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- 🌊 Is the Mid America Open cursed?
🌊 Is the Mid America Open cursed?
MAO Weirdness, PREZ, and Frisbee Fanatics
Hello and welcome, this is The Players Meeting. The only newsletter for disc golf news and takes; just the meat, no bun.
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If you missed MAO’s preview, then I got you: DGPT’s Middle Road
Let’s get into it.
TOUR COVERAGE
Mid America Open (Silver)
RESULTS - 🏆ANDREW PRESNELL & OHN SCOGGINS
Stuck between a rock (European Open) and a hard place (Ledgestone), this off-week Silver highlighted one of the Midwest’s best courses.
In no particular order, here are the storylines you should remember or you may have missed:
1 - Some Mid American weirdness at this special course.
Harmony Bends has everything you’d ever want from a championship-level course. It has beautiful natural features, challenging woods, and elevation changes.
There’s just one problem… It’s in a floodplain. And the Tour has terrible luck every time it’s in town.
In 2021, the event switched to a neighboring course due to flooding. Then this weekend, more flash flooding shortened MPO’s 2nd round to 14 holes which was finished early Sunday.
Because of the schedule shift, only the top 45 MPO got to play Round 3 on Sunday. The unpredicted change was made late and shared with players still hoping to cash…
The unpredictable nature of this event may never allow it to get bumped to an Elite. But there’s no way it loses its place on Tour as there’s something special about Harmony Bends.
2 - It’s Ohn’s world, and we’re just living in it.
After a month away from the Pro Tour, Scoggins picked up where she left off and then some. She averaged 996-rated golf to beat out the slimmed-down field.
This was the 3x Masters World Champ’s 2nd DGPT Silver win and the 1st of her season. To end the drought, she dueled Alexis Mandujano all Sunday.
It came down to the final hole, and even Mandujano’s record round (1031 rated) couldn’t stop the ever-consistent Scoggins. With Pierce injured and Tattar in Estonia, has the Tour entered the Ohn Zone?
Starting in 2 days, we could see her go for her 1st Elite win at Ledgestone.
Let’s go out there and practice and be happy. And if you miss the tree, it’s not the end of the world. Just keep playing and be smiling and love each other.
3 - Winning the Andrew Presnell way.
After 7 years as a road warrior, Presnell won his 1st DGPT event with his dad on the bag and in his home state. He’s gone through more ups and downs than most but has stayed true to himself and his game.
On The Nick & Matt Show, Presnell shared his story leading to now…
For years, he taught special education and coached several sports
After testing the waters one summer, he quit to chase his dream
Ever since he’s been grinding many local events and Tour stops
He’s coming off a painful back injury that affected his 59th finish at the European Open
Now after a 1-hole playoff and a rushed Buhr putt, Presnell can finally call himself a DGPT champ. His win comes at a time when the MPO field is at its deepest.
He’s the 6th player to win their 1st Major, Elite, or Silver event this season.
HIGHLIGHT
On Saturday, Holyn Handley matched Mandujano’s course record from the day before. Take 34 seconds to watch her power FH her way to an eagle on Hole 17.
Holyn Handley EAGLES Hole 17 to go -10 thru 17 🤯
— Disc Golf Pro Tour (@DiscGolfProTour)
5:08 PM • Jul 29, 2023
POWERED BY POWERGRIP USA
Fresh Plastic
👉 Powergrip’s Highlight: Discraft’s 2023 Ledgestone Editions
To celebrate Ledgestone week, we’re hitting on some classics in special plastics.
No one has mastered the art of special edition discs quite like Ledgestone, and this year’s releases have raised the bar. Here are some sweet picks still available:
Z Fly Dye Force (12|5|0|3) - Put as much torque into this run as you want
UV Blend Z Focus (2|2|-1|2) - Hits gaps & changes colors
Big Z Buzzz (5|4|-1|1) - The best midrange in one of my favorite blends
Rubber Blend Zone (4|3|0|3) - Basically a seasoned Zone out of the box
If you’re one of the 2k in town for the AM event, stop by Powergrip USA’s store just down the road from the tourney. Tell them Charlie from TPM sent you!
EURO DESTINATIONS & ELBOW TUCK
Random Dubs
1️⃣ As if there wasn’t enough excitement in Missouri, there were highlights happening across the pond. At the Järva Open, Luke Humphries became the 1st American to win a European Pro Tour beating out a Prodigy-heavy field of KJ USA, the Robinson Bros, & Alden Harris.
As for the other European destination, an underdog story unfolded at the Åland Open. Miro Ryhänen is an unsponsored Finnish teenager who walked off with a win over Niklas Anttila & Eagle McMahon.
These unknown frisbee fanatics keep coming out of the woodwork over there.
2️⃣ If you can dodge a wrench cook spaghetti, then you can hit the power pocket. Jaani Länsiö - online coach, commentator, & Brendan Fraser/ Schwarzenegger love child - wants you to fix your elbow tuck with his “Cooking Spaghetti” drill:
Take a putter/mid
With your weight on the front leg, throw standstills with your arm as stiff as possible
Start “cooking the spaghetti” by slowly loosening your arm
Remember to keep your elbow away from your body as you get your arm from 100% stiff down to ~50%
The disc will want to pop out, and this will build the feeling of hitting the power pocket
Tweet of the Week
Thanks for reading today. Get out and keep it simple this week!
- Charlie