Lisa Fajkus walked off the course at Mulligans with a big, confident smile. Catrina Allen felt like her round was even better than the scorecard indicated. Kristin Tattar picked up steam heading down the stretch and jumped right back into the spotlight.
Ricky Wysocki finds himself in a familiar position atop the leader board at Pro Worlds. Photo: Conrad Meyer / PDGA Media
OGDEN, Utah — Nearly 24 months have passed since the 2019 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships were contended in Peoria, Illinois, and with memories of a lost opportunity fresh in everyone’s mind, and more at stake than ever before, this year’s Pro Worlds seems to have been designed to become a pressure cooker.
Sarah Giplin lines up a putt on Tuesday at The Fort in Utah. Photo: Hayden Henry / PDGA
OGDEN, Utah — A wide range of emotions accompany the opening rounds of the world championships, nervousness, excitement and frustration among them.
Five-time champion Paige Pierce felt the nerves when stepping up to the first teebox on Tuesday. Sarah Gilpin had a similiar feeling coming down the stretch of Tuesday’s first round and, after tapping our her final putt, joy took over.
“It’s amazing — unexpected,” said Gilpin with an emotional smile on her face. “I figured I was shooting one of the best rounds of my life when the cameras showed up.
With that crown comes notoriety, a place amongst disc golf's best. Every tournament after that victory, the player will be announced as a World Champion. Their name will be etched into the history of the sport forever.
Valerie Mandujano and Mason Ford took down the Mixed Doubles title at the 2021 PDGA Pro World Championship. Photo: Hayden Henry / PDGA Media
Valerie Mandujano and Mason Ford set the pace after the first round of Mixed Doubles in the best shot format. In the afternoon, they proved to be a one-two punch in the alternate shot portion.
That added up to a title to kick off PDGA Pro Worlds week in Ogden, Utah.
