Pro Worlds: Isaac Robinson adds second Major title in 2023
The PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championship returned to Smugglers’ Notch Resort in Jeffersonville, Vermont for the second time. Prodigy Team players have had success on the Brewster Ridge and Fox Run Meadows courses, bringing home several Disc Golf Pro Tour wins from the Green Mountain Championship played at the same location.
Could someone new find the next level and add a world title to the evergrowing list of accolades?
It started with a downpour
The five-round world championship had the featured player pools starting on Brewster Ridge and in torrential rain for the FPO field and first MPO cards. Isaac Robinson was the very first card out on the course for his division and battled through the drenched conditions to post a 9-under par opener, good for a tie for third. The first round at Fox Run Meadows on Thursday was good enough to keep Isaac in the top 10, and the return to Brewster saw another 9-under par on Friday to push Isaac back onto the lead card for the final two weekend rounds at Fox Run.
What discs did Isaac Robinson use at Pro Worlds?
It was on Moving Day that Isaac would do the work to secure his first world championship. A 12-under par round on Saturday was not the hot round - Isaac never had the lowest score of any of the five rounds - but was more than enough to give him the lead for the first time, and a three strokes cushion going into the final round. Isaac would hold off challengers from the chase card and the nerves that come with a monumental moment to win the event by two strokes with a 46-under par total score for his second career Major championship.
Isaac led the tournament in several UDisc Live statistical categories, including Strokes Gained from Tee-to-Green (26.92), Reaching Circle 1 in Regulation (62%), Parked Percentage (19%), and Birdie Percentage (62%). He was second in Fairway Hits Percentage (83%) and Reaching Circle 2 in Regulation (77%). The win moved Isaac up to the 6th ranked player in the world and 2nd in the Disc Golf Pro Tour standings.
This is the 22-year-old’s first World Championship and second Major, his first coming earlier this season at the PDGA Champions Cup, held at the International Disc Golf Center in Appling, Georgia. According to StatMando, the 133-day span between victories at Pro Worlds and Champions Cup is the shortest time in history between a player’s first and second Major MPO titles.
To commemorate Isaac’s historic achievement, Prodigy is releasing three commemorative discs and new apparel as part of a Championship Collection.
Top 10 Results and More
Gannon Buhr and Alden Harris tied for sixth place at 41-under par total, the best career finishes at Pro Worlds for both. Alden’s putting was especially dialed in, as he finished second in the division in Strokes Gained Circle 2 Putting (8.02) and C2 Putting Percentage (67%), and he made a 50-footer for birdie on the final hole to secure his position. Gannon was second to Isaac in Stokes Gained Tee-to-Green (22.03).
Lykke Lorentzen shot her way onto the lead card for the final round and played all five rounds at or above her PDGA player rating, including a career-high 990-rated fourth round at Fox Run Meadows. She finished tied for seventh at 6-under par total, her best career finish at Pro Worlds. Lykke was first in the FPO division in Circle 1X Putting Percentage (92%) but her biggest putt was a C2 bogey save on the final hole to maintain a spot in the top 10.
Coming off his first career Disc Golf Pro Tour win at the 50th American Flying Disc Open in Rochester, New York a week prior, Ezra Robinson tied for the hot round on Sunday (13-under par) and finished tied for 15th overall. It was his best career Pro Worlds result.
Finland’s Väinö Mäkelä and Tennessee’s Aidan Scott finished tied for 33rd. Aidan is a frontrunner for Rookie of the Year honors and was playing in his first career Pro Worlds.
Nick Newton tied for 36th and made a Circle 2 birdie on the final hole to earn the final invitation to the United States Disc Golf Championship. Luke Humphries was tied for 46th and recorded an ace with an A3 approach disc on hole 16 at Brewster Ridge during round 3.
