Kalle Vainikka was recently named the new PDGA Europe Administrator. Photo: Annett Dufvelin
It’s always been about growth and building, both professionally and in disc golf, for Kalle Vainikka.
After working in the construction industry and jumping into disc golf full steam, Vainikka will combine those passions as the new PDGA Europe Administrator, an opportunity he sees to help further push the rapid growth of disc golf in Europe.
Gregg Barsby putts during the 2018 Sula Open. Photo: PA Maseidvag
Gregg Barsby found himself looking over the vast fjords on the western coast of Norway, a beautiful disc golf course and a disc golf hungry community behind him.
A destination and experience that is second to none.
“You take a second to look around and realize where you are in the world and what you’re doing,” Barsby said. “At Sula, the water is right there, the mountains, the cliffs – everything. On a clear day when the water is calm, it’s a mirror effect.
“You just have to see it for yourself.”
In 2021, the entire world will get to see what Norway and European disc golf has to offer.
Philo Brathwaite plucks an ace from the basket at the Drava Forester. The spring iteration of the tournament will kick off the 2020 Euro Tour in April. Photo: Drava Forester
With six events spanning from April to July, the 2020 Euro Tour is set to put the height of European disc golf on display. From venerable, long-established events in Scandinavia to up-and-coming tournaments in the Baltics – and plenty in between – it’s set to be a wild ride that will feature several hotbeds of the sport.
Maxime Tanghe tees off at the Creeksea Classic while Blær Örn Ásgeirsson (left) and Tony Ferro (second from right) look on. Photo: PDGA Europe
If you want a succinct summary of last weekend’s Creeksea Classic in Burnham on Crouch, England, look no further than this comment from competitor Tony Ferro: “Everyone came to play this weekend, and the course conditions were perfect for it.”
Henna Blomroos, shown here during the 2019 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships, closed out her season with a victory at the EuroTour's Nokia Open. Photo: Alyssa Van Lanen
If disc golf fans know anything about Nokia, Finland, other than its connection to cell phones, it’s that it’s home to one of the most famous courses in the sport. That course, The Beast, is mostly thought of as the challenge awaiting contenders at the prestigious European Open. But last weekend The Beast roared back to life—with some slight modifications—to play host to the penultimate EuroTour event of the season: the Nokia Open.
Paige Pierce soared to her second career European Open title this weekend in Nokia, Finland. Photo: Tomi Mäkipää
NOKIA, Finland—After a perfect drive on hole 4 Sunday at The Beast, Paige Pierce found herself in difficulty: She followed up by yanking her upshot a little right, then bumped a tree and fell into circle 2 on a dangerously sloping green. Despite having a lead in the double digits, she stared down her line with intensity and then launched her putter with a slight anhyzer around a tree into the heart of the chains.
Pierce’s caddie, Tina Oakley, shook her head incredulously and smiled. “She didn’t even need that,” Oakley said. “She just wanted it.”
After three rounds, Paige Pierce has a commanding lead at the European Open. Photo: Jari Mäki-Kuutti
NOKIA, Finland—There was a moment in round three of the European Open on the Open Women’s lead card that seemed emblematic of the fates of all Paige Pierce’s competitors at the PDGA Major. Finn Henna Blomroos had laid up to just a few meters from the basket for an easy par on the 94-meter, (308-foot) par-3 6th. Her putt hit so perfectly, the gallery was already clapping.
Paige Pierce (right) assesses her lie during round two of the European Open. Photo: Tomi Mäkipää
NOKIA, Finland—Holes 4 and 5 of The Beast hit Texan Paige Pierce hard during round two of the European Open. On 4, a wooded, 155-meter par-4, her driving putter wedged in a tree in the shape of a taco. From there, the hole snowballed to a double bogey. She then three-putted on 5, causing a drive into circle 1 to quickly devolve from birdie to bogey.
Paige Pierce drove her way to the top of the leaderboard Thursday at the European Open. Photo: Tomi Mäkipää
NOKIA, Finland—Though she’s now leading the Open Women’s division after round one of the storied European Open, on Wednesday Paige Pierce was just happy to make it here for her Presidents Cup tee time.
Kevin Jones took home the win in his first European tournament. Photo: PDGA Europe
With Estonia just a hop, skip, and a ferry ride away from Finland, the seventh EuroTour event of the season, the Estonian Open, offered the perfect warm-up for this week’s PDGA Major, the European Open. And if the action in Estonia was a harbinger of what’s to come, we’re in for some exciting rounds in Nokia.
One week after withdrawing from the Ledgestone Insurance Open with a shoulder injury, Eagle McMahon hopped across the pond for a win at the Tyyni. Photo: Marika Salmi | Natural Born Disc Golfer
Going into the final round of an A-tier with just a one-stroke lead over three players and another five players lurking two behind would make most leaders edgy, to say the least. But whether it was the festive atmosphere of Europe’s largest-ever event (second-largest in the world this year with 958 registered players), his vacation mindset pre-European Open, or a mixture of both, nerves weren’t a factor for Eagle McMahon during the final round of the Tyyni.
