DGPT 2026 Discraft's Ledgestone Open presented by Züca

This definitely needs more explanation. MPO was allotted nearly 3x the number of slots as FPO, and n ... show more ›

This definitely needs more explanation. MPO was allotted nearly 3x the number of slots as FPO, and now the FPO waitlist is 7x as big as the MPO waitlist. So the current slot allotment does not appear to reflect demand. Keeping 14 women on a waitlist when men were given 3x the number of slots to begin with is really problematic from an outside view. Having been an FPO player for 16 years and competed in a lot of majors over the years, I've frankly never seen anything like this. Please give a more thorough explanation than "no," because without it, this feels like a decision that prioritizes male athletes over female athletes.

Ledgestone has one of the largest FPO fields on tour. We cannot add anymore spots to FPO due to how ... show more ›

Ledgestone has one of the largest FPO fields on tour. We cannot add anymore spots to FPO due to how the DGN broadcast works. Right now, FPO lead card tees off around 930AM. They finish around 1PM. This gives enough time for the camera team to charge their batteries, eat lunch and then film MPO. We already tee off FPO at 720AM, so unless FPO players want to be warming up in the dark, we simply can't add any more spots to FPO. Also, we have several exemption spots and qualifier spots available, and many players from the waitlist will get in to the event.

Respectfully, this doesn’t really add up. The reason given was ‘demand,’ but FPO has a large w ... show more ›

Respectfully, this doesn’t really add up. The reason given was ‘demand,’ but FPO has a large waitlist, which shows there is demand. If the real limitation is scheduling and broadcast (which is understandable), then just say that. But those are format choices, not proof that demand isn’t there.

Limiting the FPO field to a third the size of the men's (when more women want to play) so that camer ... show more ›

Limiting the FPO field to a third the size of the men's (when more women want to play) so that camera people can charge batteries and eat lunch to go cover the men seems problematic to me. I understand there may be bigger systemic issues here with how the broadcasting schedule is set up, but if broadcasting is disproportionately limiting the size of the women's field as compared to the men's field, then the broadcasting approach/schedule needs to change in the future. Broadcasting should not hold back the size of the women's field in comparison to the men. Dispropotionately limiting the women's field also limits the women's prize money, which is particularly unfair. Also I appreciate the exemption spots, but both the mpo and fpo have 8 of these remaining, so the disparity is still there. Numerically since there are 14 women and 2 men on the waitlist, there WILL be women who want to play but can't, but very possibly no (or very few) men who want to play but can't. And to be clear, women under 900 can't even sign up yet, so likely more will join the waitlist. Finally, I appreciate the longer answer you've given now, but I don't understand why you initially blamed it on demand differences when it sounds like it's actually a broadcasting issue.

To be clear, I have no control whatsoever on the field size. I am just the messenger here. As I said ... show more ›

To be clear, I have no control whatsoever on the field size. I am just the messenger here. As I said above, the broadcast window will simply not allow more FPO spots into the event. We may be able to squeeze in one more card this year due to the event being 15 days earlier and this we have more daylight, so that's something I will have the DGPT investigate.

I appreciate trying to get one more card in, but more needs to be done. Also, I know there are multi ... show more ›

I appreciate trying to get one more card in, but more needs to be done. Also, I know there are multiple stakeholders negotiating these things, but you are both the tournament director and the PDGA board president, so you are a bit more than a messenger. You've been doing this work a long time--it's time to get creative with some solutions to not hold the women's field back based on the men's broadcasting schedule.

Rebecca, feel free to come up with the solution. You are acting like we haven't thought of this befo ... show more ›

Rebecca, feel free to come up with the solution. You are acting like we haven't thought of this before. Its not up to just me to come up with solutions. I have been doing that (as a volunteer with the PDGA) for 9 years. Saying "this isn't right!" and just complaining is not the answer.

Nate, when you take on the responsibility of being both the director of a gigantic tournament and th ... show more ›

Nate, when you take on the responsibility of being both the director of a gigantic tournament and the president of the board of the PDGA, you actually DO take on responsibility for coming up with solutions that prioritize the equitable treatment of both male and female professional athletes in your events and in the organization whose board you lead. That's a baseline expectation of an organization that represents both male and female athletes. If you truly have been thinking about this for years and haven't come up with any better ideas than artificially limiting the women's field to a third the size of the men's for perpetuity (despite this breakdown not reflecting the demand for slots between men and women), than you need to think more creatively (or engage others to help you solve this problem). You should be leading the charge to solve this issue, not pretending like this is an inevitable problem that can never be solved.

