Albuquerque doesn’t mess around.
The air is thinner. The rounds are longer. And eventually, everybody has to sit with themselves and ask the same question: What do I really have right now?
Open #4 answered that question loudly.
Colin Hodet: Endurance as a Competitive Skill
If there’s a phrase that defines Colin Hodet’s Albuquerque weekend, it’s this: kept standing.
Thursday started with a pre-open blind draw win — a tone-setter that quietly said, “Yeah, I’m good here.”
Friday followed with another Crew Cup title alongside Logan Chamberlain, Gavin Cano, and Austin Waskow. Four straight now. At this point, it’s not a streak — it’s a habit.
Blind draw that night with Jake Skorvanik ended in a second-place finish, another long run, another reminder that Colin doesn’t disappear when brackets stretch late.
Saturday doubles with Ethan Farias delivered a 5–1 Rounders record and a seventh-place bracket finish. Not the ending they wanted, but the throwing was there, the communication was there, and the pairing looked like one worth revisiting.
Then Sunday happened.
Singles turned into a marathon.
231 rounds.
Not a typo.
Colin fought through elite competition, dropped early to Ryan Wiedenfeld, clawed through the losers bracket, and forced his way back to the finals against Mark Richards. He took the first game. The second didn’t break his way.
Sometimes the story isn’t the win.
Sometimes it’s the proof that you can survive that much pressure and still throw clean bags at the end.
Guardian XRs all weekend. No excuses. No panic. Just work.
Spencer Fabionar: Owning the Misses, Keeping the Edge
Spencer didn’t sugarcoat Albuquerque. He didn’t spin it. He didn’t hide behind anything.
Crew Cup with Cash Chamness, Hunter Thorson, and Richard Nyberg brought a third-place finish — losing twice to the eventual champs, which is both frustrating and clarifying.
Blind draw with Cooper Bingham started hot, cooled fast. That’s the game sometimes.
Doubles with Cash followed the same arc — momentum early, champs in the way, and a brutal losers match against Logan and Gavin who refused to miss while breaks refused to fall.
Sunday singles was chaos.
Spencer beat Cash in round one, then ran into Colin Hodet playing a brand of cornhole that felt borderline divine. From there, Spencer rattled off wins against Payton Kinley, Linda Ford, Jase Webb, and Zack Akien before Ethan Walker closed the door.
The bags were Guardian XRs.
The commentary booth got a little louder.
And the self-awareness stayed intact.
Bad weekends happen. What matters is whether you pretend they didn’t. Spencer didn’t. And that’s usually when the next one flips.
Hunter Thorson: Numbers vs. Reality
Hunter Thorson’s weekend wasn’t about placements — it was about perspective.
Crew Cup bronze with Spencer, Richard, and Cash.
Doubles with Hunter Thorne ended 3–2.
Singles finished ninth in bracket.
The stats were fine.
The feeling was better.
Road trips, team dinners, shared losses, shared laughs — Albuquerque reminded Hunter why the grind matters beyond brackets. Sometimes the lab comes after the laughter, and that’s exactly where he’s headed next.
Hunter Thorne: Steady Presence, Shared Work
Hunter Thorne put in the kind of weekend that doesn’t beg for attention but earns respect.
Doubles with Thorson went 3–2.
No panic. No theatrics.
Just bags thrown, lessons logged, and the understanding that progress doesn’t always show up as a podium photo.
Richard Nyberg: Part of the Fight
Richard Nyberg was in the mix all weekend — Crew Cup battles, doubles pressure, and the kind of shared competition that doesn’t always translate cleanly to stats but absolutely shows up in team chemistry.
Albuquerque was another rep.
Another test.
Another layer added.
Collin Powers: In the Room, In the Work
Collin Powers competed, absorbed, and stayed engaged through a weekend that demanded patience.
Not every Open is about fireworks. Some are about staying in rhythm, staying accountable, and staying ready for when the moment tilts your way again.
What Albuquerque Taught Everyone
This wasn’t a weekend for highlight reels.
It was a weekend for honesty.
Who can go long.
Who can lose and stay composed.
Who can miss and keep throwing.
Brotherhood Cornhole didn’t leave Albuquerque with every answer — but they left with the right questions.
And that’s how real seasons get built.
Myrtle Beach is next.
The air gets thicker.
The noise gets louder.
And the lessons from New Mexico are coming with them.
1 comment
Love getting to read these recaps! I watched and followed along, but really enjoy hearing and reading how these elite players view and revisit the weekend. Onto Myrtle Beach!