🏆 The Major of the Midwest

Hello and welcome, this is The Players Meeting. The only newsletter that still buys discs from the guy selling out of his trunk.

Email Read Time: 5 Minutes & 32 Seconds

If you missed Ledgestone’s preview, then I got you: Euro Tour Recap

Let’s get into it.

TOUR COVERAGE
Ledgestone Open (Elite+)

RESULTS - 🏆COLE REDALEN & MISSY GANNON

With over 2k amateurs and 200 pros, Ledgestone is the biggest tournament every year. In no particular order, here are the storylines you should remember or you may have missed:

1 - The best combination of courses on Tour: A 3-headed dragon.

Up there with Green Mountain Championship, this event is on every pro’s favorite list. Not because of the payout or fans, but because of the 3 courses.

Each of them has its own challenges, but they all punish bad shots while rewarding good ones. The combo pairings tested every skill, especially with wet weather thrown in the mix.

Northwood Black - Hardest but fairest course on Tour. Smart players who hit the fairways separated from the field.

Eureka Temp - If you ignored the creeping OB lines, then this course was birdie or die. It forced players to tip-toe the line of aggression vs. execution.

Sunset Hills - This is probably the best-tuned FPO course on Tour. Players had to birdie everything they could before heading back into the woods.

2 - The most complete golfer won this weekend.

Even with Tattar & Pierce out, it was no fluke that Missy Gannon defended her title to become a 2x Ledgestone Champ.

Starting with a bang and carding FPO’s 1st birdie ever on Northwood Hole 1, she went wire to wire over the weekend. Averaging the best of her career (995 rating), she stuck to her game plan and had a perfect mental game.

With the Tour in its back half, “Big Money Missy” will start to heat up. After this, she’s a frontrunner for the rest of this month’s events: Idlewild, DGLO, & Worlds.

3 - It was a flawless breakout for the 18-year-old.

This season has proved that every win is wide open for at least 20 names in MPO. This weekend’s belongs to Oregon’s Cole Redalen.

With probably the season’s best performance, he skipped some steps and won his 1st A-Tier or better with this Elite+. It’s only his 3rd touring season, so let’s take a trip down memory lane…

2021 - Redalen’s 1st year on Tour. His 1st ever Top-10 happened at Ledgestone.

2022 - Finished T82nd and missed the cut at Ledgestone. The lowlights include taking an octuple bogey on Eureka Hole 13.

Fast forward to Friday, he gave pros and fans alike a masterclass in woods golf. With his smooth form, he made BH flip-ups and turnovers look effortless.

Then on Sunday, he remained stoic until the very end. Even with a few good breaks, Redalen’s win was undeniable with course-record rounds on both extremely different courses.

4 - Tying up loose storylines.

With 4 days and 3 courses, there are too many storylines to cover in 5 minutes. So let’s wrap up some loose ends…

1. Defending 3x winner, Wysocki still has it here. On the way to beating his 2022 score by 2, he birdied the 2 hardest holes (Northwood 12 & 14) 3 out of 4 times.

2. After making 0 putts in round 2, Kona Montgomery walked off the course mid-round 3. Swollen fingers were the reason for her DNF, and she plans to skip the next few events.

3. On Friday, Parker Welck badly sprained his ankle on Hole 16 and it swelled to the size of a tennis ball. Throwing only standstill FHs, he continued to play, made the cut, and took home $690.

4. At one point, Brodie Smith held the outright lead on Friday. He quickly lost it in Northwood’s back 9, but outside of the woods his putter shined.
   In the 1st and final rounds, Smith was 95% in C1X and 100% in C2 putting.

HIGHLIGHT

There were 4 aces over the weekend. All were on Eureka Temp’s Holes 7 and 10.

With a Z Raptor, Marwede smoked the corner right pocket on the easiest hole. It averaged 2.17 strokes among Sunday’s smaller 58-MPO field.

From chase card, Heimburg threw everything AND the kitchen sink trying to catch Redalen… An impossible par save from Hole 8’s drop zone and the 425ft ace just minutes after Marwede’s.

POWERED BY POWERGRIP USA
Fresh Plastic

👉 Powergrip’s Highlight: R2 Eclipse Rim Glitch (1|7|0|0)
Over at Powergrip USA, all Glitsch pre-orders have been fulfilled.

There aren’t many who haven’t fallen in love with this disc. But if you’re still on the fence, then here are a few testimonials…

This special combo of plastic and mold isn’t being run again soon. But with pre-orders over, the Glitsch is in stock online for same-day shipping. Snag one today!

GLOBAL EVENTS & PRO TIP
Random Dubs

1️⃣ Over the weekend, there were 6 separate National Championships being held simultaneously. All across the globe, the country’s best players were crowned in Canada, Estonia, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, & Finland.

2nd only to the US with its number of courses, Finland’s talent pool runs deep. And this year’s Finnish Nationals had no shortage of it or drama.

After 9 years of the winner being Eveliina Salonen or Henna Blomroos, Heidi Laine broke the streak to win her 1st title. She beat Salonen in a 2-hole playoff.

For the 3rd time, Niklas Anttila became the Finnish Champ. Averaging 1041, he beat out players like Lauri Lehtinen & Väinö Mäkelä.

After the event, Mäkelä expressed frustrations (translated) with a group of hecklers on the course…

2️⃣ There I was at Saturday morning tags. I hit the 3rd available tree, and my disc fell perfectly behind it.

Thankfully, I just watched Ezra Aderhold’s practice round at Northwood Black. His lie was in the right side rough, and he was lining up a Patent Pending shot.

Before he threw, Calvin Heimburg gave him a pro tip… Don’t overstretch your right leg into the fairway. You actually get better hip rotation/power if you keep your stance closer together.

Even though I followed Vinny’s advice, I didn’t get up and down. But maybe you’ll benefit from it.

Tweet of the Week

Thanks for reading today. Get out to league night this week!

- Charlie