SABATTUS — Peter Ruby finally attracted a major tournament to his Sabattus Disc Golf facility. What would seem like a dream come true for Ruby is actually a goal achieved, and one he’s been working on for more than a decade.

The Professional Disc Golf Association’s 2016 United States Women’s Disc Golf Championship is coming to Sabattus beginning Friday, and will finish up with trophies being awarded on Sunday.

“I’m extremely excited for everybody,” Ruby said. “We’re still working hard right to the last minute.

He paused and chuckled.

“Long days,” he said. “Lots of things to do in regards to preparation, but we’ve been in at it for 10 years in regards to the facility. We’ll be in good shape. I think everybody’s extremely excited to be able to feature this and welcome everybody to Maine.”

Part of Ruby’s plan is to showcase not just his growing facility, but the community of and around Sabattus, and the state of Maine as a whole to players and spectators from around the country. This will be the first modern disc golf event of this scale in not just Maine, but also New England.

Maine did host one other national disc golf tournament, in 1976 at Beaver Brook Disc Golf Course. According to the PDGA, that course was designed by the father of disc golf, “Steady” Ed Headrick, as one of the first 22 official installations in the country. Headrick had been an executive at Wham-O, Inc.

Not unlike that tourney 40 years ago, this year’s event brings competitors from across the country to small-town Maine.

“Sabattus is a nice, little community tucked away. This is certainly going to put its name on the map, where we got people coming from across the entire United States and three other countries,” Ruby said. “This was part of (our long-term objective), was to bring a national audience here, to introduce them to our facility, our brand, and soon to be our new e-commerce business associated with disc golf.”

Nearly 100 players in 13 different divisions will play the facility’s Eagle and Hawk courses in four rounds over the span of three days. The main-draw “Open” division features defending champion Hannah Leatherman, of Telford, Pennsylvania, as well as runner-up Paige Pierce, of Plano, Texas. Maine natives in the open division are South Portland’s Nicole Dionisio and Augusta’s Alicia Villnave.

The women’s championship was the perfect event of its size for Sabattus Disc Golf, according to Ruby. It brings in the most amount of eyes with the fewest amount of players. This year’s championship is capped at 100 players, and Ruby said he’s seen some tournaments host close to 2,000 players.

It also showcases disc golf as a sport for all genders and ages, which is something a male-dominated sport is trying to showcase.

“Any type of athlete can play it. You don’t have to super athletic, you don’t have to be in great shape, but everybody and anybody can enjoy it,” Ruby said. “And right now, the majority of the disc golfers are still men, but in Maine you’re starting to see more of the mainstream of young families — young adults just starting out having families — play disc golf. This has been a great example, sort of a test location to do that. Those are some of the big benefits I think people are going to take away from here, seeing a totally different audience.”

The tournament’s benefactor will be The Dempsey Center, with part of the proceeds from the event going toward the center.

Putting all the pieces together to make this event happen has been a labor of love for Ruby, who could say the same about the facility he has constantly tried to improve over the past decade.

“Anything worth having takes a lot of time, effort, due diligence,” Ruby said. “So yeah, the payoff for me is to see everybody enjoy themselves, and see a level of disc golf at a pay-to-play facility.”

Ruby said he’s not looking for the facility to host event like this every year, but if everything goes well and all parties involved come out of it with a positive experience then “ideally” Sabattus Disc Golf will play host to a big event in the future.

The first round of this year’s tournament tees off Friday at 8 a.m.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com