Gannon Buhr picked up his first win of the season this weekend. He went wire-to-wire to earn the win at the GRIPeq 43rd Kansas City Wide Open Presented by UnderPar, shooting -24 to win by four strokes. This is another three-peat on the season as Buhr won the previous two KCWOs (a Silver event in 2023, and a Q-Series in 2024). Buhr started off hot and didn’t look back, scorching the course on Friday with a 1095 rated 14 under par course record. In FPO, Holyn Handley held off the charge from Cadence Burge, carding a -5 on Sunday to earn her second DGPT win of the season.
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MPO Recap:
Gannon Buhr was the clear favorite coming into this weekend, and proved that he deserved it as he coasted to his first DGPT win of the season. Buhr made everything look easy in round one en route to shooting a 1095 rated 14 under par for the course record. Gannon’s fireworks included birdieing seven of the opening eight holes, and his impressive round gave him a six-stroke lead over Kyle Klein in second place going into the weekend.
After strong starts, Paul McBeth, Ricky Wysocki, and Ezra Aderhold stayed in the hunt. All three shot -9 in round two to keep within a long stone’s throw of Buhr. Buhr also shot a -9 on Saturday, securing a seven-shot cushion going into Sunday at Bad Rock Creek.
The final day brought difficult weather conditions that cut the final round short to only the front nine for MPO. Buhr was able to skate his way through the final round to win by four strokes, only shooting one under on the day. Gannon struggled with an opening bogey and a double on three, but rallied, carding four birdies and a par to close out the front nine and secure his first 2025 victory. His signature shot for the day was a forehand upshot from a knee on hole six, where he shaped it through the trees to put it within 10 feet.
The field did its best to catch Gannon in nine holes. Ricky put up the best effort with a -4 to take solo second place. Paul McBeth rounded out the podium at -18.
Gavin Rathbun took fourth (-16), Kyle Klein finished fifth (-14), and Calvin Heimburg, Isaac Robinson, and Chris Dickerson ended the tournament in a tie for sixth place at -13.
In addition to his top ten finish, Dickerson provided the highlight of the day with his 280-foot throw-in for eagle on hole one.
Joey Buckets and Eagle McMahon had solid weekends and rounded out the top ten in a tie for ninth at 12 under par.
MPO Takeaways:
Gannon Buhr’s consistency can only lead to domination, and he is the best player MPO right now, period. He shredded the course on day one, and only missed one C1X putt all weekend, all while only missing four total fairway hits.
Paul is back, and he has been consistent throughout the opening set of events. Although a win may be difficult, I wouldn’t dare put it out of the question and he has the added incentive of the first PDGA Pro Major of the year just around the corner at the Champions Cup Paul certainly has the skills and the talent to get a victory in the current field, he just needs to put it all together over the course of multiple rounds.
Ricky had a good weekend, but will be left wondering what may have been if the weather hadn’t shortened the final round.
Gavin Rathbun had his best DGPT finish of the season, snagging fourth place. Rathbun shot -7 on day one, -7 day two, and -2 in the final nine to move up two spots into solo fourth place.
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Players to Watch at the First Major of the Year: The PDGA Champions Cup by OTB and MVP Disc Sports (May 1st-4th)
Gannon Buhr, Calvin Heimburg, Ricky Wysocki, Paul McBeth, Eagle McMahon, Kyle Klein, and Isaac Robinson
My pick for the first PDGA Pro Major Champion of the 2025 season is Gannon Buhr. . Gannon is showing signs of the domination he had last season,and now has his first win of the year under his belt. The momentum from KCWO, combined with his overall skill set, will likely propel him to victory next week.
I’d also expect Paul and Ricky to be factors, and I could see Ricky sneaking in for the win and ending his major drought. The two keys for Ricky that could vault him into the winners circle: Shooting the hot round on Thursday and making his circle two putts. in three of the five tournaments during the opening stretch, Wysocki has posted his highest scores of the tournament in the opening round. Putting from circle two is always a factor, but with Ricky it’s so much more. C2 makes will give him momentum and Ricky playing with momentum gives him the best shot at the win.
