The annual Magnolia Open was held this past weekend at the IDGC. Photo: Nathanial Samsel / PDGA

One of the longest-running women’s only tournaments in the country returned to the International Disc Golf Center last weekend bringing female competitors from all over the southeast to Appling, Georgia.

2022 marked the 13th year of the Magnolia Open. Photo: Nathaniel Samsel / PDGA

Thirteen years after the inaugural tournament, The Magnolia Open is still running strong on a weekend Assistant TD Kaleigh Powers said has always felt different from normal tournaments.

“It’s kind of indescribable,” Powers said. “When you go out and when you play mixed tournaments it’s kind of fun but you traditionally don’t get as many women out together at the same time. I don’t know if maybe it’s a little intimidating for them but when you have a women’s tournament the buzz is different. You can feel just a different energy out.”

The Magnolia Open was one of the first women's only tournaments. Photo: PDGA

Initially held in 2009 by then PDGA employees Addie Strozier and Karolyn O’Cull, the Magnolia Open was conceived as a way to bolster the women’s side of the game which had few women-only options at the time.

Taking the reins from 2011-2015, Sara Nicholson, who went on to create Throw Pink, said the Magnolia Open sparked much of the development of the modern women’s game because it was a blueprint for other events that followed.

“Magnolia was a catalyst for all the other things that happened in the sport of women’s golf,” Nicholson said.

During her tenure, Nicholson grew the event from around 10 competitors to over 60 in some years with what she called good old-fashioned hustle and word of mouth.

Nicholson was a PDGA employee for her tenure running the tournament and said she went to work recruiting players at every event she attended, even bringing several players down from New York.

Trophies for the 2022 Magnolia Open are shown. Photo: Courtesy

After a COVID hiatus in 2020, the overall numbers have not quite recovered, but Powers said there has been growth in different ways. At her first Magnolia in 2019, she said only two of the competitors were from the Augusta area, but the local scene has boomed to make up more than 80% of the players this year.

Two junior players were in the mix this year as well, which Powers called inspiring.

“That’s really my favorite thing,” Powers said. “I kind of get chill bumps when I see the little girls out playing. One of the first things I ever said to my husband was ‘Oh my gosh if someone would have stuck a disc in my hand when I was younger, imagine how different my life could have turned out.’”

Haley Childs, an Augusta native that has been playing in Magnolias since 2014, said there is still great value in women’s only events.

“I feel like it gives us a chance to all be in the spotlight. There’s all different women’s divisions here and gives it a chance for a lot of different women to win or take top five,” Childs said. “It’s all about us. It’s nice to be celebrated in our own respect and on our own level.”