From the desk of Owl P. Jackson, Esq.
September 23, 2025 by Owl P. Jackson, Esq. in Opinion, Recap
Paul McBeth and Paige Pierce? This weekend was a blast from the past, even if the past was only 5 years ago. While I’d love to spend more time reminiscing about days gone by, we need to get moving before we miss our tee time. In my opinion, these are the top eight storylines of the 2025 Green Mountain Championship.
1. Paige Pierce wins in a three-way playoff
“The VCR and the DVD—there was none of that crap back in 1970.”
It was one of the best finishes of the FPO season. Paige carded four birdies from holes 12-17 to get within a stoke of the leaders. On a final hole where her distance gives her the advantage, Paige hung her drive a little too far right…until it skipped off a bridge to land in the middle of the fairway. Yes, you heard that right—a bridge. Paige crouched in the tall grass as she tried to collect herself. After four rounds of play, Missy Gannon, Ohn Scoggins, and Paige Pierce found themselves in the elusive three-way playoff.
In the playoff, Paige faced the same downhill drive on hole 18. This time, she left no question. It was her first win of the season, and even more impressive—it extended her Elite Series win streak to 15 years (which is like 1000 years in disc golf terms). An emotional Paige thanked her fans and said after the tournament, “Life’s good. Life’s good.”
2. McBeth gets his second win of the year
“We didn’t know about a World Wide Web. It was a whole different game being played back when I was a kid.”
I think it’s safe to say that Paul McBeth is officially back. His Idlewild win wasn’t just a reminder of who he was, it was a statement about who he still is. No, I don’t expect him to win half the season’s events like he used to. But he can still win by putting together a weekend of consistency—never blowing you away but remaining at the top while others pop off and eventually fall back. His win at Smuggler’s Notch moved him past Calvin Heimburg into second place in the DGPT standings—a reflection of how consistent his play has been in 2025.
After holding off the ever-charging Gannon Buhr and a host of other young up-and-comers, the resident old guy remarked, “It’s a lot of fun. You see them learning. Every tournament they have something new. And I know when I was at that age, I was always finding something to work on.” Spoken like a GOAT.
3. Missy Gannon loses the lead
“Sometimes we go driving around in my sister’s Pinto cruising with the windows rolled down.”
The tight finish to FPO almost makes you forget that the final day didn’t even seem like it would be worth watching. After three rounds, Missy Gannon held a 6-stroke lead over Paige and an 8-stroke lead over Ohn. The final round was set to be played on Fox Run, a track where Paige’s -4 was the hot round of the day. Ohn was 4 strokes over par. By all accounts, Missy was going to walk this one in. Even an even round would all but guarantee the win. In the end, she shot a +3 on Sunday, just enough to make the playoff.
4. The State of FPO
“I’d be in bed with the radio on. I would listen to it all night long just to hear my favorite song.”
The biggest news of the week came outside of the tournament. Kristin Lätt announced that she would not be playing any more events this season. On top of that, she would not be touring in 2026 either, leaving many to question whether Kristin would ever play again. Kristin is the biggest name in the division, maybe even the sport. I have no doubt that she brought eyes to each tournament she was in. She was the winner at Smuggs in 2024…and in 2023…and in 2022.
So, where does that leave the FPO division? FPO’s great finish masked what was a pretty lousy weekend for most. Outside of the top three finishers (-11), not a single other player finished the weekend under par. Favorites like Holyn Handley and Silva Saarinen were 14 strokes back from the eventual winner.
Paige offered some interesting comments after her win. I fully admit that I’m reading into them, but Paige seemed to want to remind everyone that FPO is still here—even if Kristin isn’t. “Going into a playoff…it’s for FPO. We’re out here grinding…we deserve it,” Paige offered, before wishing that MPO would be a blowout so that FPO could be the big story of the tournament.
5. Playoffs
“I got a guitar on Christmas day. I dreamed that Jimmy Page would come to Santa Monica to teach me to play.”
GMC was the first tournament of the 2025 DGPT playoffs and you know what that means! Yup, it’s time to look up the annual changes to the playoff structure. Honestly, when you change the significance every year, it just ends up making the designation meaningless. Alas, we will see whether the new changes will compel or repel.
Playoff events are worth 250 points now. That’s fine. What is more interesting is that the new structure allows players who would never be able to move onto the next event by points alone to now move up simply based on their performance in a single event. Allow me to try and explain what that meant for GMC. The top 8 MPO finishers (4 in FPO) at GMC who were outside the top 72 in DGPT standings now qualify for Maple Hill.
So, what? Not much this weekend. A couple of names you might know are moving on for one more week of play. But I think it has the potential to be lot more interesting at MVP Open. 32 MPO players will make it into the tour championship—but only 28 by their points standing. The final four positions will be reserved for the best finishes at MVP Open by players outside of that 28-player threshold. Similarly, in FPO, there will be 20 in the championship—18 by points standing and 2 by MVP Open finish.
At least I think that is how it works now. Can’t wait to see what they cook up for next year.
6. MPO Standings
“Everything gets stupid.”
So, what stands out after the 250-point playoff? Here are some of my takeaways.
- Gannon is so far ahead of everyone else that he could have skipped the playoffs entirely and still won the season points title.
- Players who need to hold onto the final spots for the tour championship: Eagle McMahon, Luke Taylor, Andrew Presnell, Paul Krans, and Jake Monn
- Players who are just outside, still looking in: Austin Turner, Joey Buckets, Matthew Orum, and Silas Schultz
- Ezra Robinson and Ezra Aderhold are fighting for the final spot in the top 10 and the top spot among people named Ezra.
7. FPO Standings
“I just don’t know where to find my happy.”
Here are some notes from the FPO standings:
- Even with late season inconsistency, Holyn Handley holds the top spot by 90 points.
- Four straight top-4 finishes have moved Ohn into second.
- Kristin holds onto 7th place but will not be playing in the championship. Therefore, we are really looking at a top 19.
- Just in: Emily Weatherman and Lisa Fajkus
- Just out: Madison Walker, Sofia Donnecke, and Alexis Mandujano
8. Ricky running late
“I never liked disco.”
Ricky dug himself an early hole by missing his tee time and being penalized “par +4” on the opening hole of the tournament. But the pain of this goes beyond the strokes themselves. Ricky is still chasing his first win of the year and his first win on team Discraft. That potential win would extend his eternal streak of yearly winning. Opportunities to extend are running out quickly. Thankfully, he values season long consistency over titles.
Thanks for reading everyone! See you at Maple Hill!
