With the revered and feared Northwood Park serving as temporary host and Mother Nature throwing in a few wrinkles, the 2024 PDGA Champions Cup presented by Bushnell title was set up to come down to the wire.
But the leaders on top heading into Championship Sunday faced pressure from every direction along the way.
Eveliina Salonen and Andrew Presnell entered the woods of Northwood Park, dampened by storms throughout the week, and the best players in the world, fueled by the quest for a PDGA Major title, ahead of them.
Andrew Presnell has 11 A-Tier wins, 57 B-Tier wins and 97 starts at PDGA Majors and on the Elite Series.
On Championship Sunday at the 2024 PDGA Champions Cup, he'll make his debut on a final card at a Major for the first time.
Presnell emerged at the end of a wild and long day at Northwood Park in Morton, Illinois with a one-stroke lead. He entered Sunday six strokes back of the lead and used a strong finish to be the first player to tee off on Sunday's final card.
Eveliina Salonen took off on a stretch at Northwood Park surged her to the top of the leaderboard on Friday.
Six-straight birdies on holes 9-14, a run that gave her an 8.65 strokes-gained advantage on the rest of the field, puts Salonen ahead by two strokes heading into Championship Sunday at the 2024 PDGA Champions Cup presented by Bushnell.
Rachel Turton had just one bogey on Friday to turn in the hot round of the day. Photo: Danny Voss / PDGA
The difficulty of Northwood picked up a few notches on Friday — both on the physical and mental side.
Dark skies and lightning lingered in the Morton, Illinois area during Round 2 of the PDGA Champions Cup presented by Bushnell, forcing lengthy delays and even tougher conditions when the play resumed and continued into the night.
Casey White has a history of shooting well at Northwood Park as well as the PDGA Champions Cup.
He had the hot round again when those two entities collided on Thursday.
White birdied nine holes at Northwood Park and limited the damage to just two bogies to take a one-stroke lead after the opening day of the 2024 PDGA Champions Cup presented by Bushnell.
His previous lead at a PDGA Major: The 2022 Champions Cup. His previous hot round: Round 3 of the 2023 Ledgestone Open at Northwood, according to StatMando.
Hitting 20 out of a possible 22 fairways — including the four par 5s at the revised Northwood layout — Saarinen turned in the second-highest rated round of her career, unofficially at 1013, for a one-stroke lead in Morton, Illinois.
Battling a lingering finger injury, Valerie Mandujano battled through for a 4-under score and is tied with Missy Gannon, who capped off her 4-under round with an eagle on 18, and Holyn Handley.
The 2024 PDGA Champions Cup kicks off Thursday and runs through Sunday at Northwood Park in Morton, Illinois and active PDGA members can watch every minute of the action FREE on the Disc Golf Network.
All you have to do is link your PDGA account to your DGN account and it just takes a few steps.
Isaac Robinson is back to defend his Champions Cup title. Photo: Kevin Huver / DGN
It's been a wild 2024 season so far with one first-time PDGA Major champion already being crowned.
Now, on the famed Northwood track in Morton, Illinois, it's time crown two more Major champions.
Beginning Thursday, the best of the best hit the course for the 2024 PDGA Champions Cup presented by Bushnell — the first MPO PDGA Major of the year and second for FPO with Missy Gannon taking down the USWDGC Major title in March.
The rescheduling of the 2024 PDGA Champions Cup has not been without its challenges. While some of these challenges were unavoidable, others were not.
“We failed to properly assess the impact the Champions Cup rescheduling had on the newly announced DGPT Europe 2024 schedule of events. New practices are being put in place by the DGPT and the PDGA to ensure this does not happen again,” said PDGA Director of Operations, Doug Bjerkaas.
The Champions Cup is still moving to Northwood Park in Morton, Illinois. However, the event is now scheduled for April 25-28, 2024.
Tattar dominated once again, extending her 12-stroke lead to 14 and finishing the tournament at 27 strokes under par. According to StatMando, this is the largest margin of victory ever at an FPO Major with a 30-plus player field.
“I just feel good this weekend,” Robinson said. “Playing in Georgia, I have support — messages from dozens of people just congratulating me and encouraging me.
“That means the world to me, to play in my home state and have a chance to take this Major title down. That’s what I’m out here to do and I’m not stopping.”
While the rest of the field have been playing solid rounds and jockeying for position on the leaderboard, Tattar will start the final round with a 12-stroke lead over second place. Tattar’s last win at a Major was the 2022 PDGA Pro World Championships where she won by eight strokes over Henna Blomroos, so a 12-stroke lead must feel pretty comfortable going into Championship Sunday.
Silas Schultz dropped a course record performance on Friday on W.R. Jackson. Photo: Justin Anderson / PDGA
They’re going to run it back.
On a day of big moves, Friday’s lead card — Isaac Robinson, Silas Schultz, Niklas Anttila and James Conrad — is staying put.
Robinson kept his spot at the top, Schultz dropped a course record performance and Anttila and Conrad are right on their heels as the 2023 PDGA Champions Cup presented by Bushnell hit the midway point.
The FPO field once again finished with some hot scores after navigating the woods of the W.R. Jackson Memorial course. Kristin Tattar extended her lead from two to five strokes over the field, sitting at the top of the leaderboard at 16 strokes under par with Catrina Allen in second place at 11 strokes under par.
With the pressure palpable in the air as the first PDGA Pro Major of the year kicked off, Isaac Robinson was comfortable.
He’s at home — competing in his home state of Georgia and in the woods of W.R. Jackson — and it showed Thursday in the opening round of the 2023 PDGA Champions Cup presented by Bushnell.
“My home state,” Robinson said Thursday after his 11-under opener. “I’ve played here my whole life. It just feels natural in the woods. It’s what I’m comfortable doing.”
A Monday qualifier has been added to the 2023 PDGA Champions Cup, PDGA and tournament staff announced Monday.
Those players that were on the waitlist for the 2023 Champions Cup when registration closed will have the opportunity to compete for a spot in the first PDGA Pro Major of the year on Monday, April 17. Eight spots will be up for grabs in MPO and four in FPO.
Monday qualifying tee times will between 8 a.m. and 9:15 a.m.
The event will not be open to the public and regular practice for the event will commence after the final group tees off for the qualifier.
