Paige Pierce Explained

Paige Pierce
Fullname:Paige Ashton Pierce
Birth Date:1991
Birth Place:Plano, TX
Height:5 ft 5 in
Status:Professional
Yearpro:2009
Tour:PDGA National Tour
Disc Golf Pro Tour
Pdga Wins:143
Pdgawins:27
Dgptwins:30
Worlds:Won: 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019
Uswdgc:Won: 2014, 2017, 2018, 2021
Aussie:Won: 2017
Euromast:3rd: 2014
Euroopen:Won: 2013, 2019, 2022
Japan:2nd: 2014
Wnc:Won: 2020
Award1:PDGA Female Rookie of the Year
Year1:2010
Award2:National Tour Series Champion
Year2:2014, 2015, 2017, 2018
Award3:PDGA Female Player of the Year
Year3:2015, 2017, 2018, 2019
Champcup:Won: 2022
Wnc:Won: 2020

Paige Pierce is a professional disc golfer from Plano, Texas. She has won 5 World Championships and 17 total Major Championships (the most of any female player), and has been consistently ranked among the top professional women since 2011. In 2018 she broke the record for the highest PDGA player rating a woman had ever achieved at 978. Since then she has broken her own record several times, most recently at 996 rated in March 2021.[1]

Pierce began playing disc golf at the age of 4 with her father and his friends. She went professional in 2009 and started touring in 2010.

In addition to holding a number of PDGA National Tour wins, she is the all-time leading women's winner on the Disc Golf Pro Tour, founded 2016 by Steve Dodge and Nate Heinhold, with 30 DGPT wins as of August 2021.

After winning the US Women's Disc Golf Championship in 2014, Pierce made history by becoming the first female to ever win the USDGC Performance Flight division.[2] She narrowly missed qualifying for the Open division in 2015, missing a playoff for the fifth qualifying spot by two strokes. In 2017, she earned a qualification for USDGC at the Aussie Open. In 2018 she once again earned a qualifying spot when she won the United States Women's Disc Golf Championship.[3]

In 2023, while practicing for the PCS Sula Open, Pierce slipped on a bridge on the course and broke her ankle. This led to her taking the rest of the season off, and she was still recovering during the 2024 season. In 2023, she married her partner Ayla Pierce.

Professional career

In addition to Pierce's five World Championships, she also holds two Mixed Doubles World Championships, both with Jeremy Koling.[4]

Majors (17)

YearTournamentStroke MarginWinning ScoreRunner UpPrize Money
2011 PDGA World Championships -3 (89-89-91-88-60-28=445) $2,000
2012 Stockholm Open -8 (62-65-65-72=264) Valarie Jenkins $1,302
2013 Copenhagen Open align="center"-6 (67-65-72-67=271) Valarie Jenkins $931
2013 European Open align="center"-17 (68-79-68-68=283) Valarie Jenkins $1,300
2013 PDGA World Championships align="center"-1 (58-63-61-59-56-59-54-35=445) Valarie Jenkins $2,000
2014 USWDGC -6 (55-68-57-72=252) Valarie Jenkins $2,300
2015 PDGA World Championships -1 (68-62-65-65-64-60-32=416) $2,500
2017 Aussie Open 2017 -20 (62-64-59-69=254) Jennifer Allen $1,100
2017 2017 United States' Women's Disc Golf Championships -6 (53-65-61-48=227) Jessica Weese $2,200
2017 PDGA World Championships[5] -5 (65-60-68-66= 259) Valarie Jenkins $5,500
2018 United States Women's Disc Golf Championships -2 (67-59-59-61=246) Vanessa VanDyken $2,040
2019 European Open -17[6] (61-62-65-66=254) Henna Blomroos $2,030
2019 PDGA World Championships -5 (64-57-59-52-52=284) Eveliina Salonen $5,000
2020 Women's National Championship -4 (60-65-66-68=259) $3,000
2021 United States Women's Disc Golf Championships -13 (50-47-47=144) Hailey King $4,400
2022 Champion's Cup -2 (68-64-64-67=263) $8,000
2022 European Open -3 (71-65-65-63=264) Eveliina Salonen $8,000

