She's finally done it... After eight months of sitting at 999, Kristin Tattar has gone where no woman has gone before and is now officially the first female player to ever eclipse the thousand rated mark- All hail the queen!
Kristin Tattar is perhaps the most ubiquitously cheered-for pro in the game today- you would be hard-pressed to find someone that follows the professional disc golf scene in any sort of serious fashion that doesn't enjoy watching her play and wants to see her win. There are certainly other widely beloved pros out there- MattyO, Ohn Scoggins, Simon Lizotte- but if you took a poll of everyone's top 3 favorite players in MPO and FPO, my guess is that Kristin's name would be the most common one found on that list. She's been absolutely dominant for years now, and has that IT factor that reminds me of Tiger Woods or a young Paul McBeth- even though they're the favorite to win every tournament they enter, you still tune in cheering for them to take it down. Kristin, like those other two icons, has a seemingly perfect combination of skills, charisma, and killer instinct that makes her fun to watch and easy to cheer for.
Kristin has been hovering at the 999 mark- save for one dip to 998 in last October- for several months now, leaving much of the disc golf community holding our collective breath as we refuse to do the math ourselves and wait for the next ratings update to roll out to see if she would finally hit that mythical 4 digit mark. She is the first woman in the history of disc golf to achieve this rating- Paige Pierce came close in the spring of 2021 but came up just short, and this is a milestone not just for Kristin, but for the disc golf world. She certainly won't be the last professional woman to reach this mark, but Tattar has certainly cemented her place in the history of the sport with this milestone.
As disc golf continues to grow and evolve, I expect to see a few others join her in the coming years- Ohn Scoggins is the closest currently at 989, is THE BEST female putter in the world, and is probably the player that most people want to see reach this mark next, because she's such a genuinely likeable person. Ohn doesn't rely on power to be successful, so it will be interesting to see how long she can maintain her elite level of play, given her age. The Finnish friends Henna Blomroos and Eveliina Salonen are both DOMINANT when it comes to throwing the disc- they lead the FPO field in Slugging, which to me is a newly found stat. It combines their parked percentage with C1 and C2 in regulation to give a more full representation of how well they perform from Tee to Green. And for those that like the "more traditional" Tee to Green statistic... they are top 2 there as well. Unfortunately, they both have woes on the putting green and are near the bottom of the field from both C1 and C2. As we all experience in our own personal games, it's a BIG "if" to say "if they just become dominant putters", but if either of them can start hitting at even a 75% clip from C1, it may be difficult for any American to hoist an FPO trophy on the Pro Tour for the next several years.
But the US of A does have hopefuls for sure- Holyn Handley is still relatively new to the game and has been steadily climbing up the ranks and into regular lead card action, Missy Gannon has a well-rounded game from the tee to the green, and I would like to remind the world once again that we're sitting on the ticking time bomb that is Eliezra Midtlyng, a teenager who can't drive a car but CAN drive a disc- she's already sitting just outside the top 10 slugging in the FPO field.
It's a fair question at this point- though it'll surely drive the "ratings don't matter" crowd crazy- whether or not Kristin Tattar is the GOAT of women's disc golf. Those are always nuanced discussions- I think she is the BEST female player of all time, yes. But I still think she needs to add to her resume before taking the spot at the top of that mountain. She "only" has 6 major wins and 2 world titles, but at the clip she's going, she could close on Paige Pierce's numbers of 17 and 5 within the next couple of years. (People forget how good Paige was and for how long)
Kristin is also winning Grand Slams and world titles in a more competitive era- this isn't to knock on Paige, Valerie, Korver, King, or any of the other greats that came before, but it IS more impressive that she can dominate the way she has while playing against the fields that she's been up against. And she has been dominant- she committed to disc golf full time in 2018, didn't have a full tour in the US until 2022, and last year was the first year that she even PLAYED IN all 4 majors (and she won them all). Even still, she has the most Elite Series wins and Majors since 2021, and every event that she DOESN'T show up to seems to have an asterisk next to the winner's name (*Kristin didn't play). Since 2020 she has a FIFTY THREE percent win percentage in Elite Series events and has NEVER placed outside of the top 10 in an Elite Series event 😲
That is a stat that is so ridiculous that I had to go back and make sure that I was reading Stat Mando correctly, and sure enough- when she's not outright winning events, she's still showing a level of consistency that is outright absurd, especially given what we've mentioned about how talented the field has become. Kristin Tattar is the queen of the disc golf world, and I'm stoked for both her and the sport of disc golf for her to finally punch through the 4 digit mark. I'm sure Lat64 will be pumping out some 1k Graces or something in the coming days, and I don't care how many commemorative discs she has available now, these are ones that I'm definitely going to want to get my hands on.
So congratulations, Kristin, it's obviously a well-deserved accomplishment, and the disc golf world is excited to see you finally eclipse that mark. Now rest up and get back to the Pro Tour- it's kind of you to give others a shot at the OTB Open, but we the people want to see you back in the mix.
What do you think Tattar's cap will be, and who do you think will be the next woman to join her in the 1000-rated club? Leave your thoughts below and let's chat about it.