A new #1 for the first time in years.
April 2, 2026 by Charlie Eisenhood in News
For the first time since the debut of the new PDGA Official Disc Golf World Rankings, there’s a new #1 in the FPO Division: Silva Saarinen.
Kristin Lätt has been #1 since the release of the new ranking model, which was developed in conjunction with with Mark Broadie and Dylan Bierne of SportEdge; Broadie helped develop professional golf’s Official World Golf Ranking. With Lätt stepping away from competitive disc golf in the middle of last season, Saarinen has now compiled enough points to overtake her.
Silva’s strong performance at the Majors, with an average finish of 5.1 in the last two years and a win at the European Disc Golf Festival, has propelled her past other top FPO players like Holyn Handley and Missy Gannon. Holyn has won more Elite Series events in that span, but major performance is especially emphasized in the ODGWR model. The rankings consider performance over the past 104 weeks.
Other rankings models, like the Statmando Official Rankings, don’t align with the OWDGR. Statmando, which emphasizes field strength in its calculations, has Gannon at #1 and Saarinen at #4. Meanwhile, Holyn Handley is coming off of a DGPT Player of the Year award win in 2025.
What is certain is that disc golf has entered a post-Kristin era. Who will be #1 at the end of the season?
