2023 USWDGC Recap: Kristin Tattar Takes the Throne

Tattar
completes
the
single
season
grand
slam

September
26,
2023
by


Kingsley
Flett
in

Analysis,

Recap
with
comments

A
great
victory
needs
a
great
opponent.
In
her
triumph
in
the
2023
United
States
Women’s
Disc
Golf
Championship
at
Cedarock
Park
near
Burlington,
North
Carolina,
this
past
week,

Kristin
Tattar
had
several.
But
in
the
end,
she
claimed
her
fifth
straight
major
championship,
an
FPO
record,
while
becoming
the
first
FPO
player
ever
to
sweep
the
Majors
in
a
single
season.¹

Over
the
closing
stages,
it
was

Ohn
Scoggins
giving
Kristin
no
room
to
breathe.
On
her
way
to
shooting
a
course
record
for
the
new
Regulator
layout
with
an
eight-under-par,
provisionally
1008-rated
61,
Scoggins
birdied
11
holes
to
keep
within
2
strokes
of
Tattar
for
much
of
the
back
nine.
But
on
hole
16,
Scoggins’
tired
and
sore
arm
pulled
her
backhand
upshot
wide:
the
disc
clipped
a
tree
and
dropped
well
outside
circle
two.
The
prospect
of
running
the
elevated
basket
from
this
distance
was
too
much
for
even
Scoggins
and
her
deadly
putting,
so
she
laid
up,
effectively
conceding
the
win
and
deciding
to
protect
second
place.
Scoggins’
bogey
in
turn
allowed
Tattar
to
lay
up
for
par
and
a
four
stroke
lead
with
two
holes
to
play.

When
Kristin
parked
the
shot
across
the
water
next
to
hole
17’s
basket,
there
remained
just
a
tap
in
before
the
long
walk
to
tee
18
and
her
appointment
with
destiny.
A
slight
misfire
off
the
final
tee
didn’t
matter.
Tattar
was
able
to
play
out
the
hole
for
par,
hoist
the
USWDGC
trophy
for
the
second
time
and
complete
the
grand
slam
of
winning
all
four
major
events
in
a
single
season
and
the
last
five
that
she
has
contested.

“It’s
amazing,”
a
relieved
and
tired
Tattar
said
afterwards.
“I
wrote
down
in
one
of
my
notebooks
that
I
want
to
win
all
majors
in
2023.
I
can’t
believe
it
happened
because
the
competition
is
so
tight,
and
these
ladies
are
keeping
me
on
my
toes,
so
it’s
an
incredible
achievement
that
I’ve
managed
to
pull
off.”

75
hours
earlier,
though,
the
prospect
of
a
win
for
Tattar
looked
a
long
way
off.
Kristin’s
first
opponent
seemed
to
be
the
course
and
her
own
form.
After
shooting
three
over
par
in
the
first
four
holes
of
the
tournament,
Tattar
was
tied
for
44th
place
and
well
off
the
early
pace
of

Hailey
King,

Henna
Blomroos,
and
Missy
Gannon.
It
wasn’t
until
an
uphill
putt
from
40
feet
on
hole
7
that
Tattar
was
able
to
put
a
tourniquet
on
the
bleeding. 
That
par
save
was
followed
by
a
run
of
five
birdies
in
a
row
that
saw
her
climb
back
up
to
a
share
of
seventh
place
by
the
end
of
the
round.

“The
course
was
a
little
bit
difficult
and
showed
me
its
teeth,”
sad
Tattar
following
her
win.
“But
I
knew
that
even
if
everything
is
not
going
my
way,
I
can
still
battle
through
and
give
my
100
percent
and
that’s
all
I
can
do.”

The
new
Regulator
layout
that
had
been
developed
for
the
tournament
drew
plenty
of
praise.
The
8750-foot,
par-69
track
seemed
well
tuned
to
the
abilities
of
the
pro
FPO
field,
testing
a
wide
variety
of
shot
making
while
not
allowing
the
specific
strengths
of
any
particular
player
to
dominate.
“I
love
how
uncomfortable
this
course
makes
every
single
player,”
said
DGN
commentator
Brian
Earhart.

“We
gave
Lance
Brown
the
map
and
the
pen,”
said
tournament
director
Chuck
Connelly.
“The
man
has
a
creative
eye
for
course
design
and
a
very
good
eye
for
variety.
Then
Jacob
Wade
and
myself
worked
with
him
once
he
came
out
with
the
basic
design.
This
course
was
designed
by
a
committee
of
three
to
give
balance
and
fairness.”

