The world's best professional disc golfers made their way to Waco today to kick off the 29th Waco Annual Charity Open, the first of four professional tournaments taking place in Texas this season.
The event has been a major staple in the world of disc golf for the last eight years, allowing players to show off their skill and technique on Waco’s renowned parks, including the Brazos Park East course and this year, the Lake Waco Golf Club in China Spring.
The four day event features professional men and women disc golfers who will compete in a 72-hole tournament for a share of the total prize purse of $80,000.
Sam Gaddes, Disc Golf Network Media Operations Director says the dynamic course at Brazos Park East provides a unique challenge for pros.
Sam Gaddes: “What this course offers that a lot of the other tour doesn’t is just the technical aspect of this course and also you can score very, very, very well here. So there is sometimes that pressure to perform really, really well. There’s been in the past, pars have changed a little bit, but in the past people have shot 1800 pars here.”
Defending champions of their respective divisions, Kyle Klein and Kristin Tattar are back this year to defend their title.
However Waco’s premiere disc golf course is known for one thing – surprises. And despite being the shortest course of the DGPT tour, in recent years it has developed a knack for producing unlikely winners.
Sam Gaddes: “It seems to be people don’t win this one multiple times in a row. It has happened in the past but it seems to produce a unique winner every year. So it’s always exciting to see who’s gonna kind of rise up and tackle the beast.”
The disc golf community in Waco is growing every year and the city's disc golf courses have become staple destinations for professionals worldwide. Tournament Director of the Waco Charity Open, Ryan Draper, says he is excited to be a part of that growth.
Ryan Draper: “You know we have a great disc golf community here. A lot of support from the city. We’ve built a relationship with the city over the years, this is our 29 year hosting the Waco Annual Charity Open. The city is just great to work with.”
Draper also says tickets are still available to those wanting to get up close with the pros.
Ryan Draper: “Tickets are available. You can walk up and get tickets or it's probably best to get tickets online at Eventbrite. If you just go on the Eventbrite website and search Waco Charity Open it’ll come up.”
To view the full event schedule you can visit dgpt.com.