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(Article by Shane Robison — Photos by Paul McBeth Foundation)

Project Olangama, one of Paul McBeth Foundation’s newest course announcements, was just installed this past week.

Olangama is a general name denoting the work being done amongst a particularly underserved people group in Uganda, the Batwa Pygmy people. This community is over 12 hours from the nearest disc golf course and is cut off from many of the luxuries of the developed world. The PMF introduced the sport for the first time to this entirely new audience, in collaboration with former UFC fighter and current Bellator MMA fighter, Justin Wren.

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P·E·R·F·E·C·T!

Silva Saarinen has participated in five PDGA Euro Tour events and has won... all five: Krokhol, Swedish Open, Skellefteå, Åland and now the PDGA Euro Tour Championship - Andalucía Open!

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NOTE: Due to an extreme weather forecast on Sunday, the competition schedule for the final round of the 2023 Andalucía Open has been adjusted. MPO and FPO will both play at 9:35 AM local time (3:35 AM ET) with a shotgun start. Disc Golf Network will run concurrent lead card coverage of both divisions. Post-production coverage will remain unchanged.

The MPO Feature Card of this PDGA Euro Tour Championship was an absolute luxury: three of the top five in the points standings of the entire circuit (Jakub Semerád, Miro Ryhänen and Silver Lätt) plus the current European Champion Dennis Augustsson, but the luck was very uneven for each of them:

Jenni Karppinen was the regular-season points leader on the 2023 PDGA Euro Tour. Photo: PDGA Europe

Sunny Spain... most of the time! Sustained winds of 30-50 km/h (20-30 mph) added a touch (or two) of spice to the training days, although the forecast is for more pleasant weather for the competition days of the 2023 Andalucía Open - PDGA Euro Tour Championship.

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A team from Uplay Disc Golf is heading to Africa this week. Photo: Paul McBeth Foundation

Uplay Disc Golf, a transformative educational organization, has partnered with the Paul McBeth Foundation and the PDGA to continue the growth of disc golf and help build sustainable habits for new disc golf communities in Uganda, Kenya, and Zimbabwe.

What an end for the PDGA Euro Tour regular season!

Another day of more than pleasant weather and a total of 154 players between the Open, Masters and parallel Amateur tournament played for the final rankings of this 9Hill Open 2023 and met in a crowded trophy ceremony that had something of a farewell for this year, waiting for the Grand Final of the PDGA Euro Tour Championship in Spain at the end of October.

Recently, Joe Feidt, PDGA #362, and a team traveled to Cuba to meet with PDGA Latin America Coordinator Luis Rodriguez as a part of a PDGA Marco Polo project. Check out the video and a brief rundown of the trip.

MPO leader Daniel Davidsson. Photo: Joosep Martinsson

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FPO leader Heidi Laine. Photo: Joosep Martinsson

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The day dawned radiant, with 20 degrees Celsius and no wind but, curiously, several players told us that the increasing humidity influenced their game, both at the level of disc flight (humid air is less dense and is equivalent to gaining height), in the clothing comfort and the discs grip: Disc Golf is a complex sport!

Heidi Laine, Photo: Mauri Levandi

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Who said that double digits were only for MPOs? Finland's Heidi Laine maintains her stellar form and scores a 10-under-par round of 1016 on the Mäetaguse course at the PDGA EuroTour — Lone Star Disc Alutaguse Open.

She told us in the interview that, despite being a player with a great distance, she had saved the last percentage of power to improve her accuracy and make sure to play from the fairway. If we add 73% accuracy from inside 10 meters and even an eagle on hole 2 we have an extraordinary round!

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It was a battle until the last hole and more at the PDGA Euro Tour — Åland Open presented by Discmania!

Heidi Laine was keeping her lead throughout the last round, but Silva Saarinen never gave up and, with birdies on 15, 16, 17 and 18, she put a pressure on Heidi, who had an eagle putt, but missed and had to go to a tiebreaker with Silva.