George
R.R.
Martin,
the
author
of
the
Game
of
Thrones
books,
regularly
killed
off
favorite
characters
in
shocking
and
gory
fashion.
He
was
inspired
by
watching
MacGyver
on
TV,
seeing
how
he
and
his
Swiss
army
knife
would
always
win
the
day.
Martin
felt
that
this
predictability
reduced
the
tension
that
kept
people
reading
(and
watching)
–
he
didn’t
like
it
when
the
audience
got
to
relax.
It
is
unknown
whether
Brown,
Connelly,
and
Wade
are
Game
of
Thrones
fans,
but
their
course
design
had
the
same
effect,
never
allowing
anyone
to
feel
truly
safe,
even
with
a
four
throw
lead
and
one
hole
left
in
the
round.

There
are
plenty
of
holes
in
disc
golf
that
can
ruin
your
round.
But
one
more
level
up
the
scale
of
terror
are
holes
that
can
ruin
your
whole
tournament.
Such
holes
are
rarer,
with
hole
17
at
Winthrop
and
hole
16
on
The
Beast
in
Nokia
coming
to
mind.
There
are
no
haybales
to
contend
with
on
hole
3
on
The
Regulator,
but
hitting
an
early
tree
forces
a
perilous
pitch
out
and
then
three
or
four
great
shots
to
have
a
hope
of
making
the
green.
Two
out
of
the
lead
card
in
round
two
were
bitten
hard
by
this
hole,
with
Holly
Finley’s
9
dropping
her
back
down
to
a
position
from
which
she
never
recovered
and
Hailey
King’s
8
forcing
her
to
claw
her
way
back
into
contention
before
a
double
bogey
on
hole
16
dropped
her
to
a
share
of
sixth
place.

Henna
Blomroos
also
found
trouble
early
in
round
two
before
throwing
an
eagle
on
hole
6
and
then
shooting
six-under-par
for
the
rest
of
the
round
to
claim
the
lead.
Tattar,
who
last
missed
a
major
lead
card
at
the
2021
Worlds
and
coming
off
the
third
card
this
time,
found
trouble
early
with
a
double
bogey
on
hole
4.
But
Kristin
kept
her
card
clean
after
that
and
added
six
birdies
to
shoot
the
hot
round
for
day
2
and
settle
in
to
second
place,
two
strokes
back
from
Blomroos.

Blomroos
was
asked
if
she
was
discouraged
or
disappointed
with
her
slow
start
in
round
two.
“Yes,
of
course,”
she
said.
“It
felt
impossible
to
throw
today.
But
I’m
happy
that
I
didn’t
give
up
and
I
kept
going.
Nothing
changed
on
the
back
nine.
I
just
hit
my
lines
barely
better
than
the
front
nine
and
that’s
the
key
here.”

“It
has
felt
like
such
a
struggle
for
me
for
some
reason,”
said
Tattar
after
round
two.
“I
feel
like
I
don’t
have
the
right
mindset
or
focus.
Something
feels
off.
Coming
into
today
I
told
myself
to
turn
things
around
but
then
I
took
a
double
bogey
again
and
it
felt
like
the
same
struggles
as
I
had
yesterday.
I
was
a
little
bit
grumpy
on
the
course,
I’ll
admit.
But
I’m
here
and
I’m
playing
and
I’m
not
going
to
quit,
so
I
might
as
well
try
my
best.”

Round
three
was
played
in
almost
constant
rain
which
tested
the
drainage
of
the
new
course
and
the
mental
strength
of
the
players
as
conditions
underfoot
became
treacherous.
Blomroos
and
Tattar
distanced
themselves
from
the
field
and
engaged
in
an
absorbing
battle,
with
Kristin
barely
hanging
on
as
Henna’s
accurate
and
powerful
drives
began
to
take
over.
While
other
players
were
slipping
in
the
wet
and
struggling
to
stay
in
bounds,
Blomroos
was
the
only
one
to
keep
a
clean
sheet
and
was
beginning
to
exude
the
confidence
of
a
player
who
was
putting
some
of
her
inconsistency
behind
her.
By
hole
11,
Blomroos
had
increased
her
lead
over
Tattar
to
three
strokes.
Tattar
reduced
that
lead
to
two
strokes
with
a
birdie
on
hole
16,
and
it
looked
like
the
two
Europeans
would
be
going
into
championship
Sunday
with
the
same
two
stroke
gap
that
they’d
started
the
day
with.

