By Charlie Mead · Disc Golf Hall of Famer · INDIGO Foundation
Guest commentary written October 5, 2026. Republished with permission.
Qualification, Doubles, Distance, Huge Vendor Village, Food and Drink, Fresh and Now – Bands in the Fan Tent, Children and Young People’s activities; what more do you want – or need!
It is always a privilege and a joy to arrive in Rock Hill with the expectation of another ground breaking USDGC to look forward to. This year there is even more packed into the next seven days – there will be enough to keep the most avid, and fittest of fans engaged. Apart from the play, Fresh and Now have produced another series of great bands every evening in the Fan Tent. Can’t wait for Dangermuffin – but there’s all sorts going on the stage this week – including the Induction of the five new members of the World Disc Golf Hall of Fame on Friday. In case you didn’t get the memo, this includes your own Jonathan Poole – TD for every USDGC since it started – way back……be there for that!
Doubles, Distance Competitions and Monday Qualification for USDGC and Throw Pink are all done. And though the main events don’t start until Thursday, if this was a taster of what is to come it is going to be a hot week. Expect updates, surprises and playoffs; excited and exciting young players; disappointed individuals who just missed the cut; media stars taking to the field for the first time in a while; and shoot outs in the distance event. In our series of reports on this year’s event we will write separate issues for USDGC and Throw Pink competitors so readers can choose which event they want to catch up on. It also helps keep the length of the reports to a manageable level of readability! Today we will cover men and women’s events together – just to give a flavour of what is to come.
Doubles
The USDGC Doubles event ran from Friday to Sunday Oct 4. An Amateur event it gives players a chance to experience the Winthrop University Course as well as Winthrop Meadows, Westminster and Camp Canaan courses. Six divisions play and teams are selected from Club and regular League matches in MA1, MA2 and MA40 for the men and FA1, FA2 and FA40 for the women.
“The USDGC Doubles Qualifier Series has always been about giving amateur players a chance to experience the excitement and prestige of the USDGC stage,” said Event Co-Director, Dave George. “By expanding our divisions and adjusting qualification thresholds, we’re making sure even more players have that opportunity in 2026.”
Past winners have included MJ Gager who won it twice with partner Aubrey Terry. Given she is only 15 now you can work out how young she was – and how good. In the Men’s event Ryan Monn (2023) and Sullivan Tipton (2020) have taken home a trophy each.
This year Justin Istre and Hampton Kirby beat Holt Whitted and Nolan Peterson in a play off to take the MA1 Doubles Championship – this was a South Carolina v North Carolina head to head. Christian Scroggins and Jacob Hartzel took the MA2 trophy and in another play off, Stephen Battise and Gene Joiner beat Scott and Hall to finish a very satisfying weekend.
In the FA1, Karlee Perkins and Clara Watson shot a nine down to come from 3 back to win by 2 from Ashley Pickett and Virginia Polkinghorne. Lauren Reinshuttle and Susan Koolthong led all three rounds to the end in FA2 and Janae Chaney and Caley Allen overcame a three shot deficit going into the final to win by 6 over Sara Widboom and Aimee Whitmore.
Monday Qualifiers….USDGC
And this is where the pain starts. The earlier in the day you played, the tougher the wind. There were only 5 places up for grabs – out of 104 hopefuls. It was a matter of temperament over skill at times. Scores flourished and died; early leads were lost (mainly on the par 5 fifth) which saw scores of 4 to 10 – it averaged 1.3 above its par and must have been disheartening to all who knew they would not be able to claw back a 4 or 5 over score on that one hole. Hole 3 was the hardest – it only gave up one birdie all day, to Jakub Semerad – who was one of the three qualifiers who shot minus 4 to play on Thursday.
The other two were Danny Beauchamp and Greg Barsby (a long time favourite of ours). Should PDGA World Champions have to qualify for USDGC? Discuss over a beer/wine or two! Danny disproved the rule of hopelessness after Hole 5 – he shot a 9 there – and went on to hit 10 birdies and a double bogie on #13. That is more than deserving of a place in the field later in the week.
Harper Thomson came in with a score of Even par – and also qualified, which left one place left. From the four players who tied on +1. Seppo Paju will be ruing his 7 on #17 – he was leading with Barsby with just three to go. So off to a play off he went with Zach Arlinghaus, Connor O’Reilly and Matt Thompson. Holes 1, 17 and 18 on a loop. Seppo went out first, then Connor – Matt and Zach went onto Hole 1 for the second circuit – where Zach birdied and took the final place in qualification.
The Throw Pink round was simpler. There were only two places available in the women’s field from 17 potential qualifiers. There was confusion for a while as players worked out that Anniken Steen did not need to qualify and was using the round as a way to practice. Fortunately, Therese Cuevas knew the score, literally, and though she started early and had to wait until the field had finished, she qualified for the second year running with an even round.
Ann Deputy finished first with minus 2. Which brings us nicely to a future piece we will be writing this week. The surge in the number of young women under 18 who have qualified (Ann is 17) and who have played on the tour this year and are making their mark. There are at least 9 of them playing at Throw Pink. There may be more but it is ungentlemanly for an old man to go round asking women their age? Especially if they look under 18! So if you happen to be 18 or under please let me know – I may have left you out. You need to double guess who the nine may be!
So, qualification is over – where next ?
Distance
No apologies for leaving the distance report until last. This was engaging, engrossing, entertaining and extremely tense. The MPO final could not have been a better advert for including other events in the USDGC pantheon.
The FPO competition was fun to watch – Henna Blomroos and Eva Lutsenko pulled well but Eliezra Midtlyng did what she does best and won with a throw of 480ft. Given she only won by 3 feet from Henna – and all three women were within 9 feet of each other – (471’, 477’ and 480’) as we shall see in the Mens event – small margins make all the difference.
There was qualifying for a six man final. Rasmus Saukkoriipi from Finland made it into the final 6 by a few feet. The other 5 qualifiers were David Wiggins, Gannon Burh, Anthony Barela, Thomas Gilbert and Austin Turner – the only leftie in the field.
They threw in the final in reverse order – with Rasmus throwing first. His second throw of five beat his first round throw by nearly 50ft at 673’. The wind was dropping and swirling – and then disappeared apart from a few gusts. And none of the others could match Rasmus’s throw. He had to wait. He just practised his putting – and waited. Wiggins threw last – and had four average throws for him, World Distance record holder that he is. He had one last attempt – and threw 673’.
Another playoff – three discs each. Measured after each throw. There was an increasing number in the crowd (great mic work by Brain Mace as always, kept us focussed and informed) – and the show went on.
Rasmus 1 – OB. David 1 – 516.
Rasmus 2 – 476. David 2 – OB.
Rasmus 3 – 652. David 3 – 640.
Rasmus wins – Never, ever, give up. Never think you can’t – because you can. Even against World Champions….
A great day – accolades to all the staff and volunteers already out here spotting, marking, building….and so it will go on.
Hope to see many of you out here this week – or sharing what we have on your TV, feeds and platforms. Enjoy.
Charlie Mead · INDIGO Foundation · October 5, 2026
