A new look for the newest Major -- and an ambitious approach to alternate pin and tee locations
April 29, 2025 by Justin Westfall in Preview
The first Major championship of the year has finally arrived! The traditionally wooded (insofar as a three year old tournament can have tradition) PDGA Champions Cup is coming out into the open for 2025. The event starts Thursday, May 1st, in Stockton, California.
In September 2023, the PDGA announced that the International Disc Golf Center’s premier course, WR Jackson, would be lost due to an infestation of southern pine beetles which would require the removal of hundreds of pine trees on the course. As a result, the 2024 Champions Cup was eventually moved to Northwood Black in Morton, Illinois. In May 2024, it was announced that Swenson Park in Stockton, California would host the 2025 Champions Cup as work on the IDGC courses continued. The damage caused by Hurricane Helene in September 2024 has only further delayed the construction of new courses at the IDGC.
Last year, sloppy conditions and weather delays were the story of the Champions Cup with the MPO second round getting cut short early on Friday. Most of the second round had to be played on Saturday morning, followed by the third round in the afternoon. By the end of the third round, it was Andrew Presnell who led the way, with Ezra Robinson and Joseph Anderson sitting just one stroke back. Presnell had 11 A-tier and 57 B-tier wins but had never won an Elite or Major tournament. With Robinson and Anderson unable to get anything going, the veteran Presnell remained calm and slowly began carding birdies. While Niklas Anttila was able to apply some pressure, Presnell was able to birdie four of the final six holes and become a Major champion.
In FPO, Eveliina Salonen came into the final round with a two-stroke lead over Kristin Lätt. Prior to a disappointing U.S. Women’s Disc Golf Championship performance the month prior, Lätt had won five consecutive Majors and seemed poised to claim another. Right from the jump, however, it was clear that it was not the Estonian’s day as Kristin bogeyed three of the first five holes and sat +5 through the first 10 holes. While Salonen struggled a bit herself, she was able to string together seven consecutive pars to close out the tournament and hold off a charging Henna Blomroos. It was Salonen’s second career Major win, and she would go on to win a third at the World Championships later in the season.
Past Winners
| Year | MPO Champion | FPO Champion |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Andrew Presnell | Eveliina Salonen |
| 2023 | Isaac Robinson | Kristin Tattar |
| 2022 | Chris Dickerson | Paige Pierce |
Six Things We’ll Be Watching
1. The most dominant player to start the year has clearly been Kristin Lätt, who has a pair of wins and is averaging a 1014 event rating. Lätt is a seven-time Major champion and could move into solo 3rd all-time for FPO Major wins with a title this weekend. Not only would this be Lätt’s eighth Major win, but it would give her two wins in each of the four Major championships, a testament to her incredible consistency and level of play no matter the course. Kristin flew home following a win at the Music City Open last month. She has won her first event back in the States in four of her last five trips to the U.S. This will be Kristin’s first time ever playing at Swenson Park, or even in the state of California.
2. 17-time Major champion Paul McBeth is still searching for his first win since the 2023 PCS Open, and his first Major win since the 2022 World Championships. McBeth’s had a strong start to this season, averaging a 1047 rating and an average finish of 5.5 including a pair of podium finishes. The bad news for McBeth is that he’s never performed particularly well on this track. After a 6th place finish in 2021, McBeth has failed to crack the top 15 at Swenson Park since. A win this week would tie McBeth with Ken Climo for the most Majors in PDGA history. While McBeth will likely never match Climo’s 12 World titles, surpassing him in total Major wins felt like just a matter of time until recently. Wins at this level are only becoming more difficult, and at 34 years old, time could soon be running out for McBeth. Paul also needs a Champions Cup win on his resume to complete the modern career grand slam. While McBeth completed an in-season grand slam in 2015, the Champions Cup and the current four Major schedule did not come into play until 2022.
3. Holyn Handley is having an excellent year in her own right, with two wins already tallied and three podium finishes. Handley is averaging a 1003 event rating on the Disc Golf Pro Tour and now has a chance to win her first career Major on a track that suits her game. Handley held a share of the lead at the 2024 OTB Open but shot a poor final round. It’s certainly worth noting that Ella Hansen won that event and has a terrific opportunity to earn her first Major this weekend. Hansen already has a win on the year and has three straight top 5 finishes at Swenson Park.
