Weekly Disc Golf Newsletter #18

Happy Wednesday!

Welcome to The Albatross. Your weekly newsletter to stay on box, with disc golf news and content.

On the lead card this week:

• Waco Recap

  • Two new Waco winners - who are they?

• The Open at Austin

  • The Texas swing brings a new event to the tour this season

• Best disc golf content from the week

  • The best links for you to consume in less than 5 minutes (unless you watch the videos of course) 🤭

Let's tee off 🥏 

Waco Recap

Waco is always an exciting tournament. And this might have been one of the closest match ups we've seen in awhile. Especially on MPO.

Discmania almost swept the event. But in typical waco fashion. Certain holes would cause dramatic swings. Let's recap this weekend. Also reminder of The Albatross podium picks and winners. I picked Kristen Tattar and Paul McBeth to win the event. You can view all the final scores here. 

Waco Results

FPO

1. Kristen Tattar (-14)

2. Ella Hansen (-13)

3. Ohn Scoggins (-10)

Waco started off as I predicted. With Kristen taking charge after day 1. However she would lose the lead after a horrible round 2. Opening the gates for Sunday.

Entering Sunday. Kristen was favored to win despite a few holes behind Ella. Ella played phenomenal. But this reminds me of KJs fumble. I think she lost Waco more then Kristen won. 

MPO

1. Kyle Klien (-31)

2. Adam Hammes (-29)

3. Cole Radelan/Calvin Heimburg (-28)

Kyle Klien is back in the winners circle. After going winless (Elite or Majors) last year. Kyle was able to put his game together to take down a dub early in the season.

Vinny and KJ (-27) stood out as well this weekend. Calvin seems to be entering a stride and looks like he's entering the Ricky/Paul dominance area. Will it continue? 

Kyle took it down from chase card. Which you can watch here. 

Content to get through the week:  

I consume a ton of disc golf content (almost too much, said no one ever). So you can pick and choose the best to indulge in:

I recently came across Caroline Henderson youtube page. One of my fav things with disc golf is that we are still in the early, early innings of the sport. Which means we get to see the come up, up close. 

• Celebrate Kyle Kliens Waco victory with triumph release. Get em fast!

• Davi just like me haha! Reddit showing him with a blunt. I don't see anything wrong

• Check out stories from women disc golfers powered by Udisc

• Are we witnessing the next Ricky vs Paul battle?

  • Kyle Klein and Gannon Buhr are the only 2 in the MPO to be in the top 30 of every event they have played since 2022. Via @Statmando

• Get ready for the Open at Austin. With a course preview from Brodie (F9) and Ezra (B9)

• Disc golf is a literal rocketship. Check out Udisc growth report for 2023

  • Two big stats stood out to me:

    • Universities and school: DG grew 20% (this will just drive further exposure and growth)

    • International adoption is driving disc golf's newest growth and Latin America is the next hotbed

      • I always say Mexico is building the next champ. But let's keep an eye out for Guatemala. Which has grown +306%. Just insane growth 😮

  • There's a ton going on in the report. Worth reading. I'm writing an essay on the growth and potential. My goal is to have that ready sometime in April/May

The Open at Austin

The Texas swing is in full effect. We're blessed again with more disc golf this weekend. Elite to be exact, no pun intended. 

You can find all the details here. This is the first elite series in Austin. One of my fav cities (def visit if you haven't yet). So excited to see how the course plays out for the field. 

The Albatross Predictions

FPO

1. Kristen Tattar

2. Ella Hansen

3. Hailey King/Ohn Scoggins

I think Kristen Tattar picks up her slack from last weekend. I think she goes on to dominate this weekend (win by 4+ strokes). I expect Ella and Hailey to be ahead of the rest of the field and near themselves a podium finish. Also Ohn Scoggins is off to quite the start so I have to add her to the mix. 

MPO

1. Kevin Jones

2. Calvin Heimburg

3. Paul McBeth

Contenders: Kyle Klien, Ricky Wyoscki and Eagle McMaghon

Do I keep picking Paul? Yes. I truly think he takes down a tournament soon. But at the last minute I'm going with Kevin Jones. He has started the season strong. I think he carries momentum into the weekend and locks down his first elite in a while. 

I think Calvin and Paul will be in the mix. But they will have a bad round (Friday or Saturday). That makes it to difficult for them to earn the dub. 

This is the first elite series in Austin. So I'm just as excited as y'all on what to expect. Be sure to tune in this weekend. And next Tuesday we'll check on how I did with my predictions. 😅

Check out the latest from The Albatross blog:

Learn how to throw a roller (I'm still practicing haha).

-Arod @ The Albatross