All Open Women Disc Golf World Champions & Most Top 5s

From 1975-1981, the disc golf portion of the World Frisbee Championship, which featured a variety of disc sports, was considered the de-facto world championship for the sport. The player who won the women's division in disc golf at the WFC was therefore the world champion.

In 1982, the first-ever world championship devoted solely to disc golf took place in California: the inaugural Professional Disc Golf Association Disc Golf World Championship. That first championship didn't feature a protected women's division, however, and, unsurprisingly, no women competed in it.

The next year, the event did include a protected women's division, making the 1983 PDGA Disc Golf World Championships the first time there was ever an event dedicated only to disc golf that awarded a world title to a woman. The professional women's division (Open Women or FPO) has been part of the event ever since.

Though disc golf's Worlds (as it's commonly called) is a roving event that's only taken place in the same city in successive years one time in its history and the totals of rounds and courses players have been asked to play have fluctuated widely, the prestige its winners have earned has been constant. Those with a win at Worlds are forever etched into disc golf history.

Below you can find a table noting every pro Worlds winner in the Open Women division along with how much money they earned, who they beat and by how many strokes, what city they won in, and more. We've included some of the most interesting things we noticed in the stats, too.

You can also take a look at which players have made the top five at Worlds most often, again with a few of our favorite takeaways included.

All Professional Disc Golf World Champions: FPO/Open Women

Here is the list of every FPO (AKA, Open Women) disc golf world champion ever¹:

Year	Winner	Win Margin	Host City	Rounds Played	Top Prize	Prize Adjusted	Second Place
2022	Kristin Tattar	8	Emporia, Kansas	5	$11,000	-	Henna Blomroos
2021	Catrina Allen	1	Ogden, Utah	5	$10,000	$10,905	Paige Pierce
2020	None. Didn't occur due to the pandemic.
2019	Paige Pierce	5	Peoria, Illinois	5	$5,000	$5,774	Eveliina Salonen
2018	Paige Shue (neė Bjerkaas)	6	Jeffersonville, Vermont	5	$5,000	$5,868	Paige Pierce
2017	Paige Pierce	5	Augusta, Georgia	4	$5,500	$6,652	Valarie Jenkins
2016	Valarie Jenkins	6	Emporia, Kansas	5.5	$5,000	$6,151	Catrina Allen
2015	Paige Pierce	1	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	6.5	$2,500	$3,108	Sarah Hokom
2014	Catrina Allen	2	Portland, Oregon	7.5	$2,250	$2,803	Paige Pierce
2013	Paige Pierce	1	Crown Point, Indiana	7.5	$2,000	$2,534	Valarie Jenkins
2012	Sarah Hokom	1	Charlotte, North Carolina	7.5	$2,000	$2,586	Valarie Jenkins
2011	Paige Pierce	3	Santa Cruz, California	5.5	$2,000	$2,616	Valarie Jenkins
2010	Sarah Cunningham (née Stanhope)	6	Crown Point, Indiana	7.5	$1,450	$1,971	Des Reading
2009	Valarie Jenkins	14	Kansas City, Missouri	7.5	$1,600	$2,201	Des Reading
2008	Valarie Jenkins	12	Kalamazoo / Battle Creek, Michigan	8.5	$1,650	$2,231	Des Reading
2007	Valarie Jenkins	5	Highbridge, Wisconsin	7.5	$1,800	$2,565	Des Reading
2006	Des Reading	9	Augusta, Georgia	7.5	$1,800	$2,616	Courtney Peavy
2005	Des Reading	18	Allentown, Pennsylvania	8.5	$1,750	$2,653	Juliana Korver
2004	Birgitta Lagerholm	2	Des Moines, Iowa	9.5	$1,400	$2,189	Des Reading
2003	Juliana Korver	11	Flagstaff, Arizona	8	$1,500	$2,407	Des Reading
2002	Des Reading	8	Houston, Texas	9.5	$1,500	$2,459	Juliana Korver
2001	Juliana Korver	7	St. Paul, Minnesota	8.5	$1,460	$2,437	Lesli Todd
2000	Juliana Korver	11	Ann Arbor, Michigan	7.5	$1,765	$3,026	Elaine King
1999	Juliana Korver	19	Rochester, New York	9.5	$850	$1,507	Elaine King
1998	Juliana Korver	13	Cincinatti, Ohio	8.5	$952	$1,726	Elaine King
1997	Elaine King	25	Charlotte, North Carolina	9.5	$1,015	$1,870	Anni Kreml
1996	Beth Tanner	4	South Bend, Indiana	9.5	$1,060	$1,997	Anni Kreml
1995	Becky Powell	1	Port Arthur, Texas	9.5	$650	$1,260	Anni Kreml
1994	Elaine King	15	Port Arthur, Texas	9.5	$800	$1,590	Amy Schiller (neė Bekken)
1993	Elaine King	16	Huntsville, Alabama	8.5	$751	$1,541	Chris O'Cleary
1992	Elaine King	11	Detroit, Michigan	9	$750	$1,577	Amye Jerez
1991	Elaine King	10	Dayton, Ohio	7	$775	$1,681	Susanne Giendl
1990	Amy Schiller (neė Bekken)	19	Scottsdale / Mesa / Fountain Hills, Arizona	9	$588	$1,305	Elaine King
1989	Chris O'Cleary	3	Waterloo / Cedar Falls, Iowa	5	$450	$1,070	Amy Schiller (neė Bekken)
1988	Chris O'Cleary	8	Cincinatti, Ohio	6	$930	$2,300	Elaine King
1987	Vanessa Chambers	1	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	6	$800	$2,072	Chris O'Cleary
1986	Vanessa Chambers	4	Charlotte, North Carolina	6	$415	$1,123	Roxanne Spencer
1985	Ramona Hale	6	Tulsa, Oklahoma	6	$500	$1,374	Vanessa Chambers
1984	Marie Jackson Elsner	6	Rochester, New York	5			Judy Horowitz
1983	Marie Jackson Elsner	2	Huntsville, Alabama	4			Vanessa Chambers

If you're wondering about all those half rounds, they're there because a "Final Nine" was once extremely common at disc golf world championships. They've fallen out of favor more recently, though.