4. While we’re discussing past winners at this course, Calvin Heimburg has an opportunity to pick up his first Major win this weekend. Heimburg is the reigning OTB Open champion and has never finished worse than 6th at Swenson. His low-ceiling power shots are a big asset on this course. 2023 OTB champion Simon Lizotte and 2022 champion Eagle McMahon also deserve a look. Lizotte is obviously still searching for his first Major win while McMahon, a two-time Major winner and once considered the future of this sport, has not won at this level in nearly three years. The name notably absent from this list is Gannon Buhr, who most will consider the favorite this weekend. Buhr has never finished better than 9th at Swenson Park and has finished farther down the leaderboard each year. If the young phenom can find a way to win in Stockton, he would earn his 4th Major championship and be just one win away from completing the career grand slam, with just a World Championship remaining.
5. Paige Pierce is averaging only a 957 rating to start the season and has yet to crack the top 10. In fact, she has only finished inside of the top 5 once since her win at the Portland Open nearly a year ago, with no podium finishes. The record-holding 17-time Major champion is worth mentioning, though, because she won the OTB Open three years in a row from 2021-2023. Pierce has averaged a 990 rating at Swenson since 2021. If she’s going to continue her streak of at least one Elite or Major win in each season since 2011, this weekend may be her best opportunity.
6. On Wednesday, the 13th Presidents Cup will take place, a team event which pits Team USA vs. Team Europe. Avery Jenkins will act as the Team USA captain for the second time. Jenkins, the 2009 World Champion, played on Team USA in the first three Presidents Cups before acting as team captain in 2013. Jussi Meresmaa will captain Team Europe for the first time. Meresmaa founded this tournament and earlier this year it was announced that the event would transfer to PDGA ownership to secure its long-term stability. As part of the transition, the event will now move to the USA in odd-numbered years and will be played in Europe in even-numbered years. Team USA has never lost this tournament, but the spread has continued to grow closer with each year. That was, until last year when the U.S. won in dominant fashion. Perhaps a change of scenery at a course over 5,000 miles away will be what Team Europe needs to finally hoist the trophy.
The Course
Located on a traditional golf course, the Swenson Park disc golf course does a tremendous job of feeling like it’s anywhere but. Designed by Leonard Muise, the course utilizes the tree lines between fairways, several water features, and even plays holes across multiple golf fairways to create a track that never feels restricted by the traditional golf layout.
While many of the holes from the 2024 OTB Open make up the Champions Cup layout, the course has also seen several changes, including a new opening hole. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this event is that alternating pin and sometimes tee positions will be featured on half of the course. Several events have utilized alternating positions over the past couple of seasons, including the OTB Open, but never to this degree. Both divisions will play the ‘A’ positions on Thursday and Friday, moving to the longer ‘B’ layout on Saturday and Sunday.
2025 MPO A: 11,000 Feet Par 65
2025 MPO B: 11,042 Feet Par 66
2024 OTB Open MPO A: 11,264 Feet Par 66
2024 OTB Open MPO B: 11,564 Feet Par 67
2025 FPO A: 9,066 Feet Par 67
2025 FPO B: 9,210 Feet Par Par 67
2024 OTB Open FPO A: 9,099 Feet Par 67
2024 OTB Open FPO B: 9,299 Feet Par 68
Extended Forecast
Warm temperatures and sunshine should persist throughout the weekend, with occasionally moderate winds.
Wednesday (Presidents Cup): Partly cloudy with highs in the mid 80s. Winds 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday: Mostly sunny with highs in the mid 80s. Winds 10 to 15 mph.
Friday: Sunny with highs in the upper 70s. Winds 10 to 20 mph.
Saturday: Partly cloudy with highs in the upper 60s. Winds 10 to 20 mph.
Sunday: Partly cloudy with highs in the upper 70s. Winds 10 to 15 mph.
