This article’s not going to be about Paul McBeth, but – as is often the case when discussing professional disc golf – he’s going to make an appearance. It’s safe to say the 2022 season hasn’t exactly been McBeast’s best. It started off hot enough with back-to-back wins at the Memorial Championship and the Waco Annual Charity Open, but after that?
Man, it’s been a grind …
By Paul’s standards, of course – for anybody else, it’d be a triumph.
All’s not lost for Mr. McBeth, though – far from it, in fact. As you’ll recall, last season was more of the same. There were certainly some highs, but the lows seemed to far outweigh them. That was, until he won the 2021 United States Disc Golf Championship in dramatic fashion …
He beat Kyle Klein in a one-hole playoff at Winthrop Gold.
It resulted in this gem of a photo:
Before the victory, his season was labeled “underwhelming.” After it, however, he was in serious talks to win the 2021 PDGA Player of the Year award – that was all it took. McBeth’s McBeth, so there was plenty to his résumé, but a third USDGC title to his name made all the difference.
Hailey King is NOT Paul McBeth.
But, like McBeth in 2021 and more so in 2022, King’s had a disappointing season. Her fourth- and sixth-place finishes at the Las Vegas Challenge and Dynamic Discs Open were solid, but this girl’s been identified as “The Second-Coming of Paige Pierce” for a couple of years now …
Forehand and backhand, watch her throw: It’s EASY to believe the prophecy.
Rumors swirled about that the subpar play was due to the sudden severing of her relationship with Discraft – mentally, she never recovered. Now a member of Team Innova, others opined that she couldn’t make the manufacturer’s new molds work for her game. And regardless of how ungrounded the comments, some sounded off on her simply not enjoying disc golf anymore …
Whatever the issue was, TODAY, it couldn’t matter any less:
Hailey King is the 2022 United States Women’s Disc Golf Champion.
Your 2022 United States Women's Disc Golf Championships FPO Champion, Hailey King! 🏆
— PDGA (@PDGA) July 3, 2022
This is the first PDGA Major for King. #discgolf #2022USWDGC pic.twitter.com/wCF2WRxfLd
At only 20 years old, she’ll forever be known as a “major winner” within the annals of disc golf history. Incredibly, all it took was one big-time win to change the narrative on King’s season. What was once viewed as an embarrassing failure is now a career-defining campaign.
Prior to this Fourth of July weekend, though, King wasn’t the only household name in disc golf to struggle in the “results” category. For the guys, given what they accomplished last year, Matt Orum, Kyle Klein, Adam Hammes and Kevin Jones have been overly quiet. For the women, Eveliina Salonen, Henna Blomroos, Heather Young and Kona Panis come to mind …
Besides missing putts, cuts and cash, where have THEY been for seven months?
Therein lies the beauty of disc golf: One event can change it all.
To date, seven Elite Series events remain on the 2022 DGPT calendar. Furthermore, three more majors will take place between now and October. The same path that elevated Hailey King’s stock in the disc golf world can do the exact same thing for another struggling golfer …
ONE. SINGLE. WEEKEND.
That’s all it takes.
Have anything to add? Take to Twitter to let us know – we’ll actually (for real) get back to you.
Editor’s Suggestions:
- Disc golfers: Don’t collect discs – throw them
- Disc golf: What’s off-axis torque? (and how to fix it)
- Why the overstable putter is disc golf’s most tempting purchase
Real quick, if you happen to buy something through a link in this article, there’s a chance we’ll get a small share of the sale. It’s how we keep the lights on. To learn more, click here.
