Simon wins his 4th Elite Series event; Ryan wins her 2nd.

September 27, 2022 by Justin Westfall in Analysis with comments

After 12 regular season and two playoff events, nearly 1,000 Elite Series competitors have been whittled down to 36 MPO and 20 FPO players to compete for the title of tour champion. Day one of the MVP Open was dominated by thunderstorms which caused multiple delays and forced the MPO division into a three day event. Meanwhile, the FPO division had to slog their way through the weather and play all four rounds as originally planned. Natalie Ryan entered the final day with a one stroke lead on Kristin Tattar and Missy Gannon. While Tattar was able to tie it up in regulation, Ryan managed to earn her 2nd win of the season after a one hole playoff. Massachusetts local Simon Lizotte made a charge on Sunday and became the first chase card winner on the Elite Series since Eagle McMahon did so at the 2020 Idlewild Open. Lizotte defeated Corey Ellis by one stroke, after Ellis threw his approach shot out of bounds on hole 18.

Simon Lizotte

Facing a six stroke deficit, Lizotte had just a 3% chance to win coming into the final round at Maple Hill, according to UDisc’s new win probability calculations. Simon’s 10-under par effort on Sunday included 8 birdies in a 10 hole stretch and came in as the hottest round of the weekend. Finishing 4th in strokes gained tee to green and 6th in strokes gained putting, Lizotte led the field in birdies as well as C2 in regulation. His familiarity with the course certainly paid off, as he collected just three total OB strokes and shot his highest event rating of the season at 1058. Simon was able to tie Ricky Wysocki for the most ES wins this season with four, including one playoff win for each player. Paul McBeth is the only MPO player to record more than four DGPT ES wins in a single season.

Corey Ellis

Despite holding a three stroke lead after two rounds, Ellis did not get redemption for his playoff loss at DGLO earlier this year. Corey finished 2nd in strokes gained tee to green, 3rd in strokes gained putting, and carded the same number of birdies as Lizotte. After a rough start in the final round, Ellis began to string some birdies together and clawed his way back up the leaderboard. Corey had five OB strokes in the tournament, the most crucial of which came on the final hole…