#AmateurLongDrive
The 2017 Amateur Long Drive™ World Championship and ParaLong Drive Cup drew entries from 5 countries and 20 states. After two days of qualifying and competition several hitters walked away with some nifty hardware and bragging rights. The action began on Friday morning with 2 hours of amateur qualifying and was followed by 6 hours of impressive ParaLong Drive competition. Saturday began at 7 AM with another round of amateur (last chance) qualifying followed by amateur competition (elimination) rounds at 9 AM and championship rounds at 11 AM. The Amateur Long Drive™ World Championship Open began at 4 PM with 2 rounds of elimination and the finals between 5 PM and 6 PM.
ParaLong Drive Cup founder and organizer, Dean Jarvis along with his force of competitors put on a great show.. Here’s the way they finished.
Above-knee amputee – Jonathan Shaw (Amateur Long Drive™ Championship runner-up)
Below-knee amputee – Chris Arnold (Winner of The ParaLong Drive Cup)
Arm assisted – Dr. Lucian Newman III
Arm unassisted – Jason Aken
Arm unassisted – Gianna Rojas (female)
Paralyzed – swings with 2 arms – Anthony Netto (division champion), Roger Sack (match-play champion)
Paralyzed – swings with 1 arm – Steve Kuketz
Traumatic Brain Injury – Brian Woliver
Cerebral Palsy – Marty Turcios
Hemiplegic – Fred Gutierrez
Age 60+ – Gary Hooks
The Amateur Long Drive™ World Championship had competitors in most available divisions with the largest group being the adult (16 to 49 year old) male division. Here are the final results of the championship rounds.
Youth Female – Rachel Wilkerson
Youth Male – Harrison Harcum
Adult Female – Lisa Coe
Adult Male – Corey Culver
Senior Female – Judy Aken
Senior Male – Mark Lawrence
Super Senior Male – Robert Daniels
The Open Championship consisted of the 4 longest ParaLong Drive hitters and the 4 longest amateur hitters across all divisions. Jonathon Shaw came out on top in the ParaLong Drive elimination round and Mark Lawrence topped the amateur eliminations. Shaw had just (Friday) won the “Above The Knee Amputee” division and Lawrence, who competed in both the senior male and adult male divisions, won the senior male division earlier (Saturday). Lawrence came out on top in the Open when he pounded a 338 yard bomb in the second round of Open competition.
Mark Lawrence traveled from Utah with his wife on their anniversary to compete in the inaugural ALD World Championship and says he’ll be back next year to attempt to win the Adult Male, Senior Male, and Open divisions.
There were over 15 hours of action streamed to the internet as well as one hour of live cable TV on the local ABC affiliate’s (WPDE) cable channel WWMB CW21.
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