2025 Waco Annual Charity Open Preview: Anyone’s Game

A short, technical BEast course opens up a wider than usual pool of potential winners.

March 13, 2025 by Justin Westfall in Preview

For the last three years, the Disc Golf Pro Tour held three consecutive events in March in the state of Texas, a stretch dubbed the “Texas Swing.” The Waco Annual Charity Open (WACO) has kicked off the Texas Swing each year and has been a staple on Tour since 2017. The 2025 WACO begins this Friday, March 14th, at Brazos Park East (aka the BEast) in Waco, Texas. However, this year the Texas Swing has been cut down to just two events, with the tour stopping in Austin next week for the first DGPT+ event of the season. 

Last year, WACO was adjusted from a three-round tournament to four rounds and was held as a DGPT+ event. As a result, just two rounds were played on the BEast, and a new golf course, Lake Waco, hosted the other pair. With the return to a three-round event this year, all rounds will once again be played on the BEast.

Gannon Buhr was able to claim his first win of the season in Waco last year, kicking off a career year in which he won nine events including two Majors and earned Player of the Year honors. Buhr came into the final round tied with Luke Humphries, who nearly won this event back in 2022. Humphries actually held a one-stroke lead on Buhr going into the final hole. But a late OB stroke led to a bogey, and a clutch birdie from Buhr ripped away what would have been Humphries’ first career DGPT win. In the FPO division, Kristin Lätt (née Tattar) began her season the same way as she did in 2023, with a win. Lätt coasted to an easy seven-stroke victory over Ohn Scoggins to defend her title.

Past Winners

Four Things We’ll Be Watching

1. This weekend marks the return of world #1 Kristin Lätt, who will be playing in a tournament for the first time since the 2024 Tour Championship. Lätt is looking for a three-peat at WACO, and fans will be anxious to see how the Estonian’s game looks after a long offseason. Kristin is currently playing on the final year of the $500,000 contract she signed with Latitude 64 back in 2022. Since then, Kristin has gone on to win six Majors, including a stretch of five in a row and two world titles. While Kristin has stated a desire to remain with Latitude 64, no updates have been announced, and it appears she will hit the open market at the end of this season. Though she will undoubtedly draw immense interest, a big season would certainly help fuel a potential bidding war despite a diminished sponsorship market post-COVID.

2. After a somewhat lackluster performance to open the season, reigning champion Gannon Buhr won the first Go Throw tour event of the season last week in Terrell, Texas. Traditionally, Buhr has not had too much success on the BEast, sitting three-strokes off the lead in last year’s event before the move over to Lake Waco. His best finish after three-rounds at Brazos Park was 11th back in 2021, when he was just 15 years old. A more interesting name this weekend may be his friend Ezra Robinson, who is coming off his first career win at the Supreme Flight Open. Despite being known more for his power, Robinson is a tremendous woods player and the BEast sets up very well for his game. Robinson also noted on the Upshot podcast that his trip to New Zealand in January was incredibly beneficial, as it resulted in him playing in the windiest conditions he’s ever faced. With a very windy forecast ahead, Ezra may well have a leg up on his competitors this weekend.

3. Ella Hansen is coming off her second career DGPT win and has an excellent opportunity to go back-to-back in Waco. Hansen led this event by two strokes before the move over to Lake Waco last year and nearly won the event the year prior. Hansen bogeyed the final three holes at the BEast in 2023, giving up five-strokes to Kristin Lätt and ultimately losing by just one-stroke. In order to win the SFO, Hansen had to fend off both Eveliina Salonen and Holyn Handley in a playoff. Expect both Salonen and Handley to perform well again this week. Salonen won this event in 2020, after it was shortened to two rounds due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her gap-hitting abilities are something to marvel at on such a technically challenging course. With such high winds in the forecast, making putts will come at a premium. The Finn may be better off conceding the longer looks this weekend and doing what she does best, picking up strokes from tee to green.

4. We may not be in Kansas, but WACO is equally well known for windy conditions. With sustained 20-30 mph winds in the forecast and gusts over 40 mph expected, this tournament is likely going to be a bit of an outlier. The last time the tour experienced winds this high was at the 2022 Dynamic Discs Open, an event that saw several lesser known players contend for the win. The BEast is somewhat unique in that players start out in the open, move into the woods for nine holes, and then come back out into the open for the final six holes. Scoring on the wooded holes that are somewhat protected from the high winds will be crucial. And keeping big numbers off the score card will be a challenge throughout the week. If winds pick up throughout the day, expect the earlier cards to come in with hotter scores than the afternoon feature cards.

The Course

Located on the banks of the Brazos River, Brazos Park East — or the BEast as it’s better known — offers a challenging mix of open and wooded holes. While the BEast is one of the shortest courses on the Disc Golf Pro Tour, it does not lack for difficulty. Scrambling through the woods and controlling the disc on the more open and often windy holes are essential to scoring low.

Last year’s event saw a change to the course layout for the first time since 2021. Hole 15 was removed from the course and replaced with a new par 3 that played along the banks of the Brazos River. Fans may remember the prior hole 15 as the one with several guard rails and electrical boxes in the middle of the fairway. This year, the course has returned to the previous layout, with one major change: the area inside of those guard rails will now play as OB, whereas previously it had always been in-bounds territory. Hole 16 also has a significantly narrower landing zone off the tee than previous years. This par 4 does occasionally get eagled in the MPO division, but with much less room to bail out left, the bigger arms might now opt for a more reserved tee shot.

The BEast offers two of the best closing holes in the sport, and in windy conditions, keeping your disc out of the water on 17 and 18 can be a tall task.

2025 MPO: 7,957 Foot Par 64
2024 MPO: 7,774 Foot Par 63

2025 FPO: 7,677 Foot Par 67
2024 FPO: 7,404 Foot Par 66

Extended Forecast

In classic Waco fashion, it’s going to be very windy, with gusts exceeding 40 mph on Friday and Saturday!

Friday: Partly cloudy with highs in the mid 80s. Winds 20-30 mph with gusts over 40 mph.

Saturday: Sunny with highs in the upper 70s. Winds 15-25 mph with gusts over 40 mph.

Sunday: Sunny with highs in the lower 70s. Winds 10-15 mph.