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Moving day on Åland Islands was half way through with lead card of FPO almost holing out on 18 when a lightning delay suspended the round for 70 minutes before they could make their final putts.

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Sensational!

PDGA Euro Tour stop number 7 on Åland Islands has been just that so far and nothing less. Everything you might have heard about the disc golf heaven is true and some more here on the archipelago between Sweden and Finland. If you are ever planning for a disc golf holiday, this must be on top of your list.

It came down to the finish line in Finland.

While the FPO field had a clear frontrunner by the end of day two, the MPO division saw a new leader after each round at the 2023 European Open, the second PDGA Pro Major of the year.

Kyle Klein led after the opening round, then Anthony Barela in round 2, then Calvin Heimburg in round 3 with Corey Ellis joining them on the lead card going into the final round. All four players were looking for their first Major title at an event that had never been won by a player without a previous Major win.

“Last time I played here was four years ago and I feel like I had a totally different game back then,” Kristin Tattar said after becoming the first European player to win the European Open. “It was one of my goals going into this season to win the European Open and I’m just super happy that I did it.”

Calvin Heimburg built a two-stroke lead on Saturday. Photo: Daniel Voss / PDGA

Calvin Heimburg made a seemingly quietly move to the chase card on Saturday at the 2023 European Open, the second PDGA Major of the year.

He wasn’t quiet on Moving Day.

Heimburg dropped a 1080-rated 12-under round to jump to a two-stroke lead heading into Championship Sunday in Nokia, Finland with 18 holes remaining on The Beast between him and his first PDGA Major title.

It was the hottest round of the day by one stroke. Estonia’s Mauri Villmann followed with an 11-under round to jump into a tie for eighth place.

Henna Blomroos is in second place. Photo: Dan Voss / PDGA

Round 3 of the 2023 European Open saw very little change to the top of the leaderboard on moving day, with the same four players remaining on top.

Kristin Tattar shot her worst round of the tournament at even par, but still tied for the hot round with Heidi Laine and Ella Hansen. While Tattar was disappointed with her performance, she still managed to extend her lead to 14 strokes over second place. Never content to rest on her laurels, Tattar seems motivated to finish out the tournament with a score that meets her standards.

The MPO field will see a completely different lead card on Saturday after a leaderboard shakeup in Round 2 of the 2023 European Open.

Anthony Barela shot the hot round at 12-under to jump up 10 places and lead the tournament at 19 strokes under par. While nowhere near as big a lead as we saw by this point last year, Barela now has a two-stroke lead over Albert Tamm and Eagle McMahon.

“I was just throwing the disc great and making all my circle 1 putts. I was pretty happy with how I threw every hole except for that bounce and rollaway on 18,” Barela said after tying the course record in Round 2.

After another scorching round on day two of the 2023 European Open, Kristin Tattar has expanded her lead even further over the rest of the FPO field.

Just like in Round 1, Tattar was the only FPO player to shoot under par, this time shooting six-under to expand her lead to 13 strokes over 2nd place. According to StatMando, this is the largest two-round Major lead since Valarie Jenkins’ 13-stroke lead in the 2015 Aussie Open and largest ever two-round lead at a European Major.

As we’ve seen through the whole 2023 season, the opening round finished with a logjam at the top of the MPO leaderboard at the 2023 European Open.

Kyle Klein currently has the solo lead at 10 strokes under par while four players are tied for second at 9-under. Defending champion Eagle McMahon and last year’s runner-up Paul McBeth are only two strokes back of the lead yet find themselves tied for sixth place. Every missed putt and OB stroke out on the Beast can feel devastating as finishing just four strokes back of the lead puts you in a four-way tie for 17th place.

The best of the best — and the strongest field in the history of the prestigious tournament — has landed in Nokia, Finland for the 2023 European Open presented by Discmania. Many of the top players from the United States traveled to Norway to join the Euro Tour for the PCS Open last week and will now have a chance at a PDGA Major title. The European Open was established in 2006 and has become the premier professional disc golf event in Europe.

