The USDGC is the second-most prestigious title in disc golf after the World Championships.
October 9, 2024 by Justin Westfall in Preview with 0 comments
Just two events remain before the 2024 disc golf season officially comes to a close. The 26th United States Disc Golf Championship, the final MPO major of the season, begins this Thursday at the Winthrop Arena in Rock Hill, South Carolina. For a 4th year, the Throw Pink Women’s Disc Golf Championship, an A-tier, will be played alongside the USDGC.
At the 2023 USDGC, Kyle Klein entered the final round with a three-stroke lead on Bradley Williams. Klein proceeded to shoot nine under par in the first 11 holes, extending his lead over Williams to nine strokes. As a result of conservative play and a triple-bogey on the final hole, Klein would go on to defeat Williams by just one stroke.
In the TPWDGC, Kristin Tattar was tied with Eveliina Salonen going into the final round. On the chase card, Holyn Handley began the day six strokes behind Tattar and Salonen. Going into hole 18, Handley was sitting 11-under par on the day and potentially in position to win the event outright. In one of the most controversial moments of the season, Handley’s tee shot landed out of bounds and appeared to never cross in, meaning she would need to re-tee. However, the group decided that her disc hit the OB line, and she was able to advance up the fairway. Handley would go on to bogey the hole, meaning that Tattar would need a birdie on hole 18 to force a playoff. Tattar was able to card the birdie, and after pushing on the first playoff hole (#1), the players looped around to the island hole 17. Handley was able to put her drive in the center of the green, while Tattar turned over her forehand drive and went long into the water. After failing to throw in from the drop zone, Handley laid up her putt and tapped in for the win.
Past Winners
| Winner | Runner Up | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Kyle Klein | Bradley Williams |
| 2022 | Gannon Buhr | Niklas Anttila |
| 2021 | Paul McBeth | Kyle Klein |
| 2020 | Chris Dickerson | Calvin Heimburg |
| 2019 | James Conrad | Jeremy Koling & Nikko Locastro |
| 2018 | Paul McBeth | James Conrad |
| 2017 | Nate Sexton | Ricky Wysocki |
| 2016 | Jeremy Koling | Nikko Locastro |
| 2015 | Paul McBeth | Ricky Wysocki |
| 2014 | Will Schusterick | Paul McBeth & JohnE McCray |
| 2013 | Steve Brinster | Barry Schultz & Steve Rico |
| 2012 | Will Schusterick | Ricky Wysocki |
| 2011 | N/A | |
| 2010 | Will Schusterick | Nikko Locastro |
| 2009 | Nikko Locastro | Dave Feldberg |
| 2008 | Nate Doss | Avery Jenkins |
| 2007 | Ken Climo | Avery Jenkins |
| 2006 | Barry Schultz | Brian Schweberger |
| 2005 | Dave Feldberg | Scott Martin |
| 2004 | Ken Climo | Darrell Nodland |
| 2003 | Barry Schultz | Ken Climo |
| 2002 | Ken Climo | Barry Schultz |
| 2001 | Barry Schultz | Ken Climo |
| 2000 | Ken Climo | Al 'Sugar' Schack |
| 1999 | Ken Climo | Al 'Sugar' Schack |
| Year | Winner | Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Holyn Handley | Kristin Tattar |
| 2022 | Catrina Allen | Kristin Tattar |
| 2021 | Missy Gannon | Kona Panis |
| 2020 (WNC) | Paige Pierce | Catrina Allen |
Five Things We’ll Be Watching
1. All eyes will be on Gannon Buhr this week as he attempts to win his second career USDGC title and second major of the season. Buhr would join Ken Climo, Barry Schultz, Will Schusterick, and Paul McBeth as the only multi-time winners of the USDGC. One player still searching for his first career USDGC win and first major win in over seven years is Ricky Wysocki. Wysocki has been the runner-up at the USDGC three times and has six career podium finishes but has never been able to close out a victory. Buhr and Wysocki have consistently battled each other throughout this season, with Buhr notably coming out on top at the most recent major, the European Open. Given the criticism that Wysocki has taken for his lack of major wins in recent years, he may have more riding on this tournament than any other player in the field.
2. Coming off one of the biggest wins of her career, Missy Gannon will look to keep things rolling in Rock Hill. Gannon won the inaugural event in 2021 and is having a career year, with half of her all-time elite and majors wins racked up this season. Performing well at Winthrop requires pinpoint accuracy which Gannon has. She currently leads the division in fairway hits and has the 4th best OB rate. Kristin Tattar has been the runner-up at this event each of the past two seasons and might have more motivation than ever to win this tournament after finishing second to Gannon at the MVP Open, despite averaging a 1009 event rating. Tattar’s lackluster summer was plagued by poor upshots, an area where she traditionally excels. That issue reared its head again on the final hole of the MVP Open and is something she’ll need to clean up at Winthrop. Keep an eye on hole 18 as well which Tattar has played six-strokes over par during the past two years. Her only career birdie on this hole came in last year’s final round, which she needed to force the playoff.
