The 2023 United States Disc Golf Championship (USDGC) in South Carolina was from Thursday, October 5 to Sunday, October 8. The tournament was the last Professional Disc Golf Association Major for MPO of the year.
Click or tap a section below to learn about the 2023 USDGC:
All four rounds of the USDGC were played at the hallowed Winthrop University Disc Golf Course, which always sports significant out-of-bounds additions and other modifications each year for the USDGC. Winthrop has hosted the USDGC since the tournament's first iteration in 1999, making it the longest-running Major host in disc golf.
Even when the USDGC isn't in town, Winthrop's disc golf course is rated among the 10 best disc golf courses at a college or university.
The 2023 Throw Pink Women's Disc Golf Championship (TPWDGC) also took place at Winthrop University from October 5-8 using tee positions modified for the FPO field. This event is not a Major for FPO.
Click or tap a section below to learn about the 2023 TPWDGC:
How to Watch the 2023 USDGC: Live
You can watch archived live coverage of the 2023 USDGC on the Disc Golf Network (DGN).
Round 1 of the 2023 USDGC is on the DGPT YouTube channel at no cost.
USDGC navigation | TPWDGC navigation
How to Watch the 2023 USDGC for Free
The only free coverage of a USDGC round until October 19, 2023, is a live stream of round 1 available on the DGPT YouTube channel.
USDGC navigation | TPWDGC navigation
Is the 2023 USDGC on JomezPro?
Yes, but it will not be available there until October 19, 2023.
Until then, all condensed, next-day coverage of USDGC rounds produced by JomezPro will only be available to Disc Golf Network subscribers.
USDGC navigation | TPWDGC navigation
2023 USDGC Scores & Stats
You can see shot-by-shot scores and in-depth stats for every round of the 2023 USDGC on UDisc Live.
USDGC navigation | TPWDGC navigation
2023 USDGC Tournament Win Probabilities
Prior to the start of the 2023 USDGC, these are the players UDisc Live's pro disc golf Win Probability model gave at least a 2% chance to win:
| Win Probability Before Event | Player |
| 17% | Eagle McMahon |
| 15% | Calvin Heimburg |
| 13% | Ricky Wysocki |
| 11% | Gannon Buhr |
| 9% | Matt Orum |
| 8% | Chris Dickerson |
| 4% | Kyle Klein |
| 3% | Isaac Robinson |
| 3% | Simon Lizotte |
| 2% | Joel Freeman |
| 2% | Niklas Anttila |
| 2% | Anthony Barela |
These percentages were created prior to the start of the events and changed dramatically as it played out. To see how, check out USDGC 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 difficulties 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 USDGC whereas World Ranking is a broader assessment of past performance.
USDGC navigation | TPWDGC navigation
Who Won the Last USDGC?
Kyle Klein (27-under par)
USDGC navigation | TPWDGC navigation
All Winners of the USDGC
See our post "All USDGC Winners & Runners Up + Most Top 10s" for every USDGC champ, which players have made the top 10 most often, and plenty more interesting trivia.
USDGC navigation | TPWDGC navigation
How to Watch the 2023 TPWDGC: Live
You can watch archived live coverage of the 2023 TPWDGC on the Disc Golf Network (DGN).
Round 1 of the 2023 TPWDGC is on the DGPT YouTube channel at no cost.
USDGC navigation | TPWDGC navigation
How to Watch the 2023 TPWDGC for Free
The only free coverage of a TPWDGC round until October 19, 2023, is a replayable live stream of round 1 available on the DGPT YouTube channel.
USDGC navigation | TPWDGC navigation
Is the 2023 TPWDGC on Jomez?
Yes, but it will not be available until October 19, 2023.
Until then, all condensed, next-day coverage of TPWDGC rounds produced by JomezPro will only be available to Disc Golf Network subscribers.
USDGC navigation | TPWDGC navigation
2023 TPWDGC Tee Times, Scores, & Stats
You can see tee times, shot-by-shot scores, and in-depth stats for every round of the 2023 TPWDGC on UDisc Live.