Presidents Cup 2023: Team USA Seeks to Extend Dominance as Europe Aims for Upset

As the disc golf world eagerly awaits the second PDGA Pro Major of the year, the 2023 European Open in Nokia DiscGolfPark, there’s a captivating prelude that promises to set the stage for an unforgettable week of disc golf action. The prestigious Presidents Cup, a thrilling team event between the United States and Europe, will take place on Wednesday, July 19th. Disc golf enthusiasts from around the globe will witness elite players from both continents compete fiercely to determine the best team.

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As if we needed more excitement, Kristin Tattar's three-shot lead over Missy Gannon vanished at the 10th hole to offer us an even more exciting final round!

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We arrive again at the demanding 12th hole, and two almost identical shots have a very different destiny: the World Champion has a small cut-roll at the end that brings her back to inbounds, while the American has a higher skip and stays OB, and this two-stroke swing seems to end the excitement.

Photos by Mauri Levandi / DGPT

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Silver Lätt told us on the course that Kristin Tattar felt confident on the green after taking up her broken-in putters, and an 88% in C1X putting proves that it is so! If we add to this a 76% success rate in fairway hits, we get the best card of the day, a 4-under that leads the provisional leadership after the second day of this PDGA Euro Tour - DGPT Elite — PCS Open presented by Innova.

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Eveliina Salonen leads by three after the first round at the PCS Open. Photo: Disc Golf Pro Tour

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All the players, and ourselves,had in mind Paige Pierce, who slipped and suffered a fracture that takes her away from the biggest competitions of the season in the worst possible way.

The number of high-level players was on display from the start of the round, and in fact it was the third card that started to make very good scores: Sarah Hokom, with one under par, took advantage of her forehand flex lines with stable drives to navigate the demanding fairways of Øveras Disc Golf Park.

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What a battle we have lived through in the PDGA Euro Tour Skellefteå Open FPO final round! We were working at the excellent press area, went down to take a coffee (Sweden is the 2nd highest per-capita consumer in the world), and crossed in front of the clubhouse with Jenny Larsson. Something in her eyes said she was super-focused. We took a look at UDisc Live and found out why: she was smashing the course record! Rushing to the interview set to get her impressions on that -6 (which would stay at -4 after a double bogey on the 18th).

Lauri Lehtinen

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No one is spared from "accidents" on the difficult Swedish course of Skellefteå, as shown by Hannele Määttä (Finland), provisionally fifth; she is the player who has scored the fewest bogeys with 4, so it is important to know how to reset the mind at the start of each new hole.

Czech Nikola Moravcováwill give up her place on the leader card to play in the chase card after two double bogeys dropped her to sixth.

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Nikola Moravcová on Friday. Photo: Johannes Fidemo / IG: jfidemodiscgolf

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An interesting leading card with the stellar presence of Ella Hansen, the American player with a rating 25 points higher than her immediate pursuer, raised the expectation for the first day of the women's category at the PDGA EuroTour #5 — Skellefteå Open presented by Latitude 64°.

However it was, once again, Finland's Silva Saarinen who achieved the best score but, this time, the distances were much smaller, with the first four players being separated by only three strokes.

Ahead of the Skellefteå Open, PDGA Europe Media and Marketing Manager Calixto García, who is on-site at the 5th PDGA Euro Tour stop of the season, gave us a report on how things are looking headed into this weekend’s competition.

Practicing From Sun up to… Sun Up?

There are people playing on the course at 23:00. We come back at 06:00, and there are people playing in the course.. How is it possible? First, it’s training day at a PDGA Euro Tour event, and people from all over the world are trying to improve their performance. Second, we’re in the north. Very much north! As much as 64 Latiitude North- sounds familiar? And we enjoy 21 hours of sunlight per day to play disc golf! 

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