Little drama down the stretch as the favorites pulled away
October 14, 2024 by Kingsley Flett in Recap with 0 comments
As the 2024 disc golf season winds to a close in the Carolinas in the fall, more legends were created this weekend as Gannon Buhr and Kristen Tattar both cruised to comfortable wins at the venue where much of the story of disc golf has been written.
Three weeks ago, after his win in the Green Mountain Challenge, Buhr made it clear he was aiming for a second United States Disc Golf Championship title. Gannon made good on that promise in Rock Hill, South Carolina, at the Winthrop Arena and put the icing atop one of the greatest seasons of all time. For Tattar, the Throw Pink Women’s Disc Golf Championship title showed how she is still capable of dominating the FPO field at her best and that, even in a season interrupted by injury and her wedding, she is at the forefront of the conversation for FPO Player of the Year.
Another legend that will be told about this weekend will be how Jonathan Poole and his team of staff and volunteers, in the wake of widespread damage to the region following Hurricane Helene, managed to have Winthrop Gold ready for competition. The area was spared the worst of the damage compared to other parts of North and South Carolina, but, nevertheless, countess hours were spent clearing fallen trees and repairing fairways, tee pads, and greens to ready the course.
Gannon Again Steps Up in the Big Moments
As is tradition at the USDGC, many past legends of the tournament were present. Thre-time winner Barry Schultz joined 2008 and 2009 winners Nate Doss and Nikko Locastro, along with past winners Dave Feldberg, Nate Sexton, and Steve Brinster plus contemporary touring pros James Conrad, Jeremy Koling, Paul McBeth, and the youngest of all, chasing his second title, in Buhr. From this list, it was Schultz, Doss, Sexton, and Locastro who made the cut and joined McBeth and Buhr in the final round. Nikko made the lead card for round three before dropping to 23rd place while McBeth tied for 10th. For McBeth, it brought to an end a 13 year streak with at least one tournament win during the season.
Buhr did not lead wire-to-wire. Anthony Barela took the lead after round one, then shared the lead with Buhr after round two before going ahead of Buhr again by one stroke by the end of round three. In that round, the two long-levered young players, who many are expecting to dominate the sport for years to come, created some separation from the rest of the field. There was a four stroke gap between Buhr in second and Ricky Wysocki in third, with Finn Väinö Mäkelä, one of three players from Finland who would finish in the top 10, a further stroke back in fourth.
Early bogeys from Wysocki and Mäkelä in the final round dropped them off the pace while Buhr slipped ahead of Barela by one in the first six holes. At that point, it seemed like it was going to be match play between Barela and Buhr to decide the title. The first separation between the two leaders came on hole 7 when Buhr’s forehand hyzer caught the inside edge of the bamboo archway and deflected closer to the basket, while Barela missed the triple mandatory entirely and failed to get up and down from the drop zone. The two throw swing gave Buhr a three stroke gap to defend. A couple of holes later, we all became aware of Calvin Heimburg as he started his charge from eight strokes off the lead on the chase card. By hole 9, Heimburg had climbed into a share of second place with Barela.
History tells us that a three stroke lead is nothing on the back nine at Winthrop. The most nerve wracking tests for anyone defending a lead being the ‘tin cup’ holes 12 & 17 that have ruined many a player’s tournament and given our sport some of its greatest theater. Barela outscored Buhr for the first time on hole 10 with an eagle, but then gave that stroke and one more back on the next hole by grip-locking his drive into the tall hedge lining the right side of the fairway. Buhr then survived the test of hole 12 with a par to Barela’s birdie and then, with the shot of the tournament, parked his fairway shot on hole 13 to grab another two throw swing. On hole 14, Buhr went five ahead of Barela to effectively kill that contest. The main threat was now Heimburg, who was two holes ahead and three strokes back.
“Once I got ahead and got that lead, I was able to keep that through the rest of the tournament and I felt pretty good,” said Buhr afterwards. “There’s obviously still a couple of shots that you have to execute – 10, 12 and 13 – I think it was my first time ever birdieing that hole. That was kind of the dagger for me. When I went up 5 after hole 14, I knew I could just kinda play it safe.”
Barela clawed back a couple of strokes on the next two holes, though, as Buhr played conservatively. Gannon made the long walk on College Lake Road up to the tee of hole 17 with a three stroke lead which, as we know from history, is often not enough. There’d be no ghosts from the past coming to haunt the leaders, however, as Buhr and Barela both clearing the hay bales and landed safe. Ricky Wysocki was the only lead card member to miss the green. Barela took a tight line with his forehand drive and stuck on the green at circle’s edge, while Buhr’s more conservative shot flew safer, wider, and 50 feet from the pin. Buhr, surprisingly, ran the putt, with the OB just behind the basket. It seemed like a crazy decision, but the iceman had a plan.
