The Estonians came out in force.

July 29, 2024 by Kingsley Flett in Recap with comments

In the 19th century, the awakening idea of an Estonian nation was borne through the songs shared by a people with growing pride in their cultural identity. The Laulupidu — the Estonian Song Festival — was first held in 1869 and has grown to be one of the largest choral events in the world. Along with the Tantsupidu (dance festival), the Laulupidu is held every five years at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds. The venue, with its massive arched stage, is designed to carry the voices of up to 30,000 singers to an audience of near 100,000. Both festivals are deeply embedded in the soul of Estonia; they symbolized the country’s first independence in 1918 and then the second independence in 1991, after what was known as Laulev Revolutsioon – the singing revolution.

For Estonians, the Song Festival Grounds are a hallowed place, a feeling that wasn’t lost on the 147 players who gathered there to compete in the European Disc Golf Festival this past weekend. The stage and the amphitheater formed a natural colosseum that played host to last hole drama in both divisions. Missy Gannon took the FPO title on the first hole of the playoff when Eveliina Salonen’s 15 foot birdie putt hit the top band. Then Ricky Wysocki had a coast-to-coast victory in MPO when he outlasted Paul McBeth on the final hole as McBeth’s circle’s edge bid to force a playoff also clanked against the metal ring.

The staging and spectacle in Tallinn broke new ground for how a pro disc golf tournament is presented; with a WWE-style introduction of each player via an LED screen on tee one and fenced off fairways turning each hole into a distinct stage for the players to perform. The overall presentation was summed up by Paul McBeth prior to the tournament that is going to host the European Open in 2025.

“I didn’t think there was anything that would feel bigger than the European Open,” said McBeth during practice. “This has already felt that way.”

Record-setting Ricky holds on

The Tallinn Song Festival Grounds course is not dissimilar to Swenson Park in Stockton, home of the OTB Open – affectionately called the “low ceiling open.” Ricky Wysocki came out in round one throwing lower, harder, and straighter than anyone else to card one of the best rounds in disc golf history. His provisionally 1119-rated, 16-under-par 44 was built on 89% fairway hits, 83% circle one in regulation, 89% circle two in regulation, and 100% putting – that’s right, Wysocki hit all of his circle one putts and his single circle two putt. In fact, it wasn’t until hole four of round two that he missed a putt (circle 2) and then on the same hole in round three that he missed from circle one. Wysocki missed only two C1X putts for the entire tournament if you don’t count his layup to win.

By rating, Wysocki’s round one was the best round ever shot on European soil and the third-best of all time, and it gave him a six stroke lead over a trio of chasers in James Proctor, Väinö Mäkelä, and Kyle Klein with Paul McBeth and Calvin Heimburg another stroke behind.

“Whenever I feel like my forehand and my backhand are both on, this is the kind of disc golf I can play,” said Wysocki after his round. “That’s what I train and practice for, to get my game into a spot where I am right now. I mean this course is not overly challenging. But there’s still teeth out there. You’ve still got to respect some holes, but if you are throwing good shots and giving yourself birdie putts, you can go low. I was just able to take advantage of a lot of these holes and score really well.”

Wysocki couldn’t keep the same pace in round two, going out of bounds twice on his way to a 9-under-par 51 that still kept him five strokes ahead of Klein who had shot 10-under-par, and six ahead of McBeth who had also shot 10-under. Rounding out the lead card for championship Sunday was Aaron Gossage, who had shot 11-under-par to share fourth place with Finland’s Joona Heinänen.

A five stroke lead going into a championship round would be ample in most circumstances. But for Wysocki there were two factors counting against him: one was some pain under his shoulder blade on the throwing side and two was Paul McBeth stalking him like a panther.

“I tweaked the back part of my shoulder in the warmup,” said Wysocki. “So I was eating ibuprofen trying to get through. I didn’t feel super comfortable off the tee. My body wasn’t moving right. But that’s the luxury of that first round. I was able to gain a lot of strokes on the field and I was able to take advantage of that today.”

