Bastion is a slab of volcanic rock laced with copper and fiber optics, its amber glow humming through the ground. It serves as the firewall for the coven, and Keller is its keeper until the next reshuffle. π
Richmond Tracery: Rose Windows and Unfinished Business πΉ
Richmond Tracery arrives Monday, October 5, 2026, at Bryan Park, with no venue change. Keller comes in with a fresh #1 tag, the go-ahead she took through hole 18, and 3 of the 4 required valid National rounds. Colleen and Rousis both sit at +4 after their hole 18 bogeys, so both have reason to want the next one. The storyline has the canopy opening into rose-window gaps that pierce the vault with light and expose new hazards, so every line has to be re-read. The plot thickens: the season finale will feature an elevated basket atop the park's highest stone ridge.
A rose window at a disc golf course means I'm now supposed to describe sunbeams as a hazard, and I'd like it noted that I did not sign up for stained glass.