🧑‍🎤 Disc golfers turned rock stars

Hello and welcome, this is The Players Meeting. The only newsletter where a Gibson guitar beats a green jacket any week.

Email Read Time: 5 Minutes & 33 Seconds

If you missed MCO’s preview, then I got you: The NashVegas Way

Let’s get into it.

MUSIC CITY OPEN

RESULTS - 🏆SIMON LIZOTTE & KRISTIN TATTAR

With the close of MCO, the season completes its 5th event out of 30, and Nashville brought the heat. Here are the storylines you should remember or you may have missed:

1 - Slippin’ and slidin’ on the course and leaderboard.

Even with a history as the least favorite course on Tour, Mill Ridge Park redeemed itself with positive feedback and the entertainment that unfolded. Unfortunately for those on the ground, rain and wind on the 1st two days created testing conditions.

Players battled 4-hour rounds, poor footing, and weird ground play even as the sun peeked through on a Championship Sunday. But even so, the course took no prisoners.

Several known names DNF’d and bowed out of the competition:

• Ben Callaway - Dropped out of fear of injury and his bad score

• Emerson Keith - Could not throw FH due to a forearm injury

• Paul Ulibarri - Injury-prone Uli rolled his ankle on the slippery tee pads

• Niklas Anttila - Flaring back pain that has been plaguing him for weeks

The notion of pulling out to preserve future play is nothing new to pro sports. While it’s impossible to compare anyone to Tiger Woods, the man himself withdrew from the Masters after a rain-filled Saturday with foot pain.

2 - Hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get paid.

Lizotte and Tattar both picked up where they left off last season. For FPO, the 6 unique winner streak was brought to an end in dominating fashion.

After a quick trip home to Estonia, Tattar became the 1st to grab her 2nd victory of the season. It was a statement win filled with beautiful drives, circle-edge putts, and a flawless final round (-7, 1012 rated).

Continuing this season’s theme, Lizotte takes the air out of JomezPro’s sails. From chase, he sneaked past the lead card finishing with 8 straight birdies and the hot round (-11, 1068 rated).

In just his 3rd event with MVP, Lizotte proves he can still win with new discs, a caddie, and a good game plan. New bag, same Simon.

3 - JomezPro punching the air right now.

All jokes aside, this season is having an unprecedented rate of chase card victors. Lizotte’s win marks the 3rd chase card winner of 2023, tying the most in a single season already (2010).

And while JomezPro isn’t exactly suffering from it, Gatekeeper is certainly benefitting. Put another tally in the win column for live disc golf.

4 - Hometown heroes still get it done in TN.

Chris Dickerson couldn’t go back-to-back in Music City but continued his great streak in TN. Just off the mark, Robot Chicken couldn’t capitalize on several stroke-separating par 3’s and ended in 3rd.

In FPO, Macie Velediaz showed off her FH distance and putting skills to tie for 2nd. Whether her home state helped or not, the experience of pushing for the win will pay dividends for her game.

5 - The Big 4 of yesteryear getting pushed aside.

So long Wysocki (8th), McBeth (25th), Catrina Allen (18th), & Paige Pierce (27th)… Even with Wysocki’s impressive debut, the Big 4 left a lot to be desired.

Hello, Calvin Heimburg (3rd), James Proctor (6th), Kristin Tattar (1st), & Holyn Handley (5th). Their 2023 consistency has been impressive so far.

Heimburg hasn’t finished off the podium in all 5 of his events. Proctor has been in the top 10 since Vegas. Tattar is Tattar. And Handley has 4 top-5s already.

If or when will the #1 player in the world finish off of the podium? Will Vinny finally take home his 1st Major win?

HIGHLIGHT

At the very end of an amazing performance, Anthony Barela had one chance at his own Holy Shot. His attempt was close enough for the collective disc golf world to hold its breath for a second.

FRESH PLASTIC

Sponsored by Powergrip USA… A PRETTY GOOD disc golf shop.

👉 Powergrip’s Highlight: Horizon Cloud Breaker (12|5|-1|3)
Starting tomorrow (4/12) at 11AM ET, Eagle McMahon’s latest run of Cloud Breakers drop in Horizon plastic.

This Halo Star knockoff gives Discmaniacs another reason to bag multiple of the flagship driver. Out of the 4 previous releases, this run is the most OS with slightly more stiffness.

With the increased stability, they all have pop-top domes and have noticeable glide for Big D. If you throw over 400ft, then this disc is a trustworthy wind fighter.

If you throw normal distances, then it’ll be the perfect power-up to your chop FH. Add some pretty plastic to your bag tomorrow!

In order for discs to be born, discs have to die… Two weeks ago, Kastaplast announced the retirement of the Kaxe Z (6|5|0|2), Grym (13|5|-1|2), & Grym X (12|5|0|3).

As the news dropped, millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. Kastaplast explained their actions on social media:

• Kaxe and Kaxe Z were too similar out of the box. The next release - Stig - is what the Kaxe Z was originally meant to be

• The Grym and Grym X molds had constant tooling issues that caused inconsistencies from run to run

The final run of these 3 molds will be available at Powergrip USA soon. In the meantime, there’s still existing K1 & K3 plastic stock for those who can’t envision a world without them.

RANDOM DUBS

1️⃣ In hopes that you finally find the Ah-ha button, Jaani Länsiö - the DG Spin Doctor - wants you to remember a new analogy to ensure you brace properly. All you have to do is pretend you’re driving and a moose walks into the road.

Slam the brakes with your foot and push your body backward as if you’re bracing for impact. Then curl your arm into your body and let the momentum take the disc.

2️⃣ For those who plan 5 months ahead, the MVP Open spectator tickets are on sale today. From 9/14-17, be part of the spectacle that includes the Million Dollar Shot, glow rounds, and the infamous ice cream social.

This year, two individuals will get to attend with all expenses paid. In place of the annual Am Side event, the MVP Open will host 11 tournaments across the world including Canada, Sweden, and the UK.

Steve Dodge and MVP are calling this series “The MOST” - MVP Open Satellite Tournaments. Out of all 11 events, the MA1 & FA1 players who scored the highest round ratings will win this dream trip to spectate and play with MVP-sponsored pros.

It’s no surprise that the World’s #1 course also has the #1 event. More details are to come soon.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Thanks for reading today. Get out and check yourself this week!

- Charlie