Holyn Handley torched the woods of New London Tech to open the 2024 PDGA Professional Disc Golf Championships presented by Zuca.

With a pair of eagles — and just a single bogey on the heavily-wooded and demanding track — Handley opened Worlds with a scoring 10-under, 1034-rated round, good enough for a three-stroke lead.

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There were no other eagles in the field as Handley connected on Hole 7 with a 35-foot make and had a drop in on the 780-foot ninth. She went 13-for-13 from C1X, hit 17 of 22 fairways and scrambled successfully in three of four attempts. Her lone blemish came on the OB-lined 18th, which checked in as the second-hardest hole of the day as New London made its debut on the PDGA Major level.

Kat Mertsch set the early pace with a 7-under round and, like Handley, only had one bogey on her card, also coming on 18. Mertsch went 14-of-18 in C2 in Regulation and is three strokes back.

Henna Blomroos and Silva Saarinen will round out the lead card for Round 2 as action shifts to Ivy Hill.

Shredding at New London

Isaac Robinson shook off any defending-champion nerves quickly and Anthony Barela was firing like he has so many times this season on Wednesday at New London.

Robinson was the only player in the field to go bogey-free and Barela had a division-best 12 birdies as both finished with 1072-rated 11-under rounds and a share of the lead by two strokes.

Robinson led in Circle 1 in Regulation and strokes gained tee-to-green at 7.98. Barela led in C2 in Regulation at 78% and cashed four putts from C2. He went 9-for-9 in C1X putting.

Joseph Anderson carried momentum from his first Elite Series win two weeks ago at Idlewild and is tied for second with Luke Taylor.

Ten players are within five strokes of the lead as action shifts to Ivy Hill.

This story will be updated