The perfect fling

Disc golfers representing three dozen colleges and universities will compete in the fifth annual Collegiate Disc Golf Championships April 14-17 in North Augusta, S.C.

CSU Monterey Bay earned an automatic berth by virtue of its tie for 11th in last year’s tournament. The Otters, who were scheduled to leave on Tuesday, April 12, go in as the No. 9-ranked team in the nation.

The national team championship will be decided at the tourney, as well as singles and doubles titles. The top six individual finishers will earn "All American" honors.

Members of CSUMB's team are Danny Messina, Brandon White, Clark Hardenbergh, Ross Sauceda, Samuel Bahlenhorst and Brian Ramler.

??Unlike the contestants at that better-known golf event in Augusta, Georgia – about five minutes away – the college golfers take to the air. Like their counterparts in that other sport, the players will hike around the 18-hole courses at the Hippodrome Disc Golf Complex carrying drivers and putters. But instead of clubs made of graphite, they use discs made of durable plastic. Scoring in disc golf is similar to regular or, as the players say, "ball" golf. Players get a certain number of strokes, or tosses, to hit the target – in disc golf, a basket.?? The sport is growing in the college ranks. The first national championship, in 2007, drew a field of six teams; this year’s field has grown six-fold. Augusta State University of Georgia won last year’s team title, the first school outside the Southeastern Conference to do so. The University of Georgia won the first two titles, followed by Mississippi State in 2009.

Follow the team on Twitter. Learn more about disc golf at CSUMB & the National Collegiate Disc Gold Championships.