Although the Masters had drawn to a close, golf fans and out-of-towners alike were able to enjoy the CSRA’s next best thing.

More than 60 schools from across the country competed in the sixth annual National Collegiate Disc Golf Championships at the Hippodrome in North Augusta, S.C., this month. Allen Cain, Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) events manager and general manager of this year’s collegiate tournament, said that the event owes its success to national disc golf champion Pete May.

“Not only is he a great disc golfer, but he’s also the founder of this tournament,” Cain said. “He wanted to come up with a (collegiate) event that could be held every year; one that would draw the world of disc golf to Augusta (Ga.).”

May has served as the tournament’s chairman for the past five years, but at the age of 71, he has decided to hand the reigns over to his son Derek for this year’s championships. Cain said that May has gone out of his way to establish the sport of disc golf in Augusta.

“Augusta is quickly becoming the mecca of disc golf as whole,” Cain said of the sport. “The growth of collegiate disc golf has really taken an upswing in the last three years.”

The tournament, which, according to Cain, has seen a massive influx of registered teams since 2009, also boosts tourism and traffic into the city.

“We always run our collegiate championship the weekend after the Masters,” Cain said. “Augusta is a great place for the championships because everyone’s fueled on golf. They understand the game of golf. Disc golf is played the same way, except with different equipment.”

Cain said that being able to feed off the town’s energy from the Masters and then transmit that energy into the national collegiate championship has proven successful for both the PDGA and the world of disc golf. He also said that the collegiate event helps bring revenue into the city.

“The Masters has a huge economic impact on the city, but we’ve also seen an economic impact just as far as our event goes,” Cain said. “I mean, we’re up to 316 players on our roster, plus they bring friends and caddies. And usually, the Ramada, our host hotel this year, is mostly empty after the Masters. But now we’re filling up those rooms again with this tournament.”

Augusta State University’s leadership coordinator Elizabeth Shorts said that she was not entirely sure whether the championships benefit from the Masters Tournament directly, but more importantly, she stated that Augusta State’s disc golf team had been previously operating under the school’s name without authorization.

“They were using the Augusta State name when they weren’t supposed to be,” Shorts laughed. “We were not registered with the PDGA. We had a group of students who would go out and play games before they were chartered last spring, and they just took it upon themselves to use the name ‘Augusta State University.’ They were not recognized, they were not funded and they were not sanctioned was an official university. It wasn’t until they were officially registered last spring that they were allowed to use our name officially.”

As far as the tournament itself is concerned, Cain said that spectators were able to see the same standard of traditional rivalries this year. For instance, the 2011 champions from the University of Oregon, who finished fifth in 2012, faced off against third-place finisher Augusta State in a “rivalry round” with a doubles format where both teams will play an entire round on the same tee simultaneously. But Cain said that Oregon and Augusta State were just one of this year’s many rivalries.

“I wouldn’t say they (were) the biggest rivalry this year,” Cain divulged. “The competitive level in collegiate disc golf has really grown this year. Clemson and Georgia Tech also have a rivalry between themselves and they’ve been playing matches against each other throughout the year. The Universities of Georgia and South Carolina also have a pretty good rivalry. Basically every natural school rivalry you can think of is still apparent in disc golf and it always leads to a bit of joking and jostling amongst the teams.”

Cain also said that with the addition of new schools registering to play in this year’s qualifying round, the National Collegiate Disc Golf Union (NCDGU) has implemented a new rule to sift out low-ranking teams.

“Because we’re having so many teams come out to play this year, we’ve decided to make a cut,” Cain said. “After our (main) singles match, we (had) a round of doubles and then two more rounds of singles. After the final round of singles, the top twenty teams (continued) to play on through the tournament.”

Coinciding with the tournament was the Savannah River Spring Fling, a side event designated to entertain spectators who break away from watching the game.

“In the past, we’ve had a few spectators that come out and watch the tournament for a little bit, and they really didn’t know what else to do, so they left,” Cain said. “This year, we wanted to keep them at the course a little longer and give them something to do; some way to relax and have a good time. So we’re running the Savannah River Spring Fling to focus on sports and games for an entire family to partake in.”

Cain said the Fling was held alongside the championship at the Hippodrome and featured live music, a clogging performance, bounce houses for children to play in, and other side events to keep audiences preoccupied. Cain believed that the Fling will contribute toward the tournament’s growth, something that the events manager has also seen the Internet provide.

“We’re seeing amazing growth,” Cain said. “I did my internship at the PDGA and the whole internship was helping plan the national championship, and I was able to take the same energy and feel that Pete (May) had and take it online. We hadn’t had that in the past. So being online has really garnered us a lot of exposure to teams everywhere, and we’ve begun to see a lot of growth [for disc golf] not just in the Southeast where it’s typically been but all over the country.”