Eveliina Salonen Wins the 2024 PDGA Pro World Championships
On Top of the World
Eveliina Salonen has been dreaming about this moment for her entire life – At last week’s 2024 PDGA Pro World Championships, Eveliina earned her first World title and third PDGA Major. She is the first Finnish player to win Worlds, coming from a country that has one of the most enthusiastic, committed disc golf communities anywhere. Needless to say, they are celebrating proudly in Finland.
Fellow Star Team member, Kat Mertsch, put together a last day push that made this year’s final round one of the most memorable ever. She finished in 2nd place, her best result at a PDGA Major yet. In the MPO, Calvin Heimburg tied for 4th and multiple other Innova athletes from both divisions finished in the top 20.
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Finland’s First World Champion
Let it sink in, Eveliina – You are a World Champion! Innova Star Team Member Eveliina Salonen just earned the title that secures her spot in history as one of disc golf’s all-time greats. She won the 2024 PDGA Pro World Championships, after five rounds at two of the hardest courses we’ve seen. This is Eveliina’s third PDGA Major, including her win at the 2024 Champions Cup earlier this year.
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The FPO final round of this year’s Worlds was a rollercoaster. Early on, Holyn Handley and Eveliina were trading strokes on nearly every hole. Holyn then fell off pace, but Kat Mertsch burst forward. Every top competitor had moments of excellence and moments of struggle; Eveliina was the one who kept her composure and closed out the tournament. Eveliina admits that it was a tough week on the green, but the fact is, she was so far ahead of the field in throwing that she could afford to make errors putting.
Eveliina led the field in C1 Hits and C2 Hits in Regulation. She led Strokes Gained Tee to Green at a staggering 41.44 strokes. To put that into perspective, 2nd place in the same stat came in at 28.14. She also had one of the lowest OB rates in the field. Eveliina took home $17,000 for winning, the largest FPO Worlds payout of all time.
Eveliina is clearly having the best season of her career. She has won two PDGA Majors (including the big one!) and two Disc Golf Pro Tour events. At the other two Majors, she took 2nd and 4th. She has only missed the top 10 at one DGPT event all season. She also won the Finnish Nationals, becoming 5x National Champion. It will come down to the final events of the year, but Eveliina has to be a frontrunner in the Player of the Year conversation.
In the MPO, the USDGC and Worlds share similar weight; In the FPO, Worlds is the title that stands alone as the one to win. With the strength of the FPO field and the history of single-player dominance in that division, there are way more players who deserve a world title who will never win one than players who will actually hoist the trophy. Eveliina will forever be on the elite list of players to actually get it done.
I have been dreaming about this all my life so it means a lot… All my friends and family have been believing in me all the time so I’m so thankful and I love you all.
– Eveliina Salonen
Foreshadowing Worlds Wins to Come
Kat Mertsch’s final round push was the storyline that made this Worlds so exciting. She came into the last day five strokes back, but came out shredding on the front nine as the leaders struggled. She went four for four on holes 7-10 to put herself into the lead at the World Championships. From there, Kat had a stretch of bogey’s that gave Eveliina a bit of breathing room going into the final holes. Kat secured 2nd place, her best result at a Major yet in 14 appearances.
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Kat was 2nd in the field in Scramble rate and Parked percentage. She was 3rd in the field in Strokes Gained Putting and Strokes Gained C2. That spread of great stats across putting and driving is what makes Kat Mertsch such a weapon on the course.
Last year, Kat took 3rd at the PDGA Champions Cup, her first Major podium. She also got her first win on Tour at the 2023 Jonesboro Open. It feels like Kat is a Tour veteran, but she is still young and continues to get better each season. Most World Champions have to go through close, tough losses to build the experiences needed to close out the event. The next time Kat finds herself down the stretch at a Major with a chance to win, she will be all the more ready.
King of Consistency
Calvin Heimburg is Mr. Consistent at the Majors. In the past two seasons, Vinny has only finished outside the top 5 at a Major twice. At last week’s 2024 PDGA World Championships, Calvin made the final round lead card and then came out of the gate three for three to put pressure on Isaac Robinson. Calvin ultimately tied for 4th place.
Vinny birdied 50% of the holes through five rounds. He was 2nd in the field in Fairway Hits, C1 Hit in Regulation, C2 Hits in Regulation, and Strokes Gained Tee to Green. Since returning from Europe, Calvin has two Pro Tour podiums and this 4th place finish at Worlds – he is right on the verge of another win, with only Elite+ and Major events remaining.
Henna and Hailey in Top 10
Hailey King took 7th place and had the best Birdie percentage in the field. Hailey’s scorecard was full of ups and downs – she only took 6 pars through the entire first two rounds. But clearly the ups outweighed the downs since she finished in the Top 10!
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Henna Blomroos tied for 9th and led the field in Fairway Hits for the week. This is Henna’s 14th Major top 10 . When Eveliina tapped out her winning putt, Henna was right there to congratulate her with a champagne shower.
Notable Team Innova Performances
Team Innova names were found all over the top of this year’s leaderboard at Worlds. Ohn Scoggins tied for 12th place and was 4th in the field in C1x putting. Jennifer Allen tied for 17th and shot a course-recording-tying, -6, in the final round. She aced the 342-foot hole 7 in that round and moved 11 spots up the leaderboard from the previous day. Up-and-comer Anneli Tõugjas-Männiste should be proud of how she finished in her first Worlds appearance. She tied for 17th, averaging 29 points above her player rating.
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In the MPO, Joel Freeman tied for 16th, recovering 34 positions from where he stood after round one. Bradley Williams tied for 19th with Kevin Jones who had his best Worlds finish since 2021. Mid-season addition, Väinö Mäkelä, tied for 21st and Emerson Keith tied for 23rd.
Shoutout to Holly Finley who led the field in C1x putting, only missing 3 putts inside the circle through the entire five-round tournament. She led Strokes Gained Putting as well. And shoutout to Gregg Barsby who had the long throw-in of the tournament at 411 feet on hole 14 in the 2nd round.
All Eyes Turn to USDGC and Throw Pink
With the World Championships behind us, attention turns to the USDGC and Throw Pink. The final PDGA Major of the year will take place October 10-13 at the Winthrop Arena in Rock Hill, South Carolina. With an expanded vendor village, the Fresh and Now concert series, two of the most competitive tournaments in disc golf, and more, this is the must-attend event of the year. Tickets are available at USDGC.com. We’ll see you at the Championship.
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