Previous winners at the OTB open include Calvin Heimburg, Emerson Keith, Simon Lizotte, and Eagle McMahon. If Buhr has a bad week, we may see the end to the Major drought that has continued to persist throughout the start of Calvin Heimburg’s career. As a previous Champion at this venue, where he beat Gannon Buhr by nine strokes en route to his win, it seems like the odds may be in Calvin’s favor. However, Calvin hasn’t found the podium yet this year, so he’s yet to really contend for a win in 2025. Only time will tell, but I am confident Calvin will end up in the top ten at the first Pro Major of the year.
FPO Recap:
Holyn Handley took the lead after day one and didn’t look back as she shot a -19 to win the KCWO, her second DGPT win of the season.
Cadence Burge was Holyn’s main challenger on Sunday. Burge posted a -6 round two score to move up to spots in a tie for second at -10 with Ella Hansen. Burge had to overcome a four-stroke deficit in the final round to have a chance at the win. She gave it everything she had, carding nine birdies on her way to a -7 under performance, but Holyn was ultimately able to get the win, stringing together enough birdies on the front nine to hold on for the two-stroke victory.
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Ella Hansen had a strong tournament to secure her third-place finish. She played consistently all weekend, shooting -5, -5, and -4. Ella made four birdies in a row on the back nine on Friday and repeated that on the front nine on Saturday, starting with the deuce on hole two.
Missy Gannon made a charge on Saturday to get onto the lead card going into Sunday’s final round. On moving day (round 2), she shot three under to move up three spots into fourth place. She parked holes 7, 8, and 9 with top-notch drives and made a clutch edge of circle birdie putt on 12. Missy pushed on the final day, carding a -5 but couldn’t catch Holyn, Cadence, or Ella.
Ohn Scoggins ended the tournament in fifth at -9. She was in it after day one, but an even par second round set her back. Scoggins rallied for the final round and shot four under par.
Kat Mertsch gave us a fun highlight late in round one when she cashed a smooth 245’ forehand for an eagle on the par 5, 16th. Mertsch finished the tournament in 6th at -7.
FPO Takeaways:
Holyn Handley is the second-best player right now behind Kristin Lätt, and when she puts it together for a whole tournament, she’s going to contend for the win almost anywhere. Holyn played well all week and made three key birdies early in the final round and two on the back to get her second win of the season.
Cadence Burge had another impressive tournament after her fifth-place finish a few weeks ago at MCO. She didn’t miss a C1X putt after the first round, going 25\25 on Saturday and Sunday. Look for her to continue to improve and be at the top of the leaderboard a few more times throughout the season.
Missy Gannon continues to be consistent but hasn’t been able to put together a dominant tournament yet this year. We will see if she can find another gear for the first Pro Major of the year.
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FPO Players to Watch at Champions Cup:
Kristin Lätt, Holyn Handley, Ella Hansen, Ohn Scoggins, Missy Gannon, Cadence Burge, Kat Mertsch, Eveliina Salonen, Silva Saarinen, and Paige Pierce.
Kristin is back after a week off and is nearly always the favorite at a Major as of late. She will have a dominant week and win by five strokes.
Holyn Handley will need to play almost perfect golf, or Kristin will need to play herself out of it. If either of those happens, Holyn has good odds to pick up the win.
Silva Saarinen is coming off a strong second-place finish at the Music City Open, where she took Kristin to a playoff. I think this will be a similar story at the Champions Cup where Saarinen is the main source of pressure on Kristin on Championship Sunday.
Ella Hansen won at this track last year and is having a stellar season. An outstanding performance could lead to her becoming a Major champion for the first time
The underdog with history is Paige Pierce. Pierce has won at Swenson Park in 2021, 2022, and 2023. If she can harness that champion mindset and start out strong, she could be the California wildcard after a slower start to the 2025 season.
