The gallery on the last hole of the final nine before the sudden-death playoff at the 2014 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships.
The 2010s saw exponential growth for both disc golf and the PDGA. We’re looking back on a phenomenal 10 years in our Decade on Display series, where we reflect and reminisce about the sport’s successes both on and off the course. Keep an eye out for more through the end of 2019.
As the end of 2014 draws nearer and nearer, all we can do is reflect on what an incredible year it has been for the sport of disc golf. It seems that almost every aspect of the game we know and love is growing at an ever-increasing rate. There were more tournaments, more players, more added cash, more spectators, and more disc golf companies/manufacturers, just to name a few. With that kind of exponential growth, we can and should expect 2015 to be off the charts.
For most of the formative years of disc golf, tournament directors were challenged to attract spectators and fans to their events, so that sponsors could be convinced our sport had a significant following. These days, however, with the ballooning number of media outlets and distribution platforms, disc golf has been able to flip the script. Now, instead of the challenge being to bring fans to the disc golf tournament, the latest media technologies have allowed us to take the tournament to disc golf fans. And that is no more apparent than with this month's broadcasting of the 2014 PDGA Professional World Championships TV show on 26 regional sports affiliates around the world.
As the Field Events came to a close on Sunday, August 10th in Portland, OR, a final round was tentatively scheduled for Tuesday night at the Flymart. Due to conditions beyond our control, the finals had to be cancelled. This resulted in titles of Co-Champion for Nikko Locastro and now 5x World Putting Champion Jay “Yeti” Reading.
Our congratulations go out to both 2014 World Disc Golf Putting Champions!
It’s extremely difficult to express in words the overwhelming amount of emotions that swept over myself, the tournament staff, the volunteers, and the hundreds of fans that made up the galleries during the final rounds of the 2014 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships presented by Keen. I can only assume this sentiment extends to the players as well, as they were the ones being watched, cheered for, and idolized by their onlooking fans. It was surreal to say the least. It was an undeniable sign that the popularity of disc golf is growing on a much larger and more powerful scale than ever before.
The 2014 PDGA Pro Disc Golf World Championships comes to a thrilling close today, as our competitors sprint towards home. Follow along with live hole-by-hole scoring of the final round.
After a week of disc golf the 2014 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships presented by Keen has come to an end for a majority of the competitors. Although we’re always sad to see them go, words can barely explain how excited we are for the events that will take place today. It’s the last day of the world championships and it’s shaping up to be one of the closest and most exhilarating fights to the finish in the history of the sort.
Friday features the Men's Open Leaders from Blue Lake. Lead card tees off at 1:50p ET/10:50a PT, so we will go Live to air at approximately 1:35p ET/10:35a PT. It's MOVING DAY on DGPtv! Tune in and follow along with live hole-by-hole scoring.
We are now three days in to the endurance contest that is the 2014 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships presented by Keen. Dozens of competitors have graced the lead and/or chase cards with their presence at this point. However, only a select few have played with the tenacity and mental fortitude required to remain in the hunt for the title after facing multiple rounds against the toughest competition on some of Oregon’s most difficult courses.
Imagine you’re in the lead at the 2014 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships presented by Keen after shooting a 1010 rated round on the first day. Feels good right? Now imagine you lose the lead right off the bat on the first hole of the second day because of a simple mishap that caused you to be late for tee off. And oh yeah, it’s your birthday too. What a bummer! For many, starting the day this way would deliver such a heavy blow that recovering from it mentally, not to mention playing well, would be a daunting task.
Day one of the 2014 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships presented by Keen officially came to an end a few hours ago as the vendors at the Flymart packed up their goodies and closed up shop for the night. The first day of any competitive event that lasts for five days is always going to be seen as somewhat insignificant, in the long run anyway. In the case of the 2014 Pro Worlds, day one is just the beginning of a physically and mentally exhausting disc golf endurance contest.
