Ultiworld Disc Golf MPO Power Rankings: Post-WACO [March 18, 2022]

Who's making moves?

Paul McBeth, 2022 Waco Annual Charity Open champion. Photo: DGPT.

Two tournaments into the 2022 season and we are ready to draw definitive conclusions, make bold statements, and prematurely crown a favorite for Worlds. Yes, welcome to the internet. Forget about our preseason power rankings. Today we are older, wiser, and have actual data to go on. Let’s dig into our new rankings.

The Las Vegas Challenge and Waco Annual Charity Open often get tagged as fluky tournaments that have little bearing on season-long performance. I think this is understandable, but it’s also untrue. In fact, looking over the results since 2018, most of the top ten finishers at both events are either: 1. exactly who you would expect to perform well at these courses, or 2. the players you’d expect to win and play well, period. Let’s take a moment to recall just the winners:

LVC: Drew Gibson and Catrina Allen (2022), Eagle McMahon and Paige Pierce (2021), Nate Sexton and Catrina Allen (2020), Calvin Heimburg and Paige Shue (2019), Eagle McMahon and Paige Pierce (2018).

WACO: Paul McBeth and Valerie Mandujano (2022), Nikko Locastro and Kona Panis (2021), Colten Montgomery and Eveliina Salonen (2020), Paul McBeth and Catrina Allen (2019), Jeremy Koling and Paige Pierce (2018).

So let’s drop the narrative that these tournaments are bad predictors of season long success. Can you think of another pair of back-to-back events which provide a more comprehensive sample of hole types and skills tests? I can’t.

Methodology: We combine an algorithmic objective ranking with subjective ballots submitted by UWDG staff. The algorithm uses a standardized scoring model to compare elite events, awards competition, and cash bonuses, and features a decay function that gradually phases out past results.

Power Rankings MPO:
RankPlayerChangePrior
Dropped from rankings: Matt Orum (10), Nate Sexton (13), Ezra Aderhold (16), Paul Ulibarri (18), Emerson Keith (23), Gregg Barsby (24), Jeremy Koling (25)
1+12
2+24
3+912
4+26
5-41
6-
7-
8-8
9+1120
10+111
11+617
12+921
13-67
14-113
15-
16-115
17-89
18+422
19-19
20-
21-
22-
23-815
24-1014
25-

Subscribers, read on for discussion of the top 10 and additional notes on the field.

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  1. Christopher Wiklund
    Christopher Wiklund

    Chris is a contributor at Ultiworld Disc Golf. He lives and works on Cape Cod in Massachusetts where he plays as much disc golf as he can, and reminds people he lives on Cape Cod. He likes spending time outside when he isn't playing video games and watching TV.

Power Rankings MPO:
RankPlayerChangePrior
Dropped from rankings: Matt Orum (10), Nate Sexton (13), Ezra Aderhold (16), Paul Ulibarri (18), Emerson Keith (23), Gregg Barsby (24), Jeremy Koling (25)
1+12
2+24
3+912
4+26
5-41
6-
7-
8-8
9+1120
10+111
11+617
12+921
13-67
14-113
15-
16-115
17-89
18+422
19-19
20-
21-
22-
23-815
24-1014
25-

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