Music City Showdown
Music City Showdown
Get ready for the DGPT - Music City Open
Missy Gannon won the DGPT Silver Series — Music City Open in 2022. Photo: DGPT
After a couple of weekends off from Elite Series action, the Disc Golf Pro Tour heads to Nashville, Tennessee for the 2023 Music City Open presented by Lone Star Disc.
The Music City Open was first held in 2010 and was on the PDGA National Tour in 2021. In 2022, the MCO was a Silver Series event and now returns as the fourth Elite Series event of the 2023 season.
While the Open at Austin provided a unique challenge for the MPO and FPO fields as they competed on a brand new course, players returning to Mill Ridge Park for the 2023 MCO will be familiar with many of its holes.
Chris Dickerson in particular has performed incredibly well at the MCO, having won the event four times, most recently in 2022. After winning three years in a row in 2017-2019, he still took 2nd in 2020 and 4th in 2021 and finished within two strokes of the lead both times. Other repeat winners include Catrina Allen and Paige Pierce, who have both won the event twice.
With three Elite Series events and one Silver Series event already completed, the 2023 DGPT season has seen a unique winner in the FPO field at each event so Pierce or Allen could break this streak with a third win at the 2023 MCO.
Mill Ridge has seen a few changes over the years. Photo: DGPT
Mill Ridge Park is a 9,977 ft par 65 for the MPO field and an 8,733 ft par 66 for the FPO field. The course features a mix of long holes with wide fairways and shorter technical holes. Holes 4 and 6 are par 5’s for both the MPO and FPO fields with hole 6 measuring 849 ft for the FPO field and hole 4 measuring 1,112 ft for the MPO field. While these fairways are fairly open, they will challenge players’ distance control as they pick their landing zones to set up their next shot. While long holes on more traditional ball golf courses often provide challenge with OB greens and hazards, this style of course demands more focus on placement as an errant drive might leave a player in a bad position as they attempt to work their way around tall barriers of dense trees. Some of the shorter par 3’s can still prove difficult as players attempt to hit small gaps into protected greens. Hole 11, for example is only 270 feet, but is surrounded by trees providing a low ceiling while a ring of rocks makes groundplay unpredictable.
Missy Gannon won the 2022 MCO at six strokes under par, comfortably laying up on hole 18 with a four-stroke lead on second place. The final round started off with Macie Velediaz trailing Gannon by just one stroke and went on to see multiple ties and lead changes in the front 9. Gannon managed to stay under par on the back 9 while her closest competitors took multiple bogeys, giving Gannon some breathing room and Kat Mertsch the opportunity to work her way up to second place.
Chris Dickerson is back in his home state to defend his Music City title. Photo: DGPT
Dickerson held onto his lead through the final round, shooting a clean 10-under round. Adam Hammes was right behind him through the entire round, getting within two strokes early on but never taking the lead as he also shot 10-under for the day. Even though Hammes kept Dickerson on his toes, Dickerson remained calm and collected.
When asked about maintaining his composure, Dickerson said “It’s like playing poker, if you keep a calm face, you don’t let them know that things are getting to you.”
Dickerson finished at 28 strokes under par, winning his second Silver Series event of 2022. Maintaining a lead through the final round could prove difficult this year as the last two Elite Series events for the MPO field have seen winners from the chase card. As the field gets more competitive, players may need to replicate Hammes and Dickerson’s double digit final rounds in order to stay in the mix.
The 2023 season has been unpredictable with highly competitive MPO and FPO fields so anything can happen at the 2023 Music City Open Presented by Lone Star Disc.
Here's everything you need to know to catch the action this weekend:
Tee Times & Round ratings
PDGA | Event Page
- Official scores, tee times, PDGA Live scoring and round ratings can be found on the official event page on PDGA.com.
Live Coverage
Disc Golf Network
The Disc Golf Network (DGN) is the home of live disc golf. Built by the Disc Golf Pro Tour, the DGN is a subscription streaming and on-demand platform. Covering the world’s best players competing in the sport’s most elite tournaments, a subscription includes post-produced coverage of select disc golf tournaments as well as exclusive disc golf shows, touring pro interview series, podcasts, and other segments only available on the Disc Golf Network.
Friday's FPO Feature Card (Live coverage of FPO begins at 10:45 a.m. ET)
- Missy Gannon
- Deann Carey
- Macie Velediaz
- Paige Pierce
Friday's FPO2 Live Card
- Kat Mertsch
- Lisa Fajkus
- Catrina Allen
- Kristin Tattar
Friday's FPO3 Live Card
- Nina Guerrero
- Holyn Handley
- Ella Hansen
- Madison Walker
Friday's MPO Feature Card (Live coverage of MPO begins at 4 p.m. CT)
- Chris Dickerson
- Nikko Locastro
- Matt Orum
- Calvin Heimburg
Friday's MPO2 Live Card
- Adam Hammes
- Emerson Keith
- Raven Newsom
- Paul McBeth
Friday's MPO3 Live Card
- Logan Bowers
- Harper Thompson
- Gannon Buhr
- Fredy Meza
DGPT YouTube | Subscribe
In addition to the DGN, the live broadcast for both divisions will be simulcast free on the DGPT YouTube channel for the first round only on Friday, April 7.
DGN Press Conference | Watch
Hear from some of the players before the action gets going during a press conference from 1-3 p.m. CT on Thursday, live on the DGPT's YouTube channel. Here is the tentative schedule for the press conference (all times CT):
- 1:00 p.m.: Chris Dickerson
- 1:10 p.m.: Missy Gannon
- 1:20 p.m.: Gannon Buhr
- 1:30 p.m.: Paige Pierce
- 1:40 p.m.: Paul McBeth
- 1:50 p.m.: Jeff Spring (DGPT CEO)
- 2:00 p.m.: Kristin Tattar
- 2:10 p.m.: Calvin Heimburg
- 2:20 p.m.: Macie Velediaz
- 2:30 p.m.: Matt Orum
- 2:40 p.m.: Dr. Zach Hoy (TD)
Post Production Coverage
JomezPro | Subscribe 
Open Lead Card / Round 1 MPO Feature Card
- Chris Dickerson
- Nikko Locastro
- Matt Orum
- Calvin Heimburg
JomezPro | Subscribe
FPO Lead Card / Round 1 FPO Feature Card
- Missy Gannon
- Deann Carey
- Macie Velediaz
- Paige Pierce
Gatekeeper Media | Subscribe 
Open Chase Card / Round 1 MPO Feature Card
- Adam Hammes
- Emerson Keith
- Raven Newsom
- Paul McBeth
Ace Run Pro | Subscribe 
FPO Chase Card / Round 1 FPO Feature Card
- Kat Mertsch
- Lisa Fajkus
- Catrina Allen
- Kristin Tattar
Recap Articles
PDGA.com
Check back to PDGA.com daily for a recap of all of the action from the 2023 Elite Series.