The season wraps up this weekend in Charlotte.
October 17, 2024 by Justin Westfall in Preview with 0 comments
After 22 Elite Series events played across 14 states and 6 countries, the 2024 Disc Golf Pro Tour season will come to a close this weekend. The Disc Golf Pro Tour Championships begin today in Charlotte, North Carolina. For a third consecutive year, the event will be held at Nevin Park, though the tour has already announced that next year’s tour championship will move to Lynchburg, Virginia.
This year’s tournament format has been modified once again and now very closely mimics the PGA Tour championship. The tour points leaders will begin the tournament at 10-under par, with the second place finishers at 9-under par, the third place finishers at 8-under par, and the fourth place finishers at 7-under par. From there, starting strokes are laddered down throughout the rest of the qualified players until you get to the bottom-four players in each division, who will begin the tournament at even par. Competitors will play four 18-hole rounds with no score reset, as was customary in previous years.
Last year, Calvin Heimburg led Ricky Wysocki by three-strokes at the halfway point before scores were reset. Wysocki fired off an incredible third round, birdieing 10 of the final 11 holes to take a three-stroke lead on Kyle Klein going into the final day. Despite losing his lead early in the round, Wysocki was quickly able to jump back ahead and defeat Klein by one-stroke to win his third career DGPT championship and second in a row.
In FPO, Ohn Scoggins finished the semifinals with a two-stroke lead on Kristin Tattar. With the scores reset, Scoggins once again fired off the hot round to lead Kat Mertsch by two-strokes and Missy Gannon by three-strokes going into the final day. Unfortunately for Scoggins, the final round was not as kind to her. She went 3-over par on the day and fell by three-strokes to Missy Gannon, who claimed her second career DGPT championship title.
Past Winners
| Open | Open Women | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Ricky Wysocki | Missy Gannon |
| 2022 | Ricky Wysocki | Kristin Tattar |
| 2021 | Nathan Queen | Missy Gannon |
| 2020 | Kevin Jones | Hailey King |
| 2019 | Chris Dickerson | Catrina Allen |
| 2018 | Chris Dickerson | Sarah Hokom |
| 2017 | Ricky Wysocki | Paige Pierce |
| 2016 | Paul McBeth | Catrina Allen |
Four Things We’ll Be Watching
1. World #1 and 2024 DGPT points champion Gannon Buhr will begin this event at 10-under par and is the clear favorite going into the weekend. Fresh off his second career USDGC win, Buhr has already won seven four-round tournaments this season and with a head start over the field, catching him seems like a tall task. Buhr has stated winning the Player of the Year title was one of his goals, and while that’s now clearly locked up, there are still a couple of things at stake for him this weekend. A win would obviously add a DGPT Tour Championship to his resume, but more importantly it would push him over $200,000 in tournament winnings this season. While he has already smashed the previous record and will extend it this weekend, a win is the only way to eclipse the $200k mark.
2. In FPO, points leader and reigning champion Missy Gannon will also begin her tournament at 10-under par. Gannon has seven career wins at four-round tournaments including two this season. She’s not exactly known for getting out to a hot start, so beginning her tournament with a lead is a dangerous prospect for the rest of the field. With wins at the USWDGC, European Disc Golf Festival, and MVP Open already logged this season, her ability to score low in the woods is as good as it’s ever been. Missy was uncharacteristically shaky last weekend, throwing OB 14 times at Winthrop. That will need to be cleaned up this weekend if she hopes to defend her title.
3. As was the case for the majority of this season, back-to-back and reigning champion Ricky Wysocki is the most likely player to keep pace with Gannon Buhr. Wysocki finished second in tour points, meaning he will begin the week just one-stroke back of Buhr. Wysocki is not only a tremendous woods player: he has shown over the past two seasons an ability to outpace the field at Nevin Park. While he sits a bit lower in the tour standings at 5th place, Isaac Robinson is the next player to keep on your radar. Robinson went to a playoff with Wysocki at the 2022 Tour Championship, but a lack of distance off the tee and forehand shot making gave Wysocki a big advantage on the difficult playoff hole. Robinson is known as a woods specialist and his game sets up well for Nevin. If the players ahead of him fail to shoot a couple of hot rounds, expect Robinson to close the gap and make a push for the win.
4. As the 2022 tour champion, Kristin Tattar has seen success at Nevin Park and will begin her tournament just two-strokes back of Missy Gannon. While most would consider Tattar the favorite to win this event, she had struggled over the second half of the season to shoot four consistent rounds. That was, until this past weekend, when she was finally able to win the Throw Pink Women’s Disc Golf Championship and noted afterwards that she feels like her old self again. If that confidence rolls over into this tournament, Tattar has an opportunity to flip the narrative on what seemed like a down season for her just a month ago. Though she’s likely secured her third consecutive Player of the Year award, going out with yet another win would send a message that she’s still the player to beat and remains in a tier of her own.
The Course
Established in 2009, Nevin Park was one of the courses used during the 2012 Pro World Championships and is often referred to as a sister course to Hornet’s Nest, which hosted this event from 2019-2021. While several small changes have been made to this year’s layout, the general flow remains the same as last year. The majority of the changes are on the FPO side, with a few baskets, tees, and OB lines adjusted, which should make the course play a little easier.
2024 MPO: 10,621 Feet Par 65
2023 MPO: 10,770 Feet Par 66
2024 FPO: 9,113 Feet Par 69
2023 FPO: 9,445 Feet Par 69
Extended Forecast
The season will conclude with a beautiful weekend in Charlotte. Sunny skies and increasingly warmer temperatures are in store throughout the weekend.
Thursday: Sunny with highs in the lower 60s. Winds 5 to 10 mph.
Friday: Sunny with highs in the upper 60s. Winds 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday: Sunny with highs in the lower 70s. Winds 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday: Sunny with highs in the mid 70s. Winds 5 to 10 mph.
