Buhr, Scoggins take home hardware
August 5, 2025 by Josh Mansfield in News, Recap
NOKIA, Finland — After five rounds of a historic World Championships, it was Gannon Buhr standing above the rest. The clear odds-on favorite entering the tournament came into Sunday with a two stroke lead and rose to the pressure of the moment shot after shot.
If you were to look at the scores alone concluding the round, you’d miss a real sense of the drama of championship Sunday. That’s because the pressure didn’t come from lead card but from the chase. Niklas Anttila decided to put on a show for the home crowd. He opened the round with four straight birdies, instantly adding intrigue to the round. Anttila then racked up seven straight birdies starting on hole 7, bringing him within one of Gannon. Aaron Gossage also put together a superb 13-under par to finish within a shot of the lead. Because both players were several holes ahead on the course, it created a constant sense of pressure for every shot Buhr took, especially on the treacherous holes in the back nine. Hole 11, hole 12, hole 15, and hole 16 all felt like they were fraught with danger when Gannon stepped up because his biggest competition had already navigated them.
But Gannon never blinked. And in hindsight, this was always Gannon’s tournament to lose. When he opened Wednesday with a 10-under par, the number he said in pre-tournament interviews would be the number needed at The Beast, there was a impending sense of danger for the leader of every round. In fact, it wasn’t until Sunday that Gannon even started the round with a lead. Yet every day, no matter who led, no matter who shot the hot round (which Gannon didn’t shoot all weekend), he always was lurking a few spots back of the leader.
Buhr’s win was fitting for so many reasons. He is the first player to win a world championship while sponsored by Discmania, the tournament’s title sponsor and the company founded by event organizer Jussi Meresmaa. Buhr showed us last year that these courses suit his game well, and it seemed like as good a venue as any for his first world title. But perhaps most importantly is what this tournament signaled about the future of disc golf. For the first time ever, the world championship was held outside of North America, a testament to the growing recognition of the importance of European disc golf. And it signaled a broader shift in the landscape of the MPO competition.
The competition of today isn’t the competition of even a few years ago. With names like Aaron Gossage, Niklas Anttila, Anthony Barela, Adam Hammes, Sullivan Tipton, and Ezra Aderhold dominating the conversation, the future of disc golf was crystal clear. There is a crop of young players who will be the face of the sport for the next 5, 10, or even 15 years. There will be talk in the coming weeks about Gannon’s potential to become the greatest player of all time. Those discussions are merited. But one conclusion is clear. This world title is only the beginning. This era belongs to Buhr.
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In FPO, Ohn Scoggins (age 44) made history by becoming the first player ever to win an FPO world championship in the same year as an age-protected major. Ohn, normally a fan favorite, for perhaps the first time ever played the role of villain. The hero? Iida Lehtomaki, the 15-year-old Finnish player, pushed Ohn to a playoff with a birdie on the 18th. After Ohn went OB on her first shot of the playoff, it looked like Lehtomaki was going to walk it in. After her second shot landed within 100’ of the basket, Finland was prepared to give the first world championship ever held in their country to the reigning FJ15 Finnish National Champion. With Ohn 15 feet from the basket, Iida short-armed her upshot, never crossing in bounds. And then, facing a last ditch chance to push the hole, she laid up the circle two putt. The crowd was stunned. Scoggins, the best FPO putter of all time, had a 15 foot putt to win the tournament. After making the putt, Ohn broke down. Head in arms, it was minutes before she was ready for the post-round interview.
“I never thought I could win an FPO Worlds,” Ohn said in several post round interviews. “My goal was to just take top 10.” While Ohn may have played spoiler for a Finnish champion, the camaraderie between Iida and Ohn was remarkable. Doing group interviews, arms around each other, Ohn repeated again and again that Iida was going to be a multi-time world champion one day. “But I’m glad she let me get one before I got too old,” she joked.
When asked about her decision to lay up the putt, Lehtomaki explained that she knew the score. She felt like on the elevated basket and uphill putt that there was no chance of her putting it in, so she tried to put the pressure on Ohn. “I wouldn’t change my decision,” she said. “I still think it was the right play for my game.”
Unlike in MPO, it wasn’t the names that we expected to dominate at the top, but rather a trio of players for whom a win would have delivered a storyline out of a sports documentary. Henna Blomroos, the best backhand thrower in the sport but plagued on the putting green, had led again at a major — and this time in front of her home country. She was playing a course she’s always played well, looking to take down her first elite series or major win of her career. Iida Lehtomaki, at 15 years old and playing in her first world championship, served as proxy for the swath of young talented FPO up-and-comers in the sport. And Ohn Scoggins, the second oldest player in the tournament, showed the world what it means to outwork everyone else.
“I play two rounds a day,” she said. “I putt hundreds of putts a day. I work so, so hard.”
And with her win, her hard work paid off. It certainly punched her ticket to a place in the hall of fame. And it cements a legacy of one of the most beloved players in our sport’s history and showcased the player who may fill the void that appears when Ohn eventually does retire. When that is, though, only Ohn can say. But for now, it’s clear that “this old lady can hang with anyone.”
