Ahead of the Skellefteå Open, PDGA Europe Media and Marketing Manager Calixto García, who is on-site at the 5th PDGA Euro Tour stop of the season, gave us a report on how things are looking headed into this weekend’s competition.
Practicing From Sun up to… Sun Up?
There are people playing on the course at 23:00. We come back at 06:00, and there are people playing in the course.. How is it possible? First, it’s training day at a PDGA Euro Tour event, and people from all over the world are trying to improve their performance. Second, we’re in the north. Very much north! As much as 64 Latiitude North- sounds familiar? And we enjoy 21 hours of sunlight per day to play disc golf!
Is it possible to keep out of your mind the fact that you are leading an international tournament on the last day with an 8-stroke gap over your pursuers?
Imperial Anttila! As if it were Miron's discus thrower, the young Finnish player has delighted us with an impeccable game at the PDGA EuroTour — Swedish Open presented by Kastaplast, with moments of the highest quality such as the "almost ace" on the 11th hole: a very high turnover that even reminded us a bit of the "Holy Shot" of James Conrad.
Sweden's Dennis Augustsson had the hot round to open the 2023 EuroTour — Swedish Open. Photo: PDGA Europe
MPO
These four first events of 2023 PDGA Euro Tour have shown us a great variety of Disc Golf terrains: the thick woods of Pro Forester, the extra wide fairways of Konopiste, the ever-present OBs of Krokhol and now the narrow fairways and root ground of Swedish Open presented by Kastaplast.
On the MPO side, all of the EuroTour champions so far in 2023 — Paul McBeth, Niklas, Anttila and Bradley Williams — are in the field. In FPO, two champions — Marianne Must and Silva Saarinen — will compete this weekend in Sweden.
The action takes place at Ymergårdens Discgolfcenter in Boras, Sweden beginning Friday. Fifteen countries will be represented in MPO and eight in FPO.
So far, the PDGA EuroTour has delivered incredible action on beautiful courses throughout Europe with every second covered.
Elias Lukkonen and Paul McBeth talk during round two of the Krokhol Open.
MPO
Youth to power!
It was not difficult to assume that two experienced American players of a very high level, such as Paul McBeth and Bradley Williams, would be on the leader card of the PDGA Euro Tour Krokhol Open (Norway), but that they are accompanied by two young 18-year-old Finns such as Elias Lukkonen and Miro Ryhänen is a clear example of the extensive reserve that European disc golf has in general and Finnish disc golf in particular.
Silva Saarinen leads the Krokhol Open after the first round.
FPO
Top players told us in Thursday's press conference that the level of the FPO field is rising and there are more and more players able to win a tournament.
And on this occasion, it has been the Finnish Silva Saarinen, who is steadily improving her game this season, off to a great 3-under round to lead by three strokes at the PDGA Euro Tour #3 — Krokhol Open.
Idyllic? Amazing? A paradise for disc golf? These are some of the first sentences that came to mind when we arrived at the Krokhol Disc Golf Club on the outskirts of Oslo, Norway.
An undulating landscape with coniferous and birch forests dotted with small lakes and large granite slabs is home to the Krokhol Golf and Disc Golf Clubs that coexist in perfect harmony and and benefit from mutual synergies.
British Rachel Turton has finally established herself – if there was any doubt about it - among the top elite FPO European players after convincingly winning the Konopiste Open presented by Discmania, second stop of the 2023 PDGA Euro Tour in the beautiful Czech woods.
Disc golf tournaments are not like highways, with twists, turns and ups and downs…
Anneli Tõugjas-Männiste (Estonia), Sofie Björlycke (Sweden) and Kristi Unt (Estonia) each had their share of ups and downs during round two, each scoring +2. This brought which brought yesterday’s leader, Tõugjas-Männiste, to second place while Sofie and Kristi went down to fourth.
Four candidates will be vying for three open positions on the PDGA Europe Board of Directors. These four self-nominated candidates all share a passion for disc golf. They have diverse backgrounds and a wide range of skillsets, both in their professional lives and within the sport.
Players from 24 countries are playing in the thick forests of Varaždin at the Pro Forester presented by Vall Tours in a clear proof that many players from Central and Southern Europe are willing to join PDGA Euro Tour.
Marianne Must extends her lead into the final round. Photo: PDGA Media
The demanding course just outside of the Croatian city, by the Drava river, is more demanding than ever: summertime is making vegetation grow and the local organizing team has had to make an extra work to clear up the fairways and players to find the lines.
The signage effort has been considerable and the course has players are delighting in the opportunity to play in such a professional looking course.
A European-level robotics contest in Varaždin Arena has attracted hundreds of visitors that are discovering disc golf in the holes around it.
Calixto Garcia, of Spain, is the new Marketing & Media Manager for PDGA Europe.
With the growth of the sport in Europe (and in general), PDGA Europe has expanded its staff with a new Marketing and Media position.
Calixto García is a 46-year-old marketeer from Bilbao, Spain, has three children and realized that throwing discs is somewhat better than hitting a ball with a stick three years ago. Since then, he established himself known in disc golf community as a huge sport promoter as owner of Zona Disc Golf YouTube channel that specializes in content in Spanish language, growing the sport not only in Spain, but also in Latin America.
Qualification information for the 2023 European Open, a PDGA Major set for July 20-23 in Nokia, Finland, has been released.
New in 2023, 22 tournaments throughout Europe and the United States will serve a one of five qualification categories. Those categories also include previous winners, the top 10 MPO and top five FPO finishers from 2022 and special invitations.
In addition to the PCS Open, which will return to the DGPT schedule as an Elite Event, the Disc Golf Network will now produce full-scale live broadcasts at a majority of 2023 Euro Tour events. The events added are as follows.
Why would we set goals for ourselves and our farm that we can accomplish while we sleep?
Felix, Kasper, Lene and Stian Johnsen have undertaken quite an endeavor on their farm Lille Leland in the south in Norway. The family found disc golf in June 2020 and in February 2021 they bought 18 baskets and started designing and building a truly remarkable and one of a kind disc golf course.
Linus Carlsson with the obelisk at the European Open 2022 Opening Ceremony.
PDGA Europe is pleased to announce that Sweden’s Linus Carlsson and Estonia’s Kristin Tattar have won its prestigious PDGA Europe Player of the Year 2021 awards, based on their consistently stellar level of play throughout 2021.
The PDGA Europe Volunteer of the Year is an active PDGA Europe member who has worked hard for the sport and Disc Golf Community in Europe. The award is a symbol of recognition for all the European volunteers. Congratulations to the five individuals nominated for PDGA Europe Volunteer Of The Year 2021. Unfortunately, there is only one winner. The five individuals nominated are as follows:
Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Members of PDGA Europe ry will be held on Tuesday, the 13th, September, 2022 at 18:00 UK (CET 19:00) at Valimotie 10, Helsinki, Finland. You can participate in the Annual General Meeting remotely via Microsoft Teams.
Registration is required for the Annual General Meeting via the link below:
The votes have been counted for the 2022 PDGA Elections. The elections took place through the month of July with 108,004 ballots sent to eligible PDGA members. Of those, 19,182 ballots were returned, surpassing 2021’s total of 89,986 eligible members and 18,265 ballots cast. That is a participation mark of 17.76%.
