Sofia Donnecke Bursts onto Scene at 2024 Portland Open
Keeping the Streak Alive
Team Innova’s women are on a perfect podium streak so far this season – we have had at least one FPO athlete in the top 3 of all 11 Major and Disc Golf Pro Tour events. At last weekend’s 2024 Portland Open, the DGPT rookie Sofia Donnecke kept our streak going with her 3rd place finish. This was only the second Pro Tour event of Sofia’s promising, young career.
Star Team member Kat Mertsch took 4th place, her sixth top 10 of the year. In the MPO, Calvin Heimburg took 6th.
New Name on the Podium
Sofia Donnecke played her first PDGA event in 2022; now just over two years later, she finds herself on a Disc Golf Pro Tour podium!
Photo by DGPT
At the 2024 Portland Open, Sofia proved she has the talent and consistency to hang with the best FPO athletes in the world, through four rounds, at an Elite+ event. She shot the hot round on day two at -10, setting the course record (later beaten by Holyn Handley in the final round). She led the field in Scramble rate and was 3rd in Strokes Gained Tee to Green for the weekend. Where Sofia really made up strokes on the field was limiting her over par strokes. She averaged just 1.5 strokes over par per round and was the only player in the field to take no double bogeys or worse for the weekend.
This was only the 2nd Disc Golf Pro Tour event of Sofia’s career. Her first was just a few weeks back at the OTB Open where she took 14th. She is bursting onto the scene in a way we haven’t seen from an FPO rookie before. Last weekend, Sofia became the player with the highest PDGA number to ever make an Elite event lead card. She averaged 50 points above her current player rating, which stands to rocket upwards in the June update. Her current trajectory makes Sofia one of the most promising up-and-comers in the FPO.
Sofia Donnecke’s accomplishments span far beyond disc golf. She is a multi-talented Harvard graduate with a PhD in chemistry. She has opportunities and life paths, both in the sport and out, to consider. We hope Sofia’s early success on Tour fuels her to prioritize and pursue professional disc golf. We know that if she does, she has a bright career ahead.
Team Innova Top Performances
Kat Mertsch continued a strong run of recent tournaments, earning her 4th top 10 in a row. Kat took 4th place at the 2024 Portland Open with exceptional drives and approaches all weekend. She led the field in Parked percentage and C2 Hits in Regulation. She was 2nd in Strokes Gained Tee to Green, Fairway Hits, and C1 Hits in Regulation. In the final round, she took the only Eagle on the 910-foot Hole 5 of the event.
Ohn Scoggins took 6th place after leading the tournament through the first two rounds. She led the field in Fairways Hits for the event. Ohn struggled on the putting green on the final day, dropping 4 spots down the leaderboard into 6th. She remains in 2nd place in the Disc Golf Pro Tour Point Standings for the season.
In the MPO, Calvin Heimburg finished in 6th place. He took a highlight Eagle on Hole 18 in the third round to earn a spot on the final day lead card. He led the field in Scramble rate.
Joona Heinänen finished in a tie for 19th, securing his 2nd top 20 of the season out of four starts.
2024 Beaver State Fling Presented by Innova
The Beaver State Fling is many athletes’ and fans’ favorite Tour stop. A perfect combination of wooded and open holes tests every shot shape, from rollers, to backhand bombs, to flex forehands. Massive old-growth trees make for iconic fairways, not seen anywhere else in the country. Tune into the Disc Golf Network from June 7 – June 9 to watch the action live. Check Innovadiscs.com for tournament recaps, tips, Innova news, and more.
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