🎲 A dice roll of who wins

Hello and welcome, this is The Players Meeting. The only newsletter that counts down the days until daylight saving time starts.

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If you missed Memorial’s recap, then I got you: Birdie or Die

Let’s get into it.

WACO ANNUAL CHARITY OPEN

PREVIEW (3/10-12)

Everything’s bigger in TX including the Tour. For the next 3 weeks, the Lone Star State is hosting 2 Elites and 1 Silver.

Kicking off the swing is the notorious WACO right off the Brazos river. With park-style holes, heavily-wooded holes, and thick rough, the BEast course is on display for 3 straight days.

As a unique course for unique winners, this event punishes those off a few inches. You’ll find it favors lefties, FH specialists, and off-the-fairway scramblers.

This added drama could be minimized in the coming years. For the 1st time, the organizers are testing a nearby ball golf course - Lake Waco Club - with the Ams and Age-Protected divisions.

If it goes well, they plan to use the temp course in conjunction with the BEast in the future. Seems like they’re gearing up to be a 4-day event or an eventual Worlds bid.

LAST YEAR RECAP

MPO/ 🥇Paul McBeth (-23) 🥈Luke Humphries (-20) 🥉Chris Clemons & Joel Freeman (-17)

Last year took this event’s name to a whole new meaning… It was a windy ass chuck off, and McBeth found himself at the top of the leaderboard after every round.

FPO/ 🥇Valerie Mandujano (-9) 🥈Kristin Tattar (-5) 🥉Catrina Allen (-2)

It was a nail-biter finish for FPO. Down the stretch, the lead switched from person to person with Allen pushing from the 5th card.

But it took the Shot of the Year for Mandujano to secure her 1st Elite win. Unfortunately, the defending champ is still recovering from an off-season ankle injury and won’t be playing.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

There are 4 stars who are finally making their season premiere: Wysocki (still a maybe), Dickerson, Pierce, & post-surgery Tattar. We’ll see if their off-season has prepared them for this dice roll of an event.

Besides the obvious, Mr. MP40 - Cale Leiviska - requires your attention. So far this year, he’s won 3 events and his mastery in the woods shines through here (placed top 5 since 2020).

Starting tomorrow, watch all your favorite pros live with DGN, and catch the hottest name in FPO (☟) on the feature card with Pierce and Tattar.

COVID PLAYER: CAROLINE HENDERSON

Just over 3 years ago, Caroline Henderson didn’t know disc golf existed. Now, she’s an early-season story and has been making the podcast circuit.

Her jump from unknown Texan to rising star happened over 4 days in Vegas. Her 9th place finish had manufacturers pounding at her door… Prodigy, Lone Star, Dynamic Discs, & Discraft.

Pre-Covid, Henderson was a competitive track athlete, D1 softball recruit, and softball instructor. Then we all know what happened to kick off her DG career:

• Late 2020 - Played for the 1st time

• Apr 2021 - Played her 1st tournament and decided to hit the Tour eventually

• May 2022 - Sold her house and bought an RV

• Aug 2022 - Played in her 1st DGPT event, Mid America Open (26th place)

• Nov 2022 - Quit her job as a softball pitch & hit instructor

• Feb 2023 - Placed Top 10 in her 1st DGPT Elite

• Now, she already has media plans with GK Pro & a sponsor lined up (*Spoiler alert* She was spotted at Prodigy’s team dinner on Tuesday)

Even as the 8th lowest-ranked player at Waco, there’s no doubt that she has all the makings to be an FPO star one day. Her ceiling is undeniable, and her drive to succeed comes through loud and clear.

Is Henderson the beginning of the natural athlete wave that will change our sport? The money pot is only going up, and those willing to bet on themselves could cash in.

SIMON SAYS SHOP POWERGRIP USA

Originally in Finland, Powergrip is the world’s 1st disc golf retailer to operate on 2 continents. They’ve finally brought their talents to the US and along with it the nicest team in the sport - Sexton, Koling, & Lizotte.

Releasing today (3/9) at 12PM ET are the latest molds to Dynamic Discs’s Supreme line - the Escape (stock run) & Sockibomb Felon Proto. Grab these 2 fairways to complete your bag along with a few of Simon’s MVP faves.

RANDOM DUBS

1️⃣ Dynamic Discs shared some big news yesterday… They’ve been officially acquired by the umbrella company - House of Discs (aka Latitude 64, Kastaplast, & Westside).

Last June, Lat64 went through a similar acquisition process with 2 European private equity firms that resulted in House of Discs’ creation. So what’s this mean?

• DD’s founders got a nice paycheck for their last 18 years of work

• More money into growing these brands and our sport

• A more cohesive manufacturing plan for all of Trilogy

• Eventually adding disc production in the US

• More DD-branded in-person stores

How this truly impacts us disc golfers remains to be seen… Some speculate exploitation of the sport, company layoffs, and possibly one more brand joining this umbrella company.

2️⃣ The Texas Woman’s University just completed its data capture for the 1st university-backed biomechanics study on disc golf. They did 3D motion capture of BHs, FHs, and 360s.

Coach Chris Taylor worked with the team and recruited a laundry list of pros: DoubleG, David Wiggins Jr, Albert Tamm, Gregg Barsby, Thomas Gilbert, Luke Samson, and the list goes on and on.

With only skin-tight underwear on, some of the biggest arms demonstrated their throwing form. Thank you, TWU for showing us what peak disc golfer performance looks like.

MEME OF THE WEEK

Thanks for reading today. Get out and play this weekend!

- Charlie