Holyn Handley took down the 2023 Throw Pink Championship from the chase card. Photos: Justin Anderson / PDGA

With one last round to go, the FPO field made their way through Winthrop Arena for Championship Sunday of the 2023 Throw Pink Women’s Disc Golf Championship.

Despite the difficulty of the OB-lined fairways and a windy third round at Winthrop, at least one player managed to score double-digits each day. The final round seemed to be set up for a battle on the lead card as each player had shot a 10-under or better round throughout the weekend.

However, one player from the chase card shot her first 10-under hot round of the weekend to force a playoff and win the tournament.

Holyn Handley started the final round a full six strokes back from the lead. Without the pressure of going for the win, Handley set her sights on a podium finish.

“My thought was play good and you can get a top 3. I definitely wasn’t thinking winning was a possibility just with how well everybody’s been playing,” Handley said after the final round.

While the lead card suffered a slow start, Handley picked up momentum, eventually getting to 11-under as she walked to the tee of hole 18. Handley had been playing well and wanted to stay in the zone, so she chose not to look at scores on UDisc. Because of this, Handley didn’t know she had taken the lead until she was about to throw her final tee shot.

“By the time I was done on 17, I could tell the energy had changed. The energy of the crowd and the card and just everyone around me had changed and I started to feel nervous because of it,” said Handley, who had unknowingly worked her way into a 2-stroke lead over Kristin Tattar by hole 18, “I may as well check now because I already feel nervous and saw I was in the lead.”

Now with the added pressure of leading the tournament and seeing victory within her grasp, Handley had to hold it together for one last hole. Her drive went OB off the tee and her second approach shot leaked OB as well, leaving Handley with a 34 foot putt to save the bogey. Handley had maintained 100% C1X putting all day and with one last confident putt, she took her first bogey of the round and finished with a 10-under hot round.

Prior to this round, Tattar had never birdied hole 18 at Winthrop but she executed her approach shot to park the hole for birdie and force a playoff. According to StatMando, neither Handley nor Tattar had ever won a playoff at an FPO PDGA event in their career with Handley losing two playoffs and Tattar losing three.

After they returned to Hole 1 and both took a par, their playoff continued on to the infamous hole 17. Handley was up first and threw a safe shot to land in bounds on the island green. Tattar’s drive went OB long and so she had to proceed to the drop zone. Tattar’s last attempt made the island but left her with a bogey putt, giving Handley a simple up and down to take one last par for the win.  

“I was really happy with where I put it because I was like ‘I can make that putt if I need to’ and then Kristin tried to park it and pulled it over a little bit and my jaw just dropped. I don’t see her making mistakes like that very often,” Handley said of winning the event on the same hole that has ended tournaments for players in the past.

After a dramatic turn of events in the last few holes, Handley now has her first win on tour and is the first chase card winner at the TPWDGC.

The Disc Golf Pro Tour will continue as the best FPO players take on the 2023 Disc Golf Pro Tour Championship.