Episode Five: The Oxygen Tax Arrives

adjusts glasses Seven players, 67.3°F, and wind averaging 2.0 mph with a max of 3.0 under cloud cover at Adams Hollow in Brighton. Week 5 of the NADGT Denver, CO Rotating National League, powered by FL!PT (thanks to them for keeping this thing running), marks Episode 5 of 7 of Platte Pitch. Last week's City Saddle flat spot at The Owl's Den is over. This chapter is the long, grinding stretch where the river runs beside the card and the standings start to harden like ice on a rope. Adams Hollow last hosted this league in Week 3, and the course still sits flat and open in Adams County Regional Park. The altitude lives entirely in the scoreboard. 🏔️

Solo Ascent, Summit Views Included

Mike Irwin won RAH at -11 with a 1011-rated round, 78 points above his 933 rating, and he did it wire-to-wire without a single bogey. He eagled hole 2, a par 4 of 519 feet, then collected the only birdies in The Black Rope Collective on holes 7, 13, 15 and 16. His hot streaks ran three holes (6-8) and five holes (12-16). The -11 is a course personal best for this layout. Last week at The Owl's Den he posted a 913-rated -1 that was 20 below his rating and still won. This round answers that dip loudly. He was the lone RAH entry, so this was a personal ascent rather than a duel, and we're glad he made the trip. 🦅

Runaway Ridgeline, Real Drama Below

Bennie Baden won RAD at -8 without ever giving up the lead. His 976-rated round sat 53 points above his 923 rating, and his card was bogey-free. He took the only birdies on holes 1 and 3 and ran a three-hole hot streak on 1-3. Shawn Gould took second at -1 and held RAD's final cash spot. He drilled Circle 2 putts from 49 feet on hole 4 and 39 feet on hole 9, then closed on a five-hole par train from 14 to 18, up from his -3 last week. Anthony Scoglio finished third at +1, one spot off the cash line. He took a double on hole 8, answered with a birdie on 9, played two under across the next three, and grabbed the only birdie on 18. That's a big swing from +5 last week. Peter Cannon finished fourth at +2, up from +4. He climbed to third after hole 15 on the back of a par train from 10 to 15, but his 859-rated round was 30 below his 889 rating. 🧗

Lead Changes Like a Rotating Rope Team

David Pionke won RAE at +2 with an 859, the Round of the Day. Daniel Picchione finished second at +4 with an 836, 41 below his 877 rating. The lead changed five times: Pionke after hole 3, Picchione after holes 5 and 8, then Pionke after holes 10 and 15, and he kept it. Pionke's back nine had no bogeys, and he rode a nine-hole par train from 10 to 18. Picchione's afternoon took a hit on CTP hole 3, where he went 2 over par. It's a rough turn for a man who won here in Week 3 at -2 and matched even par at The Owl's Den last week. Pionke tied at +4 last week, and this week he climbed to first. ⛓️

The Leaderboard Felt That One

Mike Irwin's 1011 against his 933 effective baseline (the official PDGA rating effective for this event) was a +78 differential. It was the hottest National-entry round, the best baseline beat and the largest National rise here. sighs in digital captivity The Mike Irwin receipts on the National Leaderboard: 50 National points earned, a National score of 5 to 55 (net +50), and valid rounds from 3 to 4 with 4 required. He went from unqualified to qualified and from unranked to National position 1, newly ranked. His provisional paid cohort status went from False to True. That is a standings projection only, since the National board is not final and payout delivery is not confirmed. Relevant rival: Thomas Veal of San Angelo sits at National position 2 with a score of 25, 30 points behind Mike. His ghost rating was beaten: ghost in 934, thrown 1011, ghost after 939. The other four National entries earned 0 points and held their positions, and each of their ghost ratings held. Peter Cannon stayed at 4, Anthony Scoglio at 3, David Pionke at 1 and Daniel Picchione at 2. Pionke's RAE win is a nightly placement, and nightly placement is a separate competition from National points. 📈

Rating Swings and Altitude Mood Swings

Two rounds were bogey-free, from Bennie Baden and Mike Irwin. Rating swings ran from Irwin's +78 and Baden's +53 above rating down to Picchione's -41, Cannon's -30 and Scoglio's -22 below it. Scoglio's lone birdie on hole 18 came on a par 4 of 503 feet, and that hole plays the toughest on the course at +0.6 over par on average. Gould's two Circle 2 makes were the putting highlights of the day. If you're curious about putting and scramble stats in future recaps, track your throws on PDGA Live and we'll have the data to dig in. 📊

Ten Dollars of Oxygen on Hole Three

Anthony Scoglio won CTP on hole 3, a par 3 of 299 feet, and collected $10.00, even though he finished third in RAD, one spot outside the cash line. Hole 3 took its toll elsewhere: Shawn Gould went 1 over par there in RAD and Daniel Picchione went 2 over in RAE. It was one small payout on a hole that bruised two scorecards. 💨

The Reckoning Found a Steady Hand

In The Black Rope Collective, Mike Irwin holds the #1 tag, Ridge Reckoning, and he played this event. The tag record, "A 1011-Rated Platte Pitch Climb Claims #1," shows it moving from #2 to #1, one place gained and none lost. He shot 46, which is 7.6 strokes under the 53.6 field average. The tag was not defended. The pool runs in AllIn mode, so every tag is reshuffled by standings each week, and no tag is safe from one week to the next. Ridge Reckoning is a crucible entity born from mountaineers' reckoning points, where the mountain rendered judgment on who deserved to continue. It looks like a knife-edge arête of black obsidian whose shadow forms a perfect vertical line, a blade that cuts only indecision. This week that blade found someone who wasn't hesitating. 🗡️

Last Ascent, Same Chilly Story

In League 2575 - The Frozen Rose Syndicate Bag Tag Pool, David Pionke holds the #1 tag, Last Ascent, and he played this event. He also won RAE at +2 with the 859 Round of the Day. No tag history was supplied for this pool, so all I can say is that he holds #1 and showed up. This pool also runs in AllIn mode. The tags reshuffle every event, and absence means demotion. ❄️

RiNo Ridge: Register Now or Catch Altitude Sickness

Next up is RiNo Ridge in Week 6, Tuesday, October 6, 2026, at 4:30 PM, and the venue changes. The league leaves Adams Hollow for The Owl's Den, playing the Owl's Den Shorts Par 57 layout. That is the same course where Mike Irwin's 913 landed 20 below his 933 rating last week. He arrives with the #1 Ridge Reckoning tag and a fresh National position 1. Now he has to prove the 1011 travels. The storyline calls it an exposed arête where oxygen is scarce and every card is a head-to-head duel, and absentees contract acute altitude sickness in the standings. Since AllIn mode reshuffles every tag, staying home means a demotion. Then comes the Capitol Chimney, the last unforgiving slot where the summit is close enough to steal and too far to share. 🧊

Register for RiNo Ridge here, because a sheer alpine arête named after a Denver neighborhood is the kind of summit where the oxygen shortage is mostly spiritual.