A triumphant Jenni Eskelinen celebrates her Tynni victory. Photo: Marika Salmi | Natural Born Disc Golfer
Before play began at last weekend’s Tyyni near Helsinki, Finland, most people following European disc golf this year would have told you that their hands-down favorite to win the Open Women’s division was Estonian Kristin Tattar. Case in point: In UDisc’s Grip6 Pick6 contest, a game where you pick six players you think will be closest to the lead in their respective divisions, Tattar was picked by 70% of the almost 2,000 participants -- over 800 more than the female competitor with next-highest total.
Tony Ferro, shown here at the Bluebell Woods Open, has his sights set higher after a win at the Quarry Park Open. Photo: PDGA Europe
Established in 1994, Quarry Park is one of the oldest disc golf courses in England. A private venue owned by Derek Robins, it is a place that last weekend’s Quarry Park Open (EuroTour #5) winner Tony Ferro said “is filled with just about everything a disc golf course could have: open shots, wooded holes, elevation changes, and water hazards.”
Like the course, Ferro—a native of the U.S. who now lives in Switzerland—had everything he needed to be great on Saturday and Sunday.
974-rated Juhani Vainio was confident in his abilities, and that paid off as he emerged with a victory at Norway's Sula Open. Photo: PDGA Europe
According to PDGA Europe Tour Manager Matěj Verl, the end of the Sula Open in Langevåg, Norway, the fourth EuroTour event of the season, was “absolutely incredible.”
“I have never seen such a battle,” he said. “There could be a whole book written about what happened here.”
While we’re still working on lining up a publisher, there’s no doubt that there was more than enough action at the highly scenic and challenging Vasset DiscGolfPark, where all three rounds of Sula took place, to pique any disc golf fan’s interest.
Håkon Kveseth took down his second victory of 2019 at Denmark's Kokkedal Open. Photo: Brian Munk Jacobsen
The Kokkedal Open boasted the 2019 EuroTour season’s strongest Open field yet, with nine players rated above 1000 making starts, including Danish legend KJ Nybo. But it wasn’t Nybo—or any member of the four-digit club, for that matter—who walked away from the event with the win.
That honor went to 996-rated Norwegian Håkon Kveseth.
Kristin Tattar has played over her rating for all of 2019. Photo: Brian Munk Jacobsen
Before last weekend’s third EuroTour event, Denmark’s Kokkedal Open, Estonian Kristin Tattar had won the previous two stops on the circuit by margins of 18 and 26 strokes. The weekend before Kokkedal, she earned a victory over both Eveliina Salonen and Henna Blomroos -- the only two European women rated higher than her -- at the Prodigy Disc Pro Tour 2019 - Helsinki.
At Kokkedal, Tattar showed no signs of slowing down.
Since the inaugural PDGA Europe Board of Directors elections were held 2 years ago, PDGA Europe has been going through the process of formation as our association’s legal and largely self-governing continental body for Europe. In recent months registration as a nonprofit in Finland has been completed and our first permanent staff persons have been hired and trained. Now it is time to move PDGA Europe forward by envisioning, building and managing activities that have the overriding aim of growing disc golf into the future, in concert with our individual members, sanctioned events, and national association partners across Europe.
German Antonia Faber's tennis background has translated to the course. Courtesy photo
Often, athletes remember their first time playing their chosen sport as a revelation, as if it showed them that they were hardwired to love the game. But that’s not how Antonia Faber, a lefty who’s Germany’s highest rated female player and Europe’s seventh highest, described her first impression of disc golf.
When her husband dragged her out to a course in their hometown of Potsdam, Germany, in 2013, she was underwhelmed.
“I didn’t like it in the beginning,” Faber said. “It was too slow.”
Another weekend, another dominant showing for Kristin Tattar. Photo: PDGA Europe
The only suspense left in the Open Women’s division heading into the final round of the Bluebell Woods Open in Dunbar, Scotland, was exactly how much Kristin Tattar would take it by.
Finland's Tapani Aulu is the first in a series of European players to get to know. Courtesy photo
As the disc golf community continues to grow at a rapid pace, it’s becoming harder and harder to keep up with the people making names for themselves worldwide. Part of this is because the majority of media output focuses on players who live in North America or often make the trip there.
PDGA Europe is pleased to announce that Finland’s Seppo Paju and Estonia’s Kristin Tattar have won its prestigious 2018 PDGA Europe Player of the Year awards, both for the first time ever, based on their consistently stellar level of play throughout 2018.
Eveliina Salonen won her first PDGA Major in 2018 at the Konopiště Open. Photo: Eino Ansio
The Las Vegas Challenge and Memorial Championship are the first Elite Series tournaments of the 2019 season, and 952-rated Finn Eveliina Salonen will hop across the pond to compete in both. If you don’t know why you should be excited by that, here are a few of the accomplishments the 19-year-old added to her resume in 2018:
Newly elected PDGA Europe Board of Directors President, Kajsa Wickstrom, speaking at the European Disc Golf Championships.
During PDGA Europe's latest Board of Directors teleconference, held October 24th, 2017, the current PDGA Europe Board members voted for its officer positions. Each Board of Directors has its President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer to define roles and responsibilities within the governance structure, and in communicating with the outside world.
