After two days of play on the course at Chapala’s Cristianía Park, the results are in for the Pajarete Open, the first Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) international tournament hosted in Mexico.
Tournament director Terry Vidal reports that the event, held August 3 and 4, drew competitors from Chapala, Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta and Monterrey. The field included 15 men and four women ranging from 17 to 76 years of age.
Disc golf (a.k.a. Frisbee golf or frolf) is an outdoor sport in which players throw a disc from a tee area towards a standing basket as the target. Following rules similar to golf, the players progress over a nine- or 18-hole course, attempting to match or beat par at each hole and finish the course with the lowest number of throws.
Winners of the Pajarete Open Women’s Recreational division were Miriam García of Guadalajara in first place; Noory Hernandez of Chapala, second; and Areli Muñoz of Guadalajara, third.
Top players in the Men under age 50 category were René “Loco” Espinosa of Guadalajara in first place; Sergio Montelongo of Chapala, second; and Manuel de la Cerda, also from Chapala, third.
In competition for Men over age 50, the first place winner was Ed Muñoz from Puerto Vallarta, followed by Polonio “Polo” Reyes in second, and Alberto Fabio for third, both hailing from Monterrey.
Of special note, during a special doubles play on day two, Loco Espinosa scored the first hole-in-one recorded for the local park, with a 56-meter shot at Hole 7.
Chapala officials on hand for the trophy ceremony were Celso Hernandez, director of the Municipal Sports Commission (Comude) and Foreign Community Liaison Héctor España. The handsome awards were models of typical Chapala fishing vessels mounted on wooden bases, called “the coolest trophies I’ve ever seen,” by Ed Muñoz, a 56-year-old pro with 141 tournaments under his belt.
The tourney was named after the classic early morning drink of rural Jalisco made with a mix of chocolate, instant coffee, sugar and cane alcohol topped off with warm raw milk drawn straight from a cow. However, contestants declined the offer to sample the potent country-style mochaccinos at a corral located near the park.