By Carey Reeder | Staff Writer

DJ Hines and Thomas Gay each punched their ticket to the 2022 National Amateur Disc Golf Tour National Championships in Austin, Texas on October 28-31.

Hines and Gay earned their spot in the national championships by winning the Zanfel Premier Tour A-Tier event at the Kudzu Cove Disc Golf Course in Guntersville on April 29-May 1.

The two had played the course once before, but were not well experienced with the holes. They travelled to Guntersville for a practice round on April 28.

“Getting in the mindset of being competitive was a little difficult,” Gay said. “I knew I was good enough to compete, it was just if I was good enough on this course or not to actually compete for a win.”

Gay said he was more worried about the off the course things such as travel and bringing all the necessary items with him to Guntersville. He was confident he could compete for the win, but did not think he was the favorite.

Gay competed in the recreation division and it was his first A-tier event. In disc golf, A-tier events are three rounds and are worth more points towards a players overall rating.

“In an A tier, you bring your best game,” Gay said. “You do not come to mess around, you are coming to an A tier event to prove you are good enough.”

Gay did bring his best game, and held the lead throughout all three rounds of the event and won the tournament by eight strokes posting a -10 score.

Hines played in the intermediate division and the Guntersville tournament was just his second A-tier event. In his first A-tier event last year, Hines held the lead through the first two rounds, but finished second.

“Going into it, I wanted to win. I did not want to finish second like I did last year,” Hines said. “After the…