Then
came
the
devastating
turn
of
events
on
hole
18
that
rattled
everyone’s
nerves
and
made
it
seem
that
no
lead
would
be
safe
on
this
course
until
the
final
putt
dropped.
Blomroos’
consistent
driving
up
to
that
point
let
her
down
and
she
threw
straight
into
first
tree
just
to
the
left
of
the
teepad.
Henna
then
pitched
out
to
the
fairway,
but
her
third
shot
hit
a
tree
guarding
the
right
side
of
the
crucial
gap
onto
the
second
fairway
and
kicked
left.
Obviously
shaken,
Henna
then
misplayed
from
behind
a
disc
that
she
had
placed
on
the
ground.
After
taking
the
one
throw
penalty
and
pitching
out,
Blomroos’
score
of
8
turned
her
two
throw
lead
into
a
two
throw
deficit
heading
into
the
final
round.

“You
never
want
to
win
against
someone
who
is
not
playing
well,”
Tattar
reflected
afterwards.
“You
always
want
to
play
your
best
and
you
expect
other
players
to
also
do
their
best.
So
of
course,
it
was
hard
to
see
[Henna]
struggling.”

Tattar’s
battle
with
the
front
nine
continued
in
the
final
round.
All
of
the
bogeys
except
for
one
on
Kristin’s
scorecards
for
the
weekend
came
in
the
front
half
of
the
course.

Bogeys
on
holes
1
and
5
erased
her
lead
over
Blomroos,
who
had
appeared
to
rebound
well
from
the
previous
evening’s
disaster.
It
could
have
been
worse
for
Tattar,
but
for
an
almost
miraculous
scramble
on
hole
2,
where
she
had
kicked
so
far
deep
and
right
after
hitting
an
early
tree
that
most
were
doubting
her
ability
to
even
save
bogey
from
the
lie.
She
threaded
a
forehand
uphill
through
a
gap
that
only
she
could
see
to
land
at
circle’s
edge
and
save
her
par.
Again
on
hole
7,
Tattar
played
both
her
drive
and
second
shot
through
the
rough
on
the
left
side
of
the
fairway
before
shaping
a
high,
hyzer
forehand
through
a
seemingly
invisible
gap,
to
land
16
feet
from
the
pin.

The
turning
point
in
Tattar’s
battle
with
Blomroos
was
on
hole
9.
As
she
had
for
most
of
the
first
half
of
the
round,
Tattar
again
misfired
slightly
off
the
tee,
pulling
her
forehand
to
the
right.
But
the
disc
found
a
gap
between
two
trees
and
landed
inside
16
feet.
“From
my
perspective
it
was
a
little
bit
of
a
lucky
shot,”
Tattar
said
afterwards. 
Then
the
demons
of
the
2022
World
Championships
final
round,
holes
9
and
10,
visited
Henna
again.
Blomroos,
after
missing
her
birdie
bid
from
circles
edge,
inexplicably
missed
the
12
foot
comebacker.
Suddenly
Tattar’s
lead
was
two
strokes
again
and
nobody
was
able
to
get
any
closer.
Blomroos
missed
three
more
circle-one
putts
over
the
next
six
holes
to
fade
from
contention
and
eventually
into
third
place
as
Scoggins
began
her
birdie
run.

“Coming
into
the
final
round
I
felt
like
I’m
not
on
top
of
my
game,”
said
Tattar
afterwards.
“That
I’m
not
playing
the
level
that
I’ve
been
playing
before,
but
I
just
kept
telling
myself
to
not
count
myself
out
of
the
game.
Even
if
you
are
struggling,
even
if
you
are
scrambling,
just
keep
going.
I
mean
I
was
not
hitting
fairways
at
times.
It
felt
awful
and
it
felt
like
I
don’t
know
how
to
play
disc
golf,
because
my
shots
were
all
over
the
place.
But
I
was
like
‘OK,
now
I’m
here,
what
can
I
do
to
fix
this.’
I
just
kept
my
eyes
forward
and
just
kept
going.
Not
giving
up.
It
just
proves
how
incredible
our
capabilities
are.
How
only
the
sky
is
the
limit.
It
only
encourages
me
to
dream
even
bigger
and
I
hope
it
shows
to
everyone
else
that
anything
is
possible.”

If
our
sport
overall
now
has
a
figurehead,
then
that
person
is
Kristin
Tattar.
The
ages
of
Paul
McBeth,
Paige
Pierce,
and
Ricky
Wysocki
are
temporarily
suspended,
if
not
over.
Disc
golf,
at
the
moment,
has
one
ruler,
and
the
crown
sits
well.

Original source