Some disc golfers are finally getting excited to see some grass on their courses after a harsh winter, but many of the best players in the world are already 4 months into the season. We’ve seen the A-tier schedule start to ramp up, and this weekend kept it going with the Texas Women’s Championships in Round Rock, Texas and the Copenhagen Open (EuroTour #3) in Copenhagen, Denmark. Many disc golfers put together strong weekends, but on Sunday there were two Prodigy-sponsored players who found themselves at the top of the leaderboards – Paige Pierce and Seppo Paju.

Paige Pierce continues her dominance, wins her 8th straight PDGA event

Paige Pierce looks all but unstoppable this year. Week in and week out, she dominates her competition with consistently high-rated rounds. This weekend was no exception at the Texas Women’s Championship.

As dominant as Pierce has been, she wasn’t the disc golfer to crush the competition in the first round. That honor belonged to Des Reading. The Reading family is known for their great play throughout Texas, and Des showed her experience in Round 1. Des took to Williamson County Park and shot an unbelievable 1039-rated 44. It’s not every day that you see a score like that in the women’s open division, and you might expect it to come from Pierce or Catrina Allen. Des Reading proved that she can still post impressive scores and put herself in position to take a big A-tier victory.

Paige Pierce wasn’t having any of that, though. Despite being 7 strokes behind Reading after the first round, Pierce should never be counted out of an event, especially this year. In the second round, Pierce was the only competitor to break 50 with her 987-rated 48. Reading cooled off a bit and shot a 928-rated 53, giving up 5 of her 7 stroke lead. With just one full round and a final 9 left, Pierce was back in position to take over the competition.

As is so often the case, Pierce crushed the competition in the third round. She was the only woman to break 60 strokes, shooting a 975-rated 59. Des faltered by comparison as she came in with a 66 and fell behind by 5 strokes heading into the final 9.

Paige Pierce went on to retain her 5 stroke lead throughout the final 9 to take her 8th straight PDGA win in 2015. We’ll continue to keep an eye on Pierce’s impressive run of tournament wins and see if she can keep this up as we get deeper into the national tour and major schedule.

Seppo Paju wins the Copenhagen Open, his second EuroTour win of 2015

Although it gets somewhat overshadowed by the weekly competition in the United States, the PDGA runs a European Tour with 10 events throughout the year. After a second place finish at EuroTour #1, the British Disc Golf Open at Blue Bell Woods, Seppo Paju won EuroTour #2, the Dutch Open. The competition is always tight in these big European events, but Paju had the momentum coming into EuroTour #3, the Copenhagen Open.

Like Prodigy teammate Paige Pierce, Paju didn’t dominate the competition in the first round. His 1028-rated 58 was a solid score, but was not good enough to best Pasi Koivu’s 1050-rated 55. Heading into the second round, the competition was tight as Paju, Dick Lampinen, Karl Johan Nybo and others vied for Koivu’s position.

Seppo Paju asserted his dominance in the second round. His 1067-rated 53 was good enough to leap over Koivu and Lampinen, who shot 62 and 61, respectively. With a 3 stroke lead over Karl Johan Nybo heading into the third full round, Paju was poised to take another EuroTour victory.

Jalle Stoor tried to make a run at the lead with a final round 55, but Paju’s 57 was good enough to maintain his lead heading into the final 9. Koivu was able to make up 2 strokes on the field in the final 9, but Paju still came out with a 4 stroke victory over Stoor, Koivu, and Nybo, who all tied for second.

Looking ahead

Next week marks the first week that the disc golf season is in full swing. While the world’s best amateurs will take their talents to Bowling Green, KY for the Amateur Championships, we’ll be seeing the best pros in some big A-Tiers around the world. In New Mexico, many touring disc golfers will be playing in the Pendaries Village Open. Others can be seen at The Rumble in Iowa, and the Europeans will play in Norway at the Arendal Open.

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