USDGC navigation | TPWDGC navigation
2023 TPWDGC Tournament Win Probabilities
Prior to the start of the 2023 TPWDGC, these are the players UDisc Live's pro disc golf Win Probability model gave at least a 2% chance to win:
| Win Probability Before Event | Player |
| 77% | Kristin Tattar |
| 5% | Missy Gannon |
| 5% | Ohn Scoggins |
| 7% | Holyn Handley |
| 2% | Henna Blomroos |
These percentages were created prior to the start of the events and changed dramatically as it played out. To see how, check out TPWDGC Win Probabailiy 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 difficulties 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 TPWDGC whereas World Ranking is a broader assessment of past performance.
USDGC navigation | TPWDGC navigation
Who Won the Last TPWDGC?
Holyn Handley (23-under par, playoff)
USDGC navigation | TPWDGC navigation
All Winners of the TPWDGC
- 2023: Holyn Handley
- 2022: Catrina Allen
- 2021: Missy Gannon
USDGC navigation | TPWDGC navigation
USDGC & TPWDGC History
Some consider the USDGC the most prestigious disc golf event in the world, believing it surpasses even the PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships.
"It's the Super Bowl of disc golf," said tournament director Jonathan Poole.
1997 was first time disc golfers got to see what Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina – the host of every USDGC – would look like when set up to challenge the world's best. That year, the Pro World Championships were in Charlotte, North Carolina. Rock Hill is only a half hour drive from Charlotte, and the Winthrop University course was chosen to host the final round of that tournament.
Poole and other legends of the game saw an opportunity to do something special in Rock Hill each year.
"The Worlds would have a great year, a good year, then a not-so-great year, and then another great year," Poole said. "We weren't seeing the consistency because it's very difficult for a club or promoter to take on an event of that size."
With Worlds moving to a new area of the country each year, expectations were always high but there was a lack of dependable quality.
"It was all a club could do to simply handle the logistics, let alone promote the tournament and handle the media and sponsorships," he said.
So, in 1998, Poole and the future USDGC staff proposed adding another PDGA Major. It would be unique in the fact that it would never move around and would be played at the same course year in and year out.
"The origins of it were to have an event that could stay in one spot," Poole said. "That way we can learn and get better at producing this event."
It officially kicked off in 1999.
The USDGC was designed with the idea of having a one-division tournament. No men's, women's, age-protected, or amateur divisions – just one field of competitors all playing the same course to showcase the greatest disc golfers in the world.
"We wanted to create an Open," Poole said. "That way anyone who could qualify could compete together."
In 2000, the event added the Women's National Event (renamed the U.S. Women's Disc Golf Championship or USWDGC in 2001) for the Open Women field but moved on from that idea after just two years.
"It was getting overshadowed," Poole said. "The USWDGC had a lot of potential, and to reach its potential it needed to move out and move around the country and grow on its own, which it eventually did."
From 2002 to 2019 the only women competing at Winthrop were those who qualified for the USDGC. But in 2020 a women's event at Winthrop re-emerged. The roving USWDGC had been cancelled due to COVID-19, so an elite women's event was organized to run alongside the USDGC – in many ways a replacement for the cancelled USWDGC. In 2020, the event was again called the Women's National Championship.
In 2021, the event turned into the Throw Pink Women's Disc Golf Championship. Just like those playing the USDGC, competitors have to qualify for their spots, generally by placing well at an elite tournament.
Partnering with disc golf non-profit Throw Pink, the TPWDGC features 40 of the top women disc golfers in the world and will raise money and awareness for the fight against breast cancer during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
"It was a homecoming," Poole said. "We thought if we were going to go through this much effort to get the course ready, along with all the media and fanfare that surrounds this, it felt like the thing to do to create a women's event of some kind."
The USDGC media coverage often trailblazed how the sport was consumed. They were the first to introduce a pay-per-view viewership model and the first to introduce live coverage. Naturally, there have been some hiccups along the way, but coverage has continually improved and will – like the last two years – be handled in 2023 by the Disc Golf Pro Tour-associated Disc Golf Network crew.