“I wanted to give that putt a putt a little bit of a run,” he said. “Because I didn’t feel too comfortable with two strokes going into 18. I never play for par. I always go for birdie. So I ran the putt and luckily it didn’t go OB.”
Buhr’s bid hit the top of the basket but dropped safe. Barela then needed only to drop his circle’s edge putt to put real pressure on Buhr on the final hole. The putt was a hair low though, the disc skipping off the top rung of the cage. It was Barela’s second C1X miss of the day. A three stroke gap on hole 18 is a world of difference from a 2 stroke lead with the way that fairway can play. Buhr was able to lay up to the throat of the gap at the top of the hill and drop in for par without needing to push for birdie.
In the tournament where he announced himself to the disc golf world as a 17-year-old prodigy in 2022, Gannon Buhr tapped in for a two stroke win. Barela birdied the final hole to catch Heimburg, who had shot a course record 13-under-par to climb four places for a share of second.
“It’s absolutely crazy,” said Buhr after his win. “I mean this is a tournament I’ve wanted to win so bad. I know it sets up well for my game here and I know I’ve played well here in the past. I knew this week was going to be pretty stressful no matter what — when you are in the tournament you kinda want to just have it over — but also all the great memories I made this week was amazing. Winning at this course twice is something that I’ll remember forever.”
It’s clear that Gannon Buhr has put together one of the great seasons in history. It’s also clear that there something missing. On his way to the scorer’s hut, Buhr received a congratulatory hug from Isaac Robinson.
“I’ll get a Worlds one day,” Buhr said.
“Yeah you will,” said Robinson.
Time will tell.
Kristin Returns to Top Form
When looking back on Kristin Tattar’s six stroke win in the TPWDGC, most will point to her parked approach shot on hole 5 where she truly took control of the tournament. It was a precisely placed, high risk shot that gave Tattar a birdie, stretching her lead over Eveliina Salonen to five strokes. The confidence Kristin showed in throwing the shot made it seem unlikely that Salonen or third-placed Ohn Scoggins would catch her. Tattar seemed somehow lighter. An essence of her 2023 form seemed to have returned.
In hindsight, though, the real turning point in the tournament came late in round three. Salonen led the first two rounds and started moving day with a two stroke lead over Scoggins and three over Tattar. Kristin gradually whittled the lead back to one stroke with just hole 18 to play. Eveliina appeared to be headed into the final round with a one stroke lead before her second shot on the steeply sloped hole 18 fairway stood up on its edge and rolled out of bounds. Shaking off the bad luck, Salonen threw a tight upshot to circle’s edge. Her putt to save par chained out left and landed on the wood chips before also standing up on its edge and rolling to circle’s edge down the steep bank towards the lake. Salonen missed the comebacker, and the double bogey mostly forged by cruel luck created a three stroke swing and gave a two stroke lead for Tattar heading into the final round.
Including the stunning birdie on hole five –Tattar’s first on that hole for the tournament and one of only 11 in the field for the weekend — Kristin shot 9-under-par for the first 14 holes of the final round to end the contest. Tattar’s first bogey came on hole 15, which she swiftly corrected with a birdie on hole 16. On a course where the out of bounds ropes can ruin a round, Kristin didn’t cross them once, aside from a mental lapse on hole 18 where she threw her upshot into the crowd (with an eight shot lead, it didn’t matter). Salonen birdied the last hole but still fell one stroke behind Scoggins after falling to third with a string of bogeys from holes 13 through 16.
Tattar hit the fairways 96% of the time in her final round and matched that with 87% C1X putting. Scoggins hit 87% of fairways but uncharacteristically only hit 62% of her circle one putts. Also uncharacteristic was Salonen’s putting. Eveliina hit 100% from C1X but struggled to throw — just 70% fairway hits, two missed mandos, an OB penalty, and a hazard penalty.
“The week felt so long,” said Tattar after her win. “But I did have a very good sleep last night, and I came out here and reminded myself ‘here’s your chance so make the best out of it’ and that’s exactly what I did. I remember just walking down some of the fairways and thinking ‘oh my gosh I feel like myself again.’ The game seemed super easy today and it’s so much fun playing that way. It felt so good out there and I just had a smile on my face. I will try to have the same focus at Nevin [for the DGPT Championship]. Like ‘here’s your chance to play, you can’t do it the next week or the next month.’ I feel like I did a very good job of finding that focus and that hunger for a win again.”
The season now culminates 30 miles up the I-77 at Nevin Park in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the top 32 MPO and top 20 FPO in tour standings will battle it out for the tour championship. One more fling and the final swing of this epic season is all over. There are still plenty of players with plenty to prove this year if the $300,000 purse isn’t motivation enough.