That said, I'll bite. See my ideas below in the following comments:

I’ll give you three potential solutions I thought of today: (1) Here’s one option with the cur ... show more ›

I’ll give you three potential solutions I thought of today:
(1) Here’s one option with the current pool and course assignments for MPO/FPO:
I went back and reviewed the live footage the 2025 Ledgestone Open, these were the times taken for the lead card to complete their rounds at the various courses (not counting rain delays):
FPO, Sunset Hills: 2:31;
FPO, Northwoods Black: 3:40;
MPO, Eureka: 2:32;
MPO, Northwoods Black: 3:30
If I estimate an extra 15 minutes of play time for the top card just to play it super safe. That would result in estimated times for 2026 of….
FPO, Sunset Hills: 2:46;
FPO, Northwoods Black: 3:55;
MPO, Eureka: 2:47;
MPO, Northwoods Black: 3:45
Some important context: On July 31st , 2026 in Peoria, Illinois, the sun rises at 5:54 am and sets at 8:15 am. Daylight visibility will start at least 15 minutes before sunrise. Also, of note, on the days FPO plays Sunset Hills, MPO plays Northwoods Black; on the days FPO plays Northwoods Black, MPO plays Eureka. Also, the final round is not really an issue because there is a cut, so there will be no issue getting FPO finished before the MPO coverage starts.
So let’s talk Rounds 1-3:3
In Round 1, FPO plays Northwoods, MPO plays Eureka
• If the final FPO card teed at 11:00 am, they would finish at 2:55 pm
• If the final MPO card teed at 4:30 pm, they would finish at 7:17 pm
• This would leave at least an hour and 35 minutes between FPO lead card ending and MPO lead card beginning, which is more than occurs at some other DGPT events.
In Rounds 2-3, FPO plays Sunset Hills, MPO plays Northwoods
• If the final FPO card teed at 11:00 am, they would finish at 1:46 pm
• If the final MPO card teed at 3:30 pm, they would finish at 7:15 pm
If you want to give the FPO a minimum of 1 hour of daylight warmup time, you can start the first card at 6:42 am. If you start a card every 14 minutes thereafter and leave 20 minutes between the chase and lead cards (as is tradition), you can let 76 FPO women play and still get all the MPO players done an hour before sunset with more than 90 minutes between FPO ending and MPO lead card starting. If you don’t want the men finishing that late (although it’s not a problem in terms of sunlight), you could make that a shorter gap between FPO ending and MPO lead card starting. DGN could buy some back-up camera batteries or portable chargers and the camera crew could eat their lunch on the run like a lot of professionals do.

Here are two other ideas that would require planning changes in terms of pools/courses/scheduling, but would be feasible in future:

(1) Have MPO and FPO play on the same two courses as they do for most DGPT events (they can still have different layouts) and do split A/B pool for both MPO and FPO so that the top half of the MPO division and top half of the FPO division are in one pool/ and the bottom half on another pool for Rounds 1 and 2. Then have a re-shuffle based on Round 1 and 2 scores before Round 3 and a cut before Round 4. This way, coverage (camera crew) always stays on A pool, but there is not a time crunch for them to cover both FPO and MPO. This is basically how Pro Worlds did it—worked fine for coverage and allowed for a very large women’s field.

(2) Have perhaps the 6th to the bottom card tee early in the morning (e.g. around 6:45 or 7:00) and work the cards up like normal to having the lead card of FPO tee at whatever is the desired time for coverage (9:30?). Then have the 5 bottom cards of FPO tee thereafter. This may require approval from the PDGA, but it could be done—there is no inherent reason the lead card must be last in the division to tee—put a few of the low cards after them to facilitate the coverage schedule (if PDGA would approve).

I can keep going, but I’ll start with those three.

I will say, any change requires some inconvenience. My question for you (and the DGPT and PDGA as a whole) is how much inconvenience is it worth to support the growth of women professional disc golfers and to treat them equitably (as compared to MPO)? This is not a small issue. Women have fought for a fair place in this sport for decades: disproportionately limiting the size of our division based on an arbitrary broadcast schedule just isn’t going to cut it if disc golf is going to continue to grow as a professional sport.

Rebecca, thanks for your input. I started a conversation this morning with the DGPT about trying to ... show more ›

Rebecca, thanks for your input. I started a conversation this morning with the DGPT about trying to increase the field size in FPO for Ledgestone. However, I do want to point out that in the past, FPO players have loudly complained when the first tee times are before 730AM. I also want to point out that round times at Sunset Hills for FPO are definitely not 2 hours and 30 minutes, last year they were 3 hours and 20 minutes on average. I also want to point out that last year, the FPO waitlist for Ledgestone was 12 people and eventually everyone got in AND we ended up having 3 available spots. Thanks for the conversation.

Nate, Round 3, Sunset Hills, 2025, FPO lead card (which is what matters and what I cited above) ... show more ›

Nate,

Round 3, Sunset Hills, 2025, FPO lead card (which is what matters and what I cited above) took 2:31.
Round 2, Sunset Hills, 2025, FPO lead card took 2:36

Links to coverage for both rounds so you can double check (let me know if I'm missing something; for each round they start roughly 30 minutes in to coverage and end with roughly 20 minutes remaining):
Round 3 coverage: https://www.discgolfnetwork.com/vod/vod.6062-round-3-fpo-2025-discraft-ledgestone-open-1
Round 2 coverage: https://www.discgolfnetwork.com/vod/vod.6046-round-2-fpo-2025-discraft-ledgestone-open-1

Also, I can guarantee most FPO players would rather tee off earlier than 7:30 rather than not tee off at all (which are the two options in the current situation). That said, yes, a solution where everyone gets to play and they can tee off 7:30 and later is ideal, and some of the options I listed above would get you there. Or shortening the break between the two coverage sessions by 40 minutes.

I hope you and the DGPT are able to keep talking and make a solution happen.