The 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament took place from Friday, March 17 to Sunday, March 19.
The tournament was a Disc Golf Pro Tour Elite Event and held in one of the United States' best disc golf cities. It was the successor to The Open at Belton, a DGPT Silver Event in 2021 and 2022.
A temporary disc golf course at Harvey Penick Golf Course hosted the 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament. It had never been seen before on the pro circuit.
Click or tap a section below to learn more about the 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament:
- How to watch the 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament live
- How to watch the 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament for free
- Tee times and live scores for the 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament
- Win probabilities for the 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament
- Who won the 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament?
- Previous winners of 'The Open'
- Background of the Open at Austin disc golf tournament
How to Watch the 2023 Open at Austin Disc Golf Tournament: Live
The first round of the 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament was broadcast live for free on the Disc Golf Pro Tour YouTube Channel. To watch archived live coverage of rounds two and three of the 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament, you need a paid subscription to the Disc Golf Network.
Unlike in previous years, final rounds of DGPT tournaments are not being streamed live for free on YouTube in 2023.
How to Watch the 2023 Open at Austin Disc Golf Tournament: Free, Condensed, Post-Produced
- JomezPro has free, condensed, post-produced coverage of both MPO and FPO lead cards for the 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament on its YouTube channel.
- Gatekeeper Media has free, condensed coverage of MPO chase cards for the 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament on its YouTube channel.
- Ace Run Pro has free, condensed coverage of FPO chase cards for the 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament on its YouTube channel.
Scores and Stats for the 2023 Open at Austin Disc Golf Tournament
You can find shot-by-shot scores and in-depth stats for every round of the 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament on UDisc Live for MPO and FPO.
2023 Open at Austin Disc Golf Tournament Win Probabilities
Prior to the start of the 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament, these are the players UDisc Live's pro disc golf Win Probability model gave at least a 2% chance to win in MPO and FPO:
| Win Probability Before Event | Player: MPO | Actual Finish |
Win Probability Before Event | Player: FPO | Actual Finish |
|
| 15% | Ricky Wysocki | DNF | 49% | Kristin Tattar | T5 | |
| 14% | Paul McBeth | T10 | 11% | Paige Pierce | 1 | |
| 11% | Calvin Heimburg | T3 | 10% | Catrina Allen | 2 | |
| 8% | Gannon Buhr | 1 | 6% | Ohn Scoggins | 15 | |
| 8% | Matthew Orum | T41 | 5% | Henna Blomroos | T9 | |
| 7% | Eagle McMahon | T6 | 4% | Valerie Mandujano | T19 | |
| 5% | Chris Dickerson | T19 | 4% | Missy Gannon | T3 | |
| 5% | Kyle Klein | T10 | 3% | Eveliina Salonen | T7 | |
| 2% | James Conrad | T59 | 3% | Holyn Handley | T5 | |
| 2% | Niklas Anttila | T30 | ||||
| 2% | Isaac Robinson | T25 | ||||
| 2% | Joel Freeman | T19 | ||||
| 2% | Simon Lizotte | 2 | ||||
| 2% | Kevin Jones | T16 | ||||
| 2% | Anthony Barela | T51 |
On mobile, swipe left/right to see all columns.
These percentages were created prior to the start of the event and changed dramatically as the event played out. To see how, check out Win Probability on UDisc Live.
Note that Win Probability doesn't always match up with Disc Golf World Ranking because Win Probability takes into account how players have historically performed on holes of specific distances and difficulty and compares that information just to holes they'll face at a single event. That means the probabilities above related to how players' historical performances suggested they'd do just at the 2023 Open at Austin whereas World Ranking is a broader assessment of past performance.
Who Won the 2023 Open at Austin Disc Golf Tournament?
Gannon Buhr (MPO, 22-under par) and Paige Pierce (FPO, 5-under par) won the 2023 Open at Austin disc golf tournament.
Winners of 'The Open' Disc Golf Tournament in Texas*
- 2023 (at Austin): Gannon Buhr (MPO), Paige Pierce (FPO)
- 2022 (at Belton): Chris Dickerson (MPO), Catrina Allen (FPO)
- 2021 (at Belton): Ricky Wysocki (MPO), Catrina Allen (FPO)
*All winners at The Open since it became a DGPT event
Open at Austin Disc Golf Tournament Background
Texas' 'The Open at...' started in 2015 as a Professional Disc Golf Association B-tier in the town of Woodville. Strategically scheduled during the spring Texas swing of the modern pro circuit, it became an A-tier in 2016 and attracted big-name pros even as it moved between Temple, Marble Falls, and Belton from 2017 to 2022.
For the last two years, The Open at Belton was a DGPT Silver Event, but The Open's ninth iteration in 2023 will see it move up yet another notch (to Elite Event status) and have yet another host city (Austin).
The new location of The Open is Harvey Penick Golf Course, a place that wouldn't have come to tournament director Neal Dambra's attention without the initiative of two teenagers. A part of Harvey Penick's First Tee program, they shared a love for both ball golf and disc golf and approached the course manager with an idea for a one-round doubles disc golf event on a temporary layout.
The manager agreed, and The Open supplied the boys with baskets to make their course. Dambra was one of the 90 players that showed up to participate in the pop-up doubles tournament and was very impressed with the property.
"I approached the course manager and said, 'I'm the tournament director for the The Open, which is a Pro Tour event this year and we're interested in this property and I'll send you a proposal,'" Dambra explained. "He said they were interested and that it was something they'd talked about adding to the ball golf and foot golf courses they already offered."
From there a partnership was formed and Dambra got to work putting a plan in place to bring the DGPT to Harvey Penick. The 2023 design will only be up during the week of the event and will showcase the property's well-manicured grass and elevation changes. In future years, Dambra hopes to bring the woods running through the center of the property into play as well.
"I think we were able to create a nice variety of shots with what we have so far," he said. "Long term, once we can get in the woods a little more, we will have more of a variety of holes."
What Happened to The Open at Belton?
When the DGPT made The Open at Belton a Silver Event in 2021, the goal was to feature Belton's Heritage Park Disc Golf Course for many years to come and to make it a mainstay on tour. But the city's parks and rec department had other plans for the property.
In 2023, the city broke ground on a new road, parking lot, bathrooms, and fish camp. This forced temporary changes to the disc golf course at Heritage Park and will likely necessitate permanent ones.
The DGPT had to look elsewhere and Dambra led them to Austin where they will be in the midst of a larger population and simultaneously share the city with the 2023 South by Southwest music festival, bringing even more eyes to the sport.
More Disc Golf Stories
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