Hot final round boosts confidence for Ulibarri

While the win evaded Paul Ulibarri at this year’s Vibram Open, there are positives he can take away from his 11th place finish. While fighting through putting struggles for most of the tournament Ulibarri was able to shoot the best score of the day during the final round.

Continuing our coverage of Ulibarri during his time on the Disc Golf Pro Tour, we caught up with him after the first ever DGPT event.

Had the goal of a top 10 finish going in, fell just short of that with an 11th place finish. What are your overall thoughts on this year’s Vibram Open.

“Good tournament. Ran well, but hard for me to get a good feel for all the activities. I stayed about a half hour from the course missed most of the other activities.”

“On the course, not very good. I struggled with the putter. Just never got it going until the last round to get a decent finish. Overall a slow weekend. I wasn’t comfortable on the putting green and that hit me on the the successive rounds and forced me to push. That didn’t help.”

You mentioned your struggles putting during the tournament. What wasn’t working?

“I have a slight back problem, not to make excuses, but that played a role. Once you miss a couple then it goes mental and it’s harder to make them.”

You did shoot the hot round on the final day… how important was that?

“That’s super important, especially going into the next few tournaments. With the Vibram Open being such a big tournament with big names and to shoot the hot round, knowing I needed to, and then perform like I did boosts the confidence for sure.”

This was the third or fourth National Tour event in a row where I’ve shot the hot round going in the final round. I just need to put myself in better position earlier in the tournament. Once the pressure is on, I know I can perform.”

Whats up next for you between now and the next DGPT stop?

“I’m going to Delaware this weekend and then Manitowoc, Wisconsin for the Silver Cup. I just got in the tournament, I’m also hoping to secure my passport to go to Europe following that. This will be my first time at the Silver Cup.”

Thanks to Ulibarri for the conversation. We’ll catch up with him again after his trip to Delaware as he makes the trek back to the Midwest for the second Disc Golf Pro Tour event.