Texas State Disc Golf Championships recap
Ricky chases down Calvin Heimburg to go 6-for-6 and Paige Pierce holds off Kristin Tattar and Catrina Allen for her 4th title
The Disc Golf Pro Tour has officially yee’d it’s last haw for the 2022 season as the Texas State Disc Golf Championships have come to a close. After a very cold and windy start to the Texas swing the weekend in Tyler featured beautiful conditions which resulted in some low scores for both divisions. Texas-native Paige Pierce was able to hold off both Kristin Tattar and Catrina Allen on the way to claiming her 4th career Texas State Championship. And Ricky Wysocki chased down a red hot Calvin Heimburg to earn his first win of the year and remain undefeated at this event, becoming a 6-time Texas State Champion.
Ricky stays undefeated
Wysocki continues to defy the odds at this event, despite moving around the state to different courses and layouts he has now taken down this tournament all 6 times that he has played it. In 2021 Ricky shot 7-under, 10-under, and 11-under rounds including birdies on 8 of the final 9 holes to finish at -28. In 2022 he shot 8-under, 11-under and 10-under rounds including birdies on 7 of the final 9 holes to finish at -29. In both years he was at even par through the first four holes while other players were scoring right off the bat. And in both years he found himself on the chase card for the second round, but the ever persistent Wysocki just continued to push through any adversity he faced. Ricky didn’t miss a single circle 1 putt at the 2021 event, a streak that ended on just the 3rd hole of competition this year. However from that point on he didn’t miss another one, going 48-for-48 the rest of the way. The 1072 average event rating is the 6th highest of Ricky’s career and the highest since his 2021 win at Belton. Wysocki has only lost two events when he averages at least 1072, both of those came to Paul McBeth in Peoria, IL at the 2019 Ledgestone Open and 2019 World Championships.
The emotion Ricky felt when his final putt landed in the basket was evident. After the sponsor change and the big contract he signed this offseason it was clear he was not only yearning to get back in the winner’s circle, but to do so at an event where he is undefeated was even more special. At the 64th elite series event in the history of the Disc Golf Pro Tour, Wysocki became the first MPO champion sponsored by Dynamic Discs. Now that the monkey is off his back Wysocki is free to play a little more loosely, and the confidence has come at a great time with the first major of the year being just two weeks away.
Calvin goes low, Ricky goes high
Heimburg is well known for his ability to throw low-ceiling drives that push over 500ft. Laser beams, hellacious seeds, whatever you want to call them Calvin does it better than anybody in the world. The Thorn layout gave Heimburg plenty of opportunities to capitalize on those shots this weekend, and capitalize he did. However there is a trend that I don’t often hear discussed and that’s Ricky Wysocki’s skill when it comes to throwing big distance shots with a lot of height. You can hear Luke Humphries gushing about it during this old clip from OTB Skins. From his drives on hole 6 and hole 13 this weekend, and even his drive on hole 10 last Sunday after Calvin had come in low and hit a guardian tree. Obviously to play at the level that Wysocki does you need to do so many things extremely well, but his ability to release high and with power is often overlooked.
Heimburg returns to form
Calvin has nothing to hang his head about after putting on a very impressive performance this past weekend. Averaging a 1070 rating, this was the 2nd best event in Heimburg’s career from a ratings standpoint. In fact nobody averaged 1070+ last year and lost an elite series event, not exactly a stat you want going for you but it shows just how well Calvin played. After struggling with the putter a bit to start the year Vinny went 90% from C1X, 33% from C2 and had two huge outside circle makes. Calvin also led the tournament in strokes gained tee to green, in fact the top 5 finishers at this event were also the top 5 finishers in strokes gained tee to green. Just like Wysocki, Heimburg is hitting his stride at a good time with the first major of the year right around the corner. The last time an elite series event was played at the WR Jackson course Calvin took home the win. Aside from a 2nd place finish at USDGC in 2020 Heimburg hasn’t finished inside the top-10 at any other major. The Champions Cup will be a great opportunity for Calvin to chase his first major championship.
Pierce runs the table
With an impressive 1020 rated 9-under par opening round Paige Pierce took control of this tournament right from the start and never relinquished it. Paige was 2nd in strokes gained tee to green and led the tournament in strokes gained putting, aided by 5 makes from circle 2. Pierce also led in bounce-back percentage, carding a birdie after 5 of her 6 bogeys. For Paige to be successful it’s usually just a matter of limiting the mistakes, and while she carded three double bogeys before taking her first single bogey Pierce was able to keep the birdie train rolling and negate those errors. After a bogey on hole 14 in the final round her lead fell to just 1 stroke over both Kristin Tattar and Catrina Allen. Pierce proceeded to birdie the final four holes with Allen and Tattar right on her heels, executing shots when she needed to most. It had been 224 days since Paige’s last big win in Idlewild, that is the longest she has gone without an elite series win since 2016.
If you’re a fan of Pierce for more than just her disc golf game you probably appreciate that she doesn’t filter anything, her interviews are raw and passionate. Paige was certainly feeling some emotions after the tournament, holding back tears as she mentioned just how important disc golf is to her. She sits directly in the spotlight of this sport as someone who is not always celebrated when they win but is criticized when they under-perform. When Paige shoots a poor round like she did at the Throw Pink Women’s Disc Golf Championship last fall it is often discussed at length. If you have not watched Paige’s 8-minute long discussion with Juliana Korver on self-worth, finding motivations outside of winning and hard work not always being acknowledged I cannot recommend it enough. Few athletes have reached a level of success so grand that setting and achieving new goals become meaningless, or encounter the maddening dichotomy of wanting to win at everything even though it doesn’t always bring the greatest joy. In the video Juliana says that she’s learning to “fulfill herself and not the expectations of others” and Pierce really echoed that sentiment in her interview after the round.
I’m the only voice that matters and so I need to love myself, I need to be confident in myself and the wins will come.
- Paige Pierce after winning Texas States
Kristin’s first U.S. trip
The Estonian will be heading back to Europe after spending the last five weeks competing in the United States, though she will be returning shortly for the Champions Cup. Tattar was smooth and steady for the entire trip, maintaining her podium streak which dates back to the 2021 World Championships and earning a win at the Memorial Championship between pro tour events. Kristin never averaged lower than 977 (Belton) or higher than 985 (Vegas) during this stint and was right on the cusp of taking down both WACO and Texas States. It appears that she will be making at least two more trips to the U.S. this season and while she may have come up a bit short on this leg that likely won’t stay the case for long.
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