This past off-season, Kona Panis was riding all kinds of highs. Clearly, as one of the FPO’s most talented golfers, she was due for a more favorable contract. When Innova balked, she found it with Jeremy Rusco and Dynamic Discs. And when she found it, boy did she find it …
On Jan. 3, Emporia rewarded Kona for her stellar play and plastic-pushing efforts in 2021 to the tune of $500,000 over four years – that’s guaranteed money. Incentives sweetened the deal.
The second competitive play began this season, though, things took a sharp turn for the worse. An XC-tier, the 2022 DGPT All-Star Weekend was meant to be a light-hearted tune-up for Kona. She won the event last year. With any luck, her new plastic would repeat the feat for her team.
Eh, not quite …
During the doubles portion of the event, Kona and partner Missy Gannon finished dead last on the FPO side. On Sunday, things technically improved – not by much, though. She lost her head-to-head matchup with Lisa Fajkus by three strokes, shooting 4-up on the round.
All FPO scores considered, that was good enough for 13th out of 14 total female golfers.
Her performance last weekend at the 2022 Las Vegas Challenge fell flat, as well. Her 11-over-par effort in the third round was abysmal, coming in at a lowly 868 rating. Because of it, she’d miss the cut entirely, forgoing the final round for street clothes and a spectator’s pass …
Ouch.
Above, Panis reviews her experience in Vegas. There’s no need to watch the entirety of the video. At the three-minute mark, Kona talks about her reaction to missing the cut …
It’s the most telling of her comments, by far:
“I actually went and deleted my Instagram and Facebook all last night, because – with this amazing contract that Dynamic Discs has given me – it also brings a lot of pressure, in a way. I felt that the first day. It also brings a lot of haters – lots and lots of haters.”
The girl needs a win. Any kind of “win,” really – and fast.
Fortunately, redemption might very well await her at the 2022 Waco Annual Charity Open. The problem, however, is that – similar to All-Star Weekend – Panis took this thing down last year, too. And not by a little – she curb-stomped the field, winning by 12 strokes over Ohn Scoggins.
Pressure has a name, and in Waco, it’s “Kona Panis.”
Listen, it’s early on in the season – the life or death of a career is hardly on the line …
But know this:
For professionals, the hunky-dory days of disc golf are over.
The “family” vibes they grew accustomed to over the past few decades are no longer a thing. You can rock a tie-dye t-shirt, headband and Chaco sandals all you want, but with Kona-level contracts now part of the game, title sponsors want to see their money working for them …
In retail stores and online shopping carts, but in flesh and blood out on the course, too.
Rightfully so, their patience will run thin real quick when it’s not …
If ever there was a time to develop some thick skin, it’d be now.
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She could lose every tournament and she’s still gonna del plastic. She’ll be fine
EXACTLY.
No idea what those metrics look like, though …
My guess would be that Dynamic had a VERY good idea of what they were getting into.
She’ll sell plastic. And once she gets a better grip on the season, the results will come, too.