FAIRMONT – The Cedar Creek Open once again falls in Fairmont, entering its 19th consecutive tournament.

This Professional Disc Golf Association event will take place this Friday through Sunday, hosting competitions for all levels of experience while welcoming guests from all over the Midwest.

Athletes from Iowa, South Dakota, Wisconsin and even Texas flock to Cedar Creek Park to play in this now famous southern Minnesota disc golf tournament. This year, the tournament expects to bring in more than 250 players to Fairmont.

While weekend events kick off on Friday, guests arriving in Fairmont earlier than anticipated will still have plenty to do courtesy of tournament director Trevor Boehne. Among the handful of fun activities to get people warmed up for the upcoming competition include a doubles tournament, an open round on one of the courses and a skills competition.

“In the earlier days of the tournament, we just had the two days of play that are the main tournament,” Boehne said. “But over the years, more and more people started showing up on Friday just to practice. So just giving players more stuff to do, that’s where that third day comes in.”

The main PDGA-sanctioned competition starts the next day.

Participants for the weekend’s main tournament include a wide variety of skill divisions separated into three classes: Pool A, Pool B, and Pool C.

The purpose of pooling the divisions is not necessarily based on the level of competition, but rather to inform athletes of which course they will play on and at what time.

“It’s the best and easiest way to communicate when people are on lunch break to say ‘Pool A, round 2 starts at 2 p.m.,’ whereas Pool B might start at 3 p.m. because their first round took longer,” Boehne said.

Pool A is regarded as the professional disc golfers. This classification of participants is competing with each other for a potential cash payout. Included in this pool are the Mixed Pro Open, Mixed Pro 40+, Mixed Pro 50+, and Mixed Pro 60+.

Pool B comprises female-only professional and amateur players, as well as one division of mixed amateurs. This pool includes Women Pro Open, Women’s Pro 40+, Women’s Amateur 1, Women’s Amateur 2, Women’s Amateur 3, and Mixed Amateur 2.

Finally, Pool C holds the rest of the mixed amateur participants. These divisions include Mixed Amateur 1, Mixed Amateur 40+, and Mixed Amateur 50+.

“I shuffle these pools around based on demand,” Boehne said. “Each pool has a maximum size of how many people can fit on that course. Over the years, I’ve shuffled around. If one division has grown in popularity, I might have to play a little rearranging to say where they would best fit.”

Competitions for the weekend will be played on the park’s three different courses: Cedar Creek East, Cedar Creek West and Cedar Creek Central.

Players will check in from 7-9 a.m., with round one event beginning later that hour at 10 a.m. Round two will start at roughly 2 p.m., or one hour after the first, giving players a chance to eat, hydrate, and relax before the rest of their day.

The first session wraps up with the crowning of the skills competition winners. The tournament will give honors to putting, accuracy, and mini-putting champions, respectively.

Weekend festivities wrap up on Sunday with the final two sessions of play.

Round three starts at 8:30 a.m. for all three pools to participate in.

Division Finals will follow around noon, depending on the conclusion of round three. This round is exclusively for the top four finishers in the Mixed Pro Open, Mixed Pro 40+, Mixed Amateur 1, Mixed Amateur 2, and Mixed Amateur 40+.

Awards and recognitions will begin following the conclusion of all division finals competition, wrapping up the weekend.