Local disc golfer Ali Smith wins her first pro tour victory at the Kansas City Wide Open
Ali Smith. // Courtesy photo
It had been seven years since the Kansas City area had last hosted a Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) Pro Tour event, but that streak was finally broken when 134 professional players gathered from across the country (three from overseas) to compete in the GRIPeq 41st Kansas City Wide Open at Liberty’s Bad Rock Creek in Stocksdale Park, July 7-9.
The event featured 108 men and 26 women playing for shares of a $54,120 prize pool, and, according to tournament manager Jerry Patterson, set a PDGA Silver Series record with 1,030 spectator tickets sold.
That would turn out to be money well spent for local fans who were able to watch hometown hero Ali Smith earn the first pro-tour victory of her career. The Liberty North High School and Missouri State University graduate shot five birdies on day one to finish three-under par (63). She wouldn’t let go of the lead for the rest of the weekend.
“I felt really honored and humbled. I seemed to get maybe louder cheers than everyone else. I’m definitely the hometown girl,” Smith says.
Smith, 28, relished in that role, shooting one-over par (67) on both her second and third rounds to finish one-under par (197) to win it over top-ten ranked Texan Holyn Handley (+1, 67, 70, 62, 199) and Washingtonian Hanna Huynh (+1, 65, 67, 67, 199).
Handley and Huynh tied for second. Lisa Fajkus (+4, 67, 66, 69, 202), also from Texas, finished fourth just ahead of Kansas City’s own Casey Pennington (+7, 66, 74, 65).
The men’s field had some shuffling within the latter half of the top ten, but the podium boiled down to a tight race between top-ranked Gannon Buhr of Urbandale, IA, Joseph Anderson, of Athens, Georgia, and Jake Hebenheimer of Jefferson City.
On the final hole of the weekend, Hebenheimer found himself just one shot away from potentially forcing Buhr—ranked fourth in the world by UDisc—into a playoff situation to determine the winner.
However, as Hebenheimer approached the last straight of the 18th hole—split by a meadow marked ‘out of bounds’ that players had to traverse successfully—fell just short of the in-bounds area on ‘the green,’ sealing the deal for Buhr, who won by two strokes at 28-under par, or 176 total.
Anderson (-26, 55, 63, 60, 178) finished two strokes back for second despite shooting the lowest men’s score on day one. Hebenheimer (-25, 63, 56, 60, 179) was third, with young upstart Alabaman Sullivan Tipton (-23, 59, 64, 58, 181), and Floridian Kevin Keifer III (-22, 60, 65, 57, 182) rounding out the top five.
Payouts across both divisions totaled $54,120, with $41,761 split between 44 of the 108 male competitors and $12,359 awarded to 13 of the 26 female entries. Smith pocketed $3,000 for her win, with Buhr taking home $4,500. All players had to qualify based on their professional rankings and performances in qualifier events.
Other area competitors to finish with some cash-in-hand included Chris Clemons (11th, -15), John “Bones” Jones (15th, -11), Michael Babbitt (29th, -5), Isaac Heinen (35th, -2), and Dallas Wrinkle (43rd, +1).
On the final day, Smith sank a birdie on hole-18 to clinch her title. Following spirited fanfare from a crowd of locals and visitors alike, Smith told the media she had made to decision to quit her teaching career to pursue disc golf full-time going forward.
“I decided that teaching was not fulfilling for me, emotionally and mentally, and with disc golf growing, I found potential in that,” Smith says. “I figured I can always come back to teaching. I’ve got a lifetime certificate to do that. But your body only is young for so long. So I decided to give disc golf a try and go on tour.”
Smith started playing disc golf in 2018 as an extension of her interest in ultimate frisbee, which she played while at Missouri State. Upon graduating, she got a job offer to teach math at Liberty High School.
“I was ready to dive more into teaching at the time. But I still loved throwing and coming back home, I had seen a lot of baskets and a lot of disc golf courses around the Kansas City metro area. I asked my parents for a little starter [disc] set as a Christmas gift, and that’s kind of where it sparked for me. I just began ‘hiking with a purpose,’” Smith says.
Ali Smith. // Courtesy photo
Three years later, in August 2021, just 10 months after entering her first competition, Smith won the World Amateur Championship in Orlando, signaling another shift in her priorities. With the pandemic making much of her teaching work virtual, she got more time to go out and throw the discs.
Smith continued to teach through 2022, but when that school year ended, she chose not to resign her teaching contract.
“I want people to know that we aren’t trapped in the job or career that we maybe pursued when we were 18 because we were kind of scared. I was privileged to go to college, I know that not everyone gets to do that. But, if it’s really not making you happy and you have the ability to do something about it. I really wanted to get it out there that you can change your circumstances,” Smith says.
With so many cheering her on, the win looked to be yet another affirmation of Smith’s decision.
“I just felt overcome with emotion. People were asking me if I was anxious or nervous, and that definitely wasn’t the feeling. If you see any of the coverage, I’m smiling for almost all of it,” Smith says. “From my very first tournament this year, on every single tee pad before I throw my first drive, I remind myself that I’m happy with where I’m at in life.”