3. Paul McBeth has won an elite series or major tournament every year since 2011 and has just one more opportunity to extend that streak. McBeth is still searching for his first win since the 2023 PCS Open and his first major win since the 2022 World Championships. A win this week would give McBeth his 18th MPO major title, tying Ken Climo for the most in PDGA history. It would also be his 4th career USDGC title, moving him into solo 2nd all-time and just one shy of Ken Climo who holds the record at five wins. Paul is coming off a 2nd place finish at the MVP Open, nearly forcing a playoff from the 3rd card. He has played well over the past few months, averaging over a 1050 rating since the start of July with three podium finishes. Despite poor course conditions due to hurricane Helene, McBeth was spotted at Winthrop early last week when much of the course was still unplayable. There’s no question he’s hungry for a win, so expect McBeth to give it everything he has this weekend.
4. While Throw Pink isn’t technically a major, it certainly feels like one. With two major wins already racked up this season, Eveliina Salonen is in a tight race with both Tattar and Gannon for Player of the Year. Salonen came in 3rd at last year’s event and her game sets up well for Winthrop — she has been a tee-to-green monster in Rock Hill but struggled on the putting green. While she has fewer total wins than both Tattar and Gannon, majors reign supreme and adding a Throw Pink title this weekend could be enough to catapult her ahead of the competition. Given how well these three players have performed this season, it feels inevitable that at least one of them will be in contention in Rock Hill. Despite the results, this race will not be decided until after next week’s tour championship, and even then, voters could be split on who they believe had the better season.
5. In the wake of hurricane Helene, the Winthrop Arena saw quite a bit of damage to the course less than two weeks before the opening round. Winthrop lake flooded the greens of several holes, the truss above hole 15 came down, and nearly half of the course was unplayable as of last week. The staff has worked tirelessly over the past week to pump 9.5 million gallons of water from the lake, spread 150,000 pounds of mulch, and remove over 20 dump trucks of debris from the property. We’ll have to wait and see just how good the conditions are come tournament time, but it appears the staff has done everything in their power to get the course back in shape for this event.
The Course
The Winthrop Arena is one of the most iconic venues in the sport, having hosted the USDGC since 1999. Originally designed in 1992 by Innova co-founder Harold Duvall, Winthrop is a mostly open layout that plays around the university campus. With 16 different mandatories on 11 holes and plenty of OB territory, hitting your line off the tee and landing in bounds is paramount to scoring low. The only major change to this year’s layout is the removal of an alternate pin position on hole 13. Hole 17, of course, still has an alternating pin position which moves the basket more into the center of the island green for rounds 2 and 3.
Winthrop is loaded with make-or-break holes: hole 17 is likely the first that comes to mind for most fans. Others may say hole 5 that requires the big water carry or the gated triple mando on hole 7. In recent years, however, the 549-foot par 4 hole 10 is arguably the biggest separator between winning and losing the USDGC. Since 2021, the eagle rate has nearly doubled on this hole, as the green is reachable from the tee for bigger arms. In 2022, Gannon Buhr played the hole for eagle in all four rounds, converting the look three times to finish 6-under par on the hole for the tournament. Niklas Anttila, on the other hand, played for birdie each day and went 4-under par. He would ultimately lose the tournament to Buhr by one-stroke. Last year, Kyle Klein made the green each day, missing just one putt and finishing the tournament 7-under par on the hole. Bradley Willams finished even par on the hole, seven-strokes worse than Klein, who he lost the tournament to by one stroke.
2024 MPO A: 9,805 Feet Par 64
2023 MPO A: 9,812 Feet Par 64
2024 MPO B: 9,810 Feet Par 64
2023 MPO B: 9,712 Feet Par 64
2024 FPO A: 8,780 Feet Par 69
2023 FPO A: 8,787 Feet Par 69
2024 FPO B: 8,785 Feet Par 69.
2023 FPO B: 8,687 Feet Par 69
Extended Forecast
It should be a beautiful weekend of disc golf in Rock Hill with plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures.
Thursday: Sunny with highs in the lower 70s. Winds 10 to 15 mph.
Friday: Sunny with highs in the lower 70s. Winds light and variable.
Saturday: Sunny with highs in the upper 70s. Winds light and variable.
Sunday: Sunny with highs in the lower 80s. Winds 5 to 10 mph.