In case you don't have the time to comb through the table for some of the biggest and/or most interesting takeaways, we've put together some of them for you below.

WINNERS & RUNNERS UP

• Who is the current women's disc golf world champion?
  Kristin Tattar
  
  
• Who has won the most women's disc golf world championships?
  Currently, three players are tied for the most disc golf world championships in Open Women. Elaine King, Juliana Korver, and Paige Pierce have all won the title five times. While all three players are still active, Pierce is both the most active and most likely to take over the top spot given that she is the youngest by many years and still dominant in the division.
  
  
• How many different women's disc golf world champions have there been?
  18 different players have won the Open Women's division at a pro disc golf Worlds. Nine players have won the event twice or more and eight are one-time champions.
  
  
• What is the largest margin of victory ever in the women's disc golf world championship?
  Elaine King's 25-stroke advantage over second-place Anni Kreml in 1997 is the largest margin of victory ever in Open Women at a disc golf world championship.
  
  
• What is the average margin of victory for the women's disc golf world championship?
  Historically, women's world champions often dominated their competition. The average win in Open Women has been by 7.1 strokes.
  
  Another interesting stat in this vein is that women champions have won by double digits a total of 13 times. That's only happened four times in Open.
  
  
• Who has the most second-place finishes in women's disc golf world championships?
  Des Reading finished in second at the world championships in Open Women a record six times. Reading wasn't always denied the top spot, though, and won the world title in 2002, 2005, and 2006. On a related note, Anni Kreml is the only player in Open Women to come in second at the world championships more than twice but have no world titles. She came in second three times.
  
  
• How many playoffs have there been for the women's disc golf world championship?
  None. The event has been decided by one stroke six different times, but there has never been a playoff for the women's disc golf world title.

MONEY MATTERS

• What is the most money anyone has ever won for the women's disc golf world championship?
  $11,000, which Kristin Tattar won in 2022.
  
  
• What is the all-time average for the top prize for women's disc golf world championships?
  Not adjusted for inflation, the top prizes over 39 iterations of the women's disc golf world championships average out to winners earning $2,082. Inflation considered, it comes to $2,625.
  
  
• Have those averages changed in recent years?
  Yes. The average payout to the women's disc golf world champion since 2016 has been $7,725 adjusted for inflation.
  
  
• How do changes to Open Women payouts compare to Open?
  Winners of Open Women have always earned less than winners of the Open division, and in 2022, the percentage of increase from the lowest-ever payout to the highest became almost the same in both divisions. Looking at numbers adjusted for inflation, the highest ever women's payout ($11,000) is 879% more than the lowest ($1,123). In Open, the inflation-adjusted highest ($20,000) is 877% more than the lowest ($2,047).

LOCATION

• Have the disc golf world championships ever been played outside the U.S.A.?
  In 1987, the disc golf world championships were played in Ontario, Canada. That's the only time.
  
  
• Which city has hosted the most professional disc golf world championships?
  Charlotte, North Carolina, has hosted three pro disc golf world championships, more than any other city.
  
  
• Has anyone not from North America ever won a women's disc golf world championship?
  Yes. In 2022, Kristin Tattar became the second European woman to win a Pro Disc Golf World Championship. The first was 2004 champion Birgitta Lagerholm of Sweden, who was the first person in Open Women or Open from outside North America to win pro Worlds.

The Top Women in Top 5 Finishes at Disc Golf World Championships

Even for those who don't win, getting on or near the podium at a world championship demonstrates elite skill. Knowing this made us wonder which professional women disc golfers had most consistently been at least among the best at world championships over the years.  

That's why we created a table of Open Women competitors who've made the top five at disc golf's Worlds more than twice:

These are some of the takeaways we found most interesting about these numbers:

• King is Queen.
  Elaine King leads the Open Women division in top five finishes by three. She's also competed in the top tier of her division at more world championships than any player in history: 28. We know we didn't put the top 10s here, but King actually placed in the top 10 at 24 of those 28 events. That's longevity if we've ever seen it.
• Vanessa Chambers leads 100% club.
  Six women have competed in more than two Worlds and made the top five every time they've competed. Two-time world champ Vanessa Chambers managed that feat through the most competitions. Chambers last competed in Worlds in 1989 before leaving her world championship days behind to start a family. That was her sixth straight Worlds and sixth straight top five showing. She was in the first group of disc golfers ever inducted into the Disc Golf Hall of Fame in 1993.
• Pierce leads active players.
  Pierce's 11 top fives at Worlds is the most of any actively touring FPO disc golfer.

We'll Keep You Posted

We plan to update this post as soon as the disc golf world championships take place each year, so keep it in a safe place if you'd like to find it again.

If you enjoy breakdowns of disc golf stats like this or are looking for great disc golf travel tips and stories, this blog has what you're looking for. Think about subscribing to our newsletter to make sure you always know what we've posted lately.

1. The information in our table of winners was taken whenever possible directly from PDGA event pages. On rare occasions, the information on those pages differs slightly from the information the PDGA has in its own overview of Worlds winners.