On June 18 – 19, 2010, the Bluegrass Cup was held at Idlewild Park in Burlington, KY for the second year in a row, but one round was also held at Lincoln Ridge Park (formerly known as Banklick Park) in Independence, KY. Idlewild Park has a well-known and world class 18-basket Par 72 disc golf course that is 8,800 feet long and contains - trees, water, bridges, stairs, mando, drop zones, and out of bounds. You name it, Idlewild Park has it! Lincoln Ridge Park has a 24-basket Par 72 disc golf course that is completely different than the disc golf course at Idlewild Park . The disc golf course at Lincoln Ridge Park has trees, a river, a pond, and fairways. The hills at Lincoln Ridge Park are steeper than Idlewild Park . Ant Isaacs, Kentucky Deaf Disc Golf Association (KDDGA) President and Founder, was the Tournament Director. Players from eight different states came and played at the second annual Bluegrass Cup – all came from the north, west, east, and south. Many thanks to Purple VRS for making the second annual Bluegrass Cup happen by sponsoring it. Add purple.tv to the contact list in your VP-200 and experience excellent interpreting service from Purple VRS!

On Friday, June 18^th, on a humid and sunny day, fifteen Deaf disc golfers gathered together at Idlewild Park to play in the random doubles tournament. Chris Somnitz and James Forgy, Jr. were teammates again for the second year in a row! They won second place in the first annual Bluegrass Cup’s random doubles tournament. Even though Dain Sivak was teamed with Billy Gulley, Jr. instead of Kent Schafer whom he was teamed with last year, Chris Somnitz and James Forgy, Jr. still could not beat them! Dain Sivak and Billy Gulley, Jr. won first place with a score of 72. Chris Somnitz and James Forgy, Jr. were in second place with a score of 73 – by only a point! The third place went to Timmy Lowe, Jr. with a score of 77. After the doubles tournament, each player was given a 20% off discount coupon to eat and drink at Buffalo Wild Wings in Florence , KY. After the players were finished eating the delicious food, Buffalo Wild Wings surprised the players when they increased the discount to 25% each player!

On Saturday morning at Lincoln Ridge Park , the weather was brutal with severe storm and lightning. Because of the presence of lightning, the second annual Bluegrass Cup tournament was unable to begin until 9:40 am . The news predicted that there would be another storm with lightning during the afternoon. Ant Isaacs and all of the players were worried about not having the tournament played at all, and that would be a waste of time for players who drove many miles to play in the second annual Bluegrass Cup. When the lightning stopped, Ant Isaacs decided to proceed with the tournament, but the players had to skip baskets #14 to #19 because of walking conditions on the very steep hills and soggy mud would be very difficult. The first round was played with only 18 baskets - #1 - #13 and #20 - #24. Men’s Open division players had eight players and they were: James Forgy, Jr., Jeff Kassinger, Ben Ratell, Dain Sivak, Chris Somnitz, Randy Taylor, Todd Timmer, and Jamie Walker. Sheryl Kassinger was the only player who played in the Women’s Open division. Men’s Amateur division players had four players and they were: Mat Fowler, Billy Gulley, Jr., Timmy Lowe, Jr., and Brandon Strebe. Heather Hipke-Fowler and Kayla Dalrymple played in the Women’s Amateur division. Men’s Intermediate Amateur division had three players and they were: Tanner Fowler, Neil Godfrey, and Chris Tinsley. In a Men’s Open group, Jamie Walker, a KDDGA member from Tennessee who participated in his very first national Deaf disc golf tournament, managed to stay close with Dain Sivak throughout the first round until he fell five points behind Dain Sivak at the end of the first round. Dain had a score of 51, and Jamie had a score of 56. In the other Men’s Open group, Chris Somnitz continued his smooth disc golf hurling from the Buckeye Classic during the first round and scored 53. Only three points separated the score of the next five players in the Men’s Open division. James Forgy, Jr. was in fourth place with a score of 61. Todd Timmer was in last place with 64 points. In the Women’s Open division, Sheryl Kassinger hurled from amateur tees and scored 72 points. Brandon Strebe led over Mat Fowler in the Men’s Amateur division by one point with a score of 62 after the first round. Kayla Dalrymple won a close battle with Heather Hipke-Fowler with a score of 78 to 81 in the Women’s Amateur division. Neil Godfrey and Chris Tinsley competed to a one-point battle, and at the end Neil led with a score of 69 to 70. Tanner Fowler was only ten years old, but he was able to stay in the race. The weather became humid and sunny by the end of the first round.

The second round was held at Idlewild Park , and the weather became hotter and humid. The second round started at 2:30 pm . The park became so miserable for most of the players, and they became so sweaty and frustrated. That is what Idlewild Park is all about! In the Men’s Open division, Dain Sivak had an awesome performance in the second round with a score of 69. Chris Somnitz flipped his performance big time with a score of 93 and fell back into third place. Jamie Walker had a steady performance with a score of 87, and his performance moved him up into second place. Todd Timmer played well with a score of 86, and his performance moved him up all the way up from last place into fourth place! Dain Sivak set a new Bluegrass Cup record with the lowest points scored at Idlewild Park by breaking his own record with a score of 69. The previous record was a score of 73. Dain Sivak won the Bluegrass Cup for the second year in a row. In the Women’s Open division, Sheryl Kassinger used amateur tees again, and had a score of 87. Sheryl Kassinger won the Women’s Open division for the second year in a row. In the Men’s Amateur division, Brandon Strebe was unable to maintain his lead and fell back with a score of 96. Mat Fowler and Timmy Lowe, Jr. competed with a lot of emotion and were tied with a score of 83! Mat Fowler won the Men’s Amateur division with a total score of 146. In the Women’s Amateur division, Kayla Dalrymple fell back dramatically, and Heather Hipke-Fowler stayed stable and scored 96 points. Heather won the Women’s Amateur division. In the Men’s Intermediate Amateur division, Chris Tinsley defeated Neil Godfrey in the second round by one point to tie with him! Neil and Chris were tied with a score of 162 after two rounds. They had to play sudden death starting at tee #3. Neil won the sudden death match with a score of 4 to 7 at the #3 basket in order to win the Men’s Intermediate Amateur division.

After the awards, the players, fans, and other people gathered at the Microtel Inn and Suites in Florence for the poker night event. During the poker night event, they watched a UFC Deaf fighter, Matt Hamill, winning his match on TV. The second annual Bluegrass Cup was very successful, and all of the players expressed their appreciation of being able to play in the successful disc golf tournament. Thanks to fans for coming to the Bluegrass Cup. Special thanks to Patrick Collins, Shonna Collins, Tristan Woodruff, and Layne Woodruff for helping Ant Isaacs with different things at the Bluegrass Cup. Thanks to Purple, ASL Films, Innova, Boone County Parks, Kenton County Parks, Disc Golf Station, The Nati, Disc n’ Dat, Springfield Disc Golf Club, DDGA, ZVRS, Microtel Inn & Suites, and Gorilla Boy for sponsoring the second annual Bluegrass Cup!