Trek Disc Golf

A lot went down since the last preview from the Dynamic Discs Open. Calvin came through with a big win in Emporia, while Missy edged out Hailey King for her win. In the off week in the United States, we saw the Pro Tour Europe get under way with the Copenhagen Open where Jesse Nieminen won in MPO and Eveliina Salonen won in a playoff in the FPO division. And stateside, the Las Vegas Challenge was going on where an upset victory from Connor Rock beat out a very competitive field, including edging out Gannon Buhr, Calvin Heimburg, and Isaac Robinson. On the FPO side, Lykke Lorentzen won by two strokes over Sofia Donnecke. And finally, shout out to Aaron Gossage for winning the 303 Open. Okay, onto this weekend…

The tour has made it to the west coast swing. I love this part of the tour, maybe because the courses are so different from what I play, but I just love the scenery and viewing experience on these courses. From California and up to Oregon, there are some real great disc golf courses to watch, even if they utilize a lot of ball golf courses. The first stop on the west coast and the eighth stop on the DGPT is in Stockton, California where players will be at Swenson Park for the OTB Open Presented by MVP Disc Sports. It is a three day tournament, starting on Friday, May 17th and wrapping up on Sunday, May 19th. FPO coverage will begin each day on Disc Golf Network at 12:00 pm ET with MPO coverage on DGN beginning at 5:30 pm ET. Post-produced coverage will premiere on JomezPro the next day. For both divisions, the course at Swenson Park is a long one, covering more that 11,000 feet for MPO and more than 9,000 feet for FPO. For round 1 and 3, the course plays a bit shorter (9,099 feet for FPO and 11,264 feet for MPO) with round 2 seeing the added distance of 300 feet for both divisions. The 300 feet comes from a difference in hole 9 for that second round, where the basket is pushed back in both positions by 300 feet and changing them from par 4’s to par 5’s for both divisions.

Starting with FPO, the field is definitely smaller without the whole European contingent at this event, but it is still a solid field with a lot of the US based players attending the event. Last season, we saw Paige Pierce win by 4 strokes and she played great. She led the field in C1 in regulation at 54% and was second in strokes gained from tee to green with an incredible 18.11 strokes gained. Unfortunately, with her injury and play this season, I don’t see how Paige is ready to repeat her success from last year. Her C1X putting this year has been great (75%) relative to the field, but I don’t think she is comfortable throwing for power again and out west, its going to be crucial.

So where does that leave me in terms of picks? Well Ohn Scoggins finished second here last year and as usual, is crushing at C1X putting with an 81.27% rate. Just incredible and leading the field once again in putting. But Ohn is not know for her throwing. Ella Hansen, Missy Gannon, and Hailey King all finished in the top 6 at OTB last year, but Hailey is not in the field this year and Ella has not had a strong start to the season. The only other player on my mind, yet again, is Holyn Handley. While she did not finish in the top 5 at the event last year, she led the field in strokes gained tee to green with 19.20 strokes gained and tied Paige to lead the field in C1 in regulation with that 54%. Again, she is built for this. I’m diving back into the well and picking Holyn to win this year. I’ll take Missy in second simply because she is so consistent and is coming off the win at DDO. And give me Ohn in third. With her putting, she just finds a way to the podium.

Looking back to 2023 on the MPO side, we had a surprise winner here last year with Emerson Keith winning by two strokes over Gannon Buhr. Gannon finished several strokes ahead of a slew of players including Isaac Robinson, Cole Redalen, Aaron Gossage, Anthony Barela, Calvin Heimburg, and James Proctor. Notably, Ricky Wysocki was not in the field last year, but in 2022, did find his way towards the top of the leaderboard finishing in 5th. In my research from last year, a couple stats stick out and once again, I’m looking at C1 in Regulation and Strokes Gained Tee to Green. Aaron Gossage led the field in both categories, 54% C1 in Reg and 16.79 strokes gained tee to green. Incredible. But his putting this year is just not good enough, coming in at 74.61% C1X putting. Compared to the field, it is just not good enough to win, I think I’d like to see that number be at 80% before I could confidently pick Goose. And to be brief, kind of like Parker Welck at DDO, I don’t see Emerson repeating here. Other names in the stats that stick out are the usual suspects, Gannon 48% C1 in regulation, AB 46%, Calvin 12.57 strokes gained, and AB 11.18 strokes gained.

So where do I go with the picks? Last week, we know how some of these players played at Las Vegas and 303, do they ride that momentum into this weekend. Is there a surprise player that will pop off this weekend to take home a victory. Gavin Rathbun has been playing well and played decently well at OTB in 2023. I just can’t bring myself to do it, the best players in the world are just too good. I did have a tougher time figuring out the order with this one, so I’ll give my top 5. Winning is Gannon, followed by Calvin, AB, Ricky, and Goose. I think Aaron Gossage could be the sneaky pick, but like I said, I just don’t love the putting. It’s hard not to go against the top players right now, unless someone jumps up with some consistency, I can’t go against the top right now. Looking forward to this weekend, let it rip!