Trek Disc Golf

Two great weekends of disc golf in the rearview, with the Preserve coming up this weekend. Let’s start with the Beaver State Fling in Oregon that was an incredible tournament on both the FPO side and the MPO side. In terms of my viewing timing, it was actually perfect for watching the FPO, where I caught most of the MPO on JomezPro. For the FPO, Holyn Handley beat out Ohn Scoggins in a playoff that turned out to be a finish that I will absolutely remember. I checked scores before tuning in around I saw Holyn was behind by a few strokes. Honestly, in that moment, I thought Ohn had this one. But a few holes later, I checked back in and saw Holyn had made it close. Perfect timing. I turned on to catch the final 5 holes and boy they did not disappoint. Holyn was on fire, and as Ohn made a huge on hole 17, Holyn clutched up with a big straddle putt for birdie. At this point. Holyn has rolled off 3 birdies in a row and Ohn had gone birdie, par, bogey in that same stretch. On to 18, where Ohn absolutely pured the hole. Parked for birdie. Holyn on her approach shot, hit the log surrounding the mulched green and rolled to about 45. And again, Holyn hit a HUGE putt for a birdie. Tie game and on to the sudden death playoff. They played hole 16, Holyn birdied with another great putt, albeit a little less stressful. Great win and happy to see Holyn close the door.

On the MPO side, Gannon Buhr swept the state of Oregon winning again, this time, by a stroke over Ricky and Ezra Robinson. But the story is also Luke Humphries, that like at Waco, had a lead late, and was not able to bring it home. Luke took a 9 on hole 17 that dropped him to a tie for 9th, but he was in it. I love watching Luke play. So effortless, not the cleanest form, but just makes it work. And he always looks so relaxed and dialed in for these big moments. Unfortunately, he was just not able to capitalize. But with that said. Gannon is on a tear. Absolutely crushing with a 1051 rated event and going bogey-free for the tournament. He might be the most consistent on tour right now because unlike last year, I think he is always in the mix for the win. Calvin finished Day 1 with a -12 and I thought he was poised to run away with it. But a mediocre Round 2 and a tough bogey on 6 at Milo, Calvin kind of fell off the pace. Whereas Gannon kept pushing. Even with a slow start on the final day, he kept going, birding 7 of the last 11 holes. 100% from C1X on Day 3 and 2/5 from C2. Gannon has the most complete game I see right now, and continues to dominate this season.

Gannon won $10,000 and Holyn walked away with $6,500. Total purse of $83,270. Great West Coast swing, I wish it was longer.

On to Europe where the Turku Open was going on. I only watched the MPO final round for this tournament, but in FPO, Silva Saarinen won this event. Beating Eveliina by 2 strokes and Henna by 3 strokes. Interestingly, on the final day, all three of the top three competitors finished over par. Only person to shoot under par was Keiti Tatte, but even so, felt like the door was open for Eveliina or Henna to track down Silva and they were not able to do so. On the MPO side, Niklas made a huge comeback to beat pit Mauri Villmann who had a 5 stroke lead of Niklas and James Proctor heading into the event. Now to be fair to Mauri, Niklas birdied 10 of the last 11 holes, with some INCREDIBLE putts on hole 9 and 14. Mauri was solid through the front 9, but just got a little stale in the back stretch. With some unlucky breaks, but some missed opportunities as well, Mauri left the door open for Niklas. 1081 final round for Niklas and a 1055 event rating, well deserved, but a close one for Mauri.

Niklas walked away with $8,375 and Silva took home $3,382. Total purse of $58,973. I’m looking forward to more of the European Tour events. On to the Preserve. Let it rip!