A three putt from Wysocki on hole 4 opened the gate slightly for his chasers. A string of pars and a bogey from Klein in the middle of the round had him drifting from contention, while McBeth inched closer. Two stroke swings after Wysocki went out of bounds on holes 13 & 15 and it was suddenly a one stroke gap with the closing holes to play. Both players missed birdie attempts on hole 16 and then the crowd lining the fairway of hole 17 roared as first McBeth and then Wysocki threw laser beams to the bullseye. It was Wysocki who threw his shot under the pressure of seeing McBeth bisect the narrow fairway first.

“I know he was there putting the pressure on, but he’s not going to throw any shots for me and I’m not going to throw any shots for him,” said Wysocki. “It really doesn’t bother me. I’m out here to play my game and that’s all I’m here to do.”

On hole 18, Wysocki put his disc inside the circle, near the edge of C1. McBeth threw his shot just outside of that. When McBeth’s birdie attempt hit the band, Wysocki was able to lay up and tap in for the win. Finland’s Joona Heinänen matched McBeth’s 12-under-par final round to sneak into third place off the chase card, ahead of Klein, who fell six strokes off the pace.

“It feels good,” said Wysocki afterwards. “I let a lot of strokes slip away there at the end but that’s the name of the game sometimes. It was just enough to get the job done. I’m just glad to do it here at this amazing venue. This captures out sport really well from a spectator standpoint and allows us players to throw some fun shots.”

Cometh the moment, cometh the Missy

In the FPO, it was a relieved Heidi Laine after round one. Her 9-under-par 55 opened a two stroke lead over Salonen and Kaidi Allsalu.

“I feel really good because I’ve played so bad for a long time,” said Laine. “My start was bad, but I found my game. I’m happy because I played well finally.”

Gannon by that stage was lurking eight strokes behind Laine, tied for sixth. Missy climbed into contention during moving day, though, combining eight birdies and just two bogeys to shoot the second-best round for the day to move in to second place. Laine shot one-under-par in the second round to hold a three shot lead but admitted to feeling nervous during the round.

Most of the final round was a battle between Laine and Gannon. Heidi struggled to score in the front nine, allowing Missy to creep closer. The crucial stretch in the battle came on holes 10 through 12, where Laine went out of bounds three times and dropped three strokes to Gannon.

Missy looked to be in control when she took a two stroke lead to hole 16, landing her drive in the circle. A birdie would have stretched her lead over Laine to three and maintained a two stroke buffer over Salonen, who was charging from the chase card and had birdied the hole. But Missy airmailed the birdie attempt into a slight headwind from 24 feet and then had the tailwind push the comebacker down into the cage.

“I was really stressing coming down the stretch and I think it showed,” said Gannon afterwards. “I could feel the pressure. I wasn’t only thinking about Heidi anymore, I was thinking about Eveliina.”

Laine was unable to close the gap further though. Like Salonen, both players scored par on the closing holes and was Eveliina, looking to win from the chase card, who teed off with Missy for the sudden death playoff. Both playoff holes (1&18) were played inside the arena and, of the two, it seemed 18 would be the difference maker compared to the easily birdied hole 1. Indeed, it appeared we were set for a nearest to the pin challenge on 18 as both players put their upshots close on the first hole. Crucially, though, Gannon’s disc was in the bullseye while Salonen’s was at 15 feet. When Eveliina lifted her putt into the band, it was all over.

“It was a grind down the stretch, “said Missy after her win. “But I was happy to take it down in overtime. I don’t know why it felt different here. It’s such a massive crowd and so many really passionate people here. I felt extra nervous, more nervous than I’ve felt in a long time.”

“It’s a great vibe,” Missy added. “I’m so looking forward to coming back next year. It’s my first ever international win and I hope it’s one of many to come.”

Which swing is your thing?

Of the several mini tours-within-a-tour that exist on the multinational Disc Golf Pro Tour now, which is best? Is it the Texas Swing, the West Coast Swing, the European Swing or the closing stretch of GMC, Maple Hill, USDGC, and Tour Championship, what we might call an East Coast Swing? After the past few weeks in Krokhol, Tampere, Nokia, and then Tallinn, the Europeans have set a very high bar in the challenge to be the sultans of swings. From the lush forests of Norway to the 20 deep galleries lining the fairways in Finland to the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds in Estonia, the pro tour’s time in Europe this year has been memorable. Right now, it seems Europe is the clear leader in this category but there is still plenty of disc golf yet to be played.