The last regular DGPT event of the season.
August 21, 2025 by Justin Westfall in Preview
For a ninth consecutive year, the Disc Golf Pro Tour has made its way to Burlington, Kentucky, for the LWS Open at Idlewild, beginning this Friday, August 22nd. This will be the final three-round tournament of the season as the last standard DGPT event on the schedule.
For years, this tournament was dominated by Paige Pierce, who won the event four times from 2017-2021. No other player in either division has won the event twice, let alone in back-to-back years. Since 2019, this tournament has continued to provide a platform for young up-and-coming players in the MPO division to showcase their skills.
Last year, Calvin Heimburg came into the final round with a one shot lead on Joseph Anderson AKA Joey Buckets. While Heimburg played a decent round, it wasn’t enough to hold off Anderson, who shot a clean 10-under par final rounds to secure his only career DGPT win. In FPO, Ohn Scoggins led Deann Carey by three shots going into the final day. While Carey quickly fell off the pace, Scoggins was steady and would go on to defeat Natalie Ryan by four strokes.
Past Winners
| Year | Tier | MPO | FPO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | DGPT | Joseph Anderson | Ohn Scoggins |
| 2023 | DGPT | Gannon Buhr | Valerie Mandujano |
| 2022 | DGPT | Isaac Robinson | Catrina Allen |
| 2021 | DGPT | Kyle Klein | Paige Pierce |
| 2020 | DGPT/A-Tier | Eagle McMahon | Ellen Widboom |
| 2019 | DGPT/A-Tier | Kevin Jones | Paige Pierce |
| 2018 | DGPT/A-Tier | Paul McBeth | Paige Pierce |
| 2017 | DGPT/A-Tier | James Conrad | Paige Pierce |
Four Things We’ll Be Watching
1. Coming off her highest career event rating and first win in over two years, 2023 Idlewild champion Valerie Mandujano has a great opportunity to go back-to-back this weekend. With another fairly limited field, Val’s toughest competition could be reigning champion Ohn Scoggins. Ohn is coming off a tough playoff loss to Valerie after an incredible final round on Northwood Black. Scoggins was clearly the best player on the difficult woods track, which bodes well for her chances to repeat at Idlewild.
2. Gannon Buhr has now won three consecutive events across three continents. Buhr overcame a 13 hour time difference and minimal practice to win last week’s Ledgestone Open in dominant fashion. Dominant is really the only word to describe his play right now. The world #1 sits 12 ratings points higher than second best Calvin Heimburg and is chasing down Paul McBeth’s record of 1062. If he keeps up this level of play, it seems likely that Gannon may achieve that feat in the September ratings update. The 2023 Idlewild champion should be the clear favorite this weekend and could be the first repeat MPO winner of this event.
3. Holyn Handley’s streak of top 5 finishes came to an end at the World Championships. While a bounce back was expected at the Ledgestone Open, Handley instead missed the cut for the first time in her career at a DGPT event and averaged her lowest event rating in four years. With the Europeans absent, most anticipated that Handley would dominate this stretch of the tour. If she’s unable to bounce back this week, her bid for Player of the Year may be in jeopardy.
4. Since 2019, young MPO players have earned their first, or one of their first, career wins at Idlewild. If that trend continues, look for 2024 runner-up Ezra Robinson to come out on top this week and claim his third win of the season. Calvin Heimburg and Anthony Barela would also be first time winners, though they have more total career wins than most. If it’s a first time winner you’re hoping for, Evan Smith, Sullivan Tipton, Austin Turner, and Aaron Gossage are the highest rated players of that group. Perhaps the most likely first time winner would be putting phenom and woods specialist Andrew Marwede, who lost a playoff here back in 2021.
The Course
Designed by Robert Herbert and International Disc Golf Hall of Fame inductee Fred Salaz, Idlewild ranks #24 on UDisc’s top disc golf courses of 2025. The nearly 10,000 foot track features tight woods, water hazards on more than half of the course, and iconic retaining walls which outline several of the greens. This year, holes 3 and 10 have been shortened for the FPO layout. This should be a welcomed change as hole 3 saw just one birdie last season, while no players were able to shoot under par on hole 10.
2025/2024 MPO: 9,629 Feet Par 68
2025 FPO: 8,984 Feet Par 71
2024 FPO: 9,205 Feet Par 71
Extended Forecast
It’s shaping up to be a beautiful weekend in Burlington. Some moderate winds on Sunday could make for a slightly more challenging final round.
Friday: Sunny with highs in the mids 80s. Winds light and variable.
Saturday: Partly cloudy with highs in the mid 80s. Winds 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday: Sunny with highs in the low 80s. Winds 10 to 15 mph.
