Eveliina Salonen overcame an eight-stroke deficit entering the final round to force a sudden-death playoff, then birdied the first extra hole to win the GRIPeq 44th Kansas City Wide Open presented by Nexus Disc Golf on Sunday at Bad Rock Creek in Liberty, Missouri. Salonen’s 9-under 60 in the championship round — the low round of the tournament — erased Henna Blomroos’s commanding lead and set the stage for a dramatic denouement that ended when Blomroos could only match par on the 575-foot par-4 opener while Salonen drained the birdie.
Both players finished the 54-hole competition at 13-under par with identical 194 stroke totals.
Final Standings
| Place | Player | R1 | R2 | Finals | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eveliina Salonen | -5 (64) | +1 (70) | -9 (60) | -13 |
| 2 | Henna Blomroos | -6 (63) | -6 (63) | -1 (68) | -13 |
| 3 | Ohn Scoggins | -5 (64) | -1 (68) | -5 (64) | -11 |
| 4 | Missy Gannon | -3 (66) | -2 (67) | -5 (64) | -10 |
| T5 | Raven Klein | -4 (65) | +1 (70) | -4 (65) | -7 |
| T5 | Holyn Handley | -1 (68) | -6 (63) | E (69) | -7 |
| T7 | Catrina Allen | +1 (70) | -4 (65) | -3 (66) | -6 |
| T7 | Sofia Donnecke | -2 (67) | -5 (64) | +1 (70) | -6 |
| 9 | Jennifer Allen | -1 (68) | -2 (67) | -2 (67) | -5 |
| 10 | Sintija Klezberga | -2 (67) | -1 (68) | -1 (68) | -4 |
Course: Bad Rock Creek (BRC FPO), Liberty, Missouri — Par 69, 8,700 feet, 18 holes
The Comeback: Eight Down, Then Gone
Entering the championship round, Blomroos held a commanding 8-shot advantage over Salonen. The Finnish pair had split the first two rounds at -6 each to build separate totals — Blomroos at 12-under, Salonen at just 4-under — with the rest of the field fading even further behind.
Salonen, who carries a PDGA rating of 979 and 57 career wins, dismantled Bad Rock Creek in the finals in a fashion few saw coming. She opened with a quiet par, then erupted for birdies on holes 2, 3, and 4 — three consecutive scores under par to put the early pressure on. She reached the turn at 5-under for the round, having posted birdies on holes 8, 9, and 10 as well, a six-birdie front nine marred only by a bogey-free card through hole 11.
A lone bogey on hole 12 was the only blemish. Salonen answered by birdieing holes 13, 14, 16, and 18 to close out 10 birdies against one bogey for the 60. The round stands as a clinic in front-to-back consistency: Salonen never relinquished the momentum after that opening three-birdie burst.
Blomroos, meanwhile, could not find her round-1 and round-2 form. The 969-rated Rauma, Finland native had been flawless through 36 holes, back-to-back 6-under 63s that left the field looking up. But in the finals she managed only 3 birdies, surrendered 2 bogeys, and shot even-par 68 — still a respectable score against the field, but no match for what Salonen was producing.
Playoff: One Hole, One Birdie
With both players signed for 194 strokes and -13 overall, officials sent them to the playoff on the 575-foot, par-4 opening hole of Bad Rock Creek’s FPO layout.
Salonen stepped up first and carded a clean 3. Blomroos pushed for the matching birdie and came up short with a 4. The championship went to Salonen on the first extra hole, adding to her 57 career wins.
Scoggins and Gannon Hold Off the Field
Behind the Finnish duo, Ohn Scoggins and Missy Gannon made up the bulk of the non-playoff race with identical 64s in the finals.
Scoggins shared the overnight lead with Salonen at -5 after round one, slipped a shot to -6 overall with a -1 round two, and then played her cleanest 18-hole round of the week in the finals to finish alone in third at 11-under. Her steady play gave her three sub-65 rounds out of three starts.
Gannon had been in the hunt since posting -3 (66) in round one. She trimmed shots in rounds two and three alike, carding -2 and -5 respectively, to land at 10-under in fourth — a strong showing for one of the game’s most decorated competitors.
Handley’s Mixed Finals Round Leaves Opportunity on the Table
Holyn Handley, the field’s highest-rated player at 987, rode a sizzling -6 (63) second round to move to T2 overall entering the finals — positioned just five shots behind Blomroos with a realistic path to the win. But a finals round that opened with a double bogey on hole 1 and another on hole 9 cost her dearly. Handley made six birdies on the day yet surrendered those two double bogeys alongside two bogeys to finish at even par, leaving her at -7 for the event and a share of fifth.
Allen Makes a Move; Klein Stays Consistent
Catrina Allen, one of the game’s all-time leaders with 181 career wins, needed a rebound after an uncharacteristic +1 opening round. The Sioux Falls, South Dakota native delivered one: she shot -4 (65) in round two and -3 (66) in the finals to climb from outside the top 12 all the way to a share of seventh at 6-under.
Raven Klein showed the kind of steady composure that has characterized her rise through the FPO ranks. The Burnsville, Minnesota native opened with a -4 (65), a round that kept her near the leaders, then navigated a tough +1 second round before responding with another -4 (65) in the finals. Her 65-70-65 pattern gave her a share of fifth at 7-under — her hole-15 triple bogey in the finals the lone visible lapse in an otherwise disciplined week.
Course Notes
Bad Rock Creek’s FPO layout played to par 69 across 8,700 feet. The course presented distinct challenges in its long holes — hole 4 stretched 939 feet (par 5), hole 16 checked in at 779 feet (par 5), and hole 18 closed at 749 feet (par 5) — while the short par-3 corridor in the mid-round offered birdie opportunities the leaders consistently converted. Hole 15, a 288-foot par 3, proved surprisingly treacherous: multiple finalists surrendered big numbers there in the championship round, including Klein’s triple bogey and Jennifer Allen’s six.
The 44th edition of the Kansas City Wide Open is an PDGA Elite Series event, broadcast on the Disc Golf Network.