It’s time for The Open at Austin sponsored by Lone Star Discs (Formerly the Open at Belton in 2022) and boy are we ready for another exciting disc golf tournament in Texas! With a minimum combined $75,000 purse on the line, the players are looking to battle it out on the new course for this DGPT Elite Series.
Location – Harvey Penick Golf Course (temp disc golf course)
Date – Friday, March 17th through Sunday, March 19th.
Weather Conditions – Friday: 55 F high with small showers in the morning, Saturday 53 and overcast, and Sunday 55 and overcast.
Tournament Changes – formerly a Silver Series event, the tournament has moved on from Belton to Austin as an Elite Series event. What’s that mean? Bigger crowds, more press and more money for the disc golf players at The Open at Austin. Not to mention that an Elite Series event gets your 50% more points than a Silver Series. The course at Austin is a temporary par 61 with 8727 ft of disc golf course to cover!
Players
There’s a lot of player’s for this event (116 in the MPO) so we’ve broken down the field into who we think has the best shot at taking the MPO tournament down this weekend.
Ricky Wysocki – Two-time winner of the Open disc golf tournament placed 2nd at the Open at Belton last year, one spot behind the freshly Discraft sponsored Chris Dickerson. Ricky is usually a favorite for any Texas disc golf tournament, with wins at Texas States in 2022, 2021 and 2019 recently, but Wysocki is yet to play a tournament this year. His wrist injury held him from playing LVC and Waco. Will he struggle to play well at this course because of the injury?
Chris Dickerson – Last year’s Open at Austin champ, Dickerson will look to get his season going and defend his title. Finishing with a meager 22nd at the Waco Charity Open last weekend, this course may be more well suited to Dickerson’s long range, accurate backhand dominate disc golf game.
Paul Mcbeth – With two subpar finishes in 2023 so far (at least for Mcbeth’s game) Paul will try and get his Discraft Forces, Athenas and Lunas on the fairway and out of the deadly OB sand traps and rough sidelines. While Mcbeast is never happy playing disc golf courses on actual repurposed golf courses, he does have some success with a win at World’s in 2022 (half played on a repurposed golf course in Emporia.) Let’s also not forget Mcbeth is always in the mix in Texas, placing second at the Open at Belton for the last two years. With Wysocki potentially nursing an injury, could Mcbeth take the win this year?
Calvin Heimburg – Heimburg has turned into a robot in every sense of the word – his monotone, dry cut candor on the course, his robot design marketing campaigns and his ability to somehow always be in the hunt at a disc golf tournament if he isn’t winning. Heimburg has won this year already, putting him in definite contention for this years Open at Austin disc golf tournament. The course is long and touchy, so as long as Heimburg’s putts are working, he should end up in the top 10 or top 5 without a question.
Ezra Aderhold – With the disappointing WACO finish behind him (hopefully) Aderhold already has a podium finish on a repurposed golf course turned disc golf course at LVC. With long drives and the ability to catch fire from circle 2, Ezra should be a major contender for this year Open at Austin.
Eagle McMahon – With over $250,000 tour winnings in his pocket to date, Eagle has proven he’s here for the long haul. With a win notched at Goat Hill (repurposed golf course) already this year and 13th at LVC (a tournament he was in contention for until the final day) Eagle might just find himself in contention for the Open at Austin if his Cloudbreakers and Tactics can find themselves near the baskets.
Simon Lizotte – Simon Lizotte is an enigma on the disc golf course. Ask any disc golf group on the course who their favorite player is and at least one person will mention, Simon Lizotte. Perhaps it’s because his wins are so intense, almost always coming down to the wire (Think Portland against Double G, think MVP against Corey Ellis, think Des Moines against Burridge) Lizotte plays his best when there’s pressure. While many may doubt his abilities this year with the new discs and his historically poor performance at Waco (47th this year and 60th in 2022) Lizotte did play out of his mind at the All Star Event singles (repurposed golf course turned disc golf course – are we seeing a trend here yet?) We’re giving Lizotte our dark horse pick.
Kyle Klein – An easy pick for this years Open at Austin, Klein is coming fresh off a win at Waco and placed 5th at last year’s event in Belton.
Anthony Barela – How far can he throw the Venom? Barela has already notched a win this year and a close 2nd place finish as well. The long armed thrower tends to play well in events where most of the idea is to get the disc moving along the course as far as you can.