Majors playoff record (0–1)

Year Tournament Opponent Result
2012 US Women's Disc Golf Championship Catrina AllenLost

National Tour and Elite Series (27)

YearTournamentStroke MarginWinning ScoreRunner UpPrize Money
2011 Memorial Championship align="center"-1 (58-61-63-56=238) Valarie Jenkins $1,300
2011 Kansas City Wide Open align="center"-5 (64-51-70-59=244) Liz Lopez $675
2013 Memorial Championship -11 (54-52-58-52=216) Valarie Jenkins $1,600
2014 Memorial Championship -10 (55-51-54-59=219) $1,600
2014 Texas State Championships Playoff (72-71-75=218) Catrina Allen $857
2014 Kansas City Wide Open -4 (60-66-58-33=217) Valarie Jenkins $900
2014 -3 (64-65-61-65=255) Catrina Allen $1,500
2014 Rochester Flying Disc Open align="center"-10 (58-53-56-55=222) Catrina Allen $900
2015 Memorial Championship -2 (55-62-48-61=226) Valarie Jenkins $1,775
2015 Glass Blown Open align="center"-11 (58-56-61=175) Jennifer Allen $1,200
2015 Masters Cup align="center"-7 (78-72-72=222) Valarie Jenkins $1,800
2015 align="center"-5 (61-63-59-70=253) Catrina Allen $1,600
2015 Disc Golf Hall of Fame Classic align="center"-2 (57-74-67=198) Valarie Jenkins $1,300
2016 -1 (66-63-59-57=245) Catrina Allen $1,500
2017 Gentlemen's Club Challenge -3 (57-60-57-68=242) Catrina Allen $2,000
2017 Dynamic Discs Glass Blown Open Tie (62-55=117) Hannah Leatherman $1,500
2017 Masters Cup -9 (77-73-58=208) Jennifer Allen $1,500
2017 -18 (58-60-57-59=234) Valarie Jenkins $2,000
2018 Las Vegas Challenge -3 (64-57-64-59=244) Sarah Hokom $2,500
2018 Dynamic Discs Glass Blown Open -2 (53-61-53=167) Lisa Fajkus $2,000
2018 Santa Cruz Masters Cup -12 (78-73-56=207) Catrina Allen $2,000
2019 -3 (60-57-62-66=245) Catrina Allen $2,250
2020 Memorial Championship -14 (48+49+48+55=200) Jennifer Allen $1,500
2020 Dynamic Discs Open -10 (60+61+66=187) Missy Gannon $1,500
2020 The Preserve Championship -13 (55+56+55=166) Catrina Allen $1,600
2020 Discraft's Great Lakes Open -6 (59+58+59=176) Ellen Widboom $2,000
2021 Master's Cup +1 (72+75+79=226) Catrina Allen $3,500
2021Las Vegas Challenge-1(52+69+57+62=240)Catrina Allen$4,000
2021OTB Open-1(67+65+60=191)Catrina Allen$3,000
2021Portland Open-3(61+65+63=189)Catrina Allen$3,000
2021Utah Open-3(53+59+60=172)Catrina Allen$1,720
2021Ledgestone-11(64+54+54+67=239)Missy Gannon$4,000
2021Idlewild Open-3(65+70+65=200)Missy Gannon$5,000
2022Texas State Championships-4(58+63+63=184)Kristin Tattar$4,000
2022OTB Open-4(67+58+68=197)Natalie Ryan$5,500
2022The Preserve-5(57+60+65=182)Missy Gannon$5,000
2023Open at Austin-2(61+58+62=181)Catrina Allen$4,000
2023OTB Open-4(60+55+61=176)Ohn Scoggins$7,400
2024Portland Open-4(65+61+58+60=244)Holyn Handley$8,000

NT playoff record (1–3)

Year Tournament Opponent Result
2013 Kansas City Wide Open Lost to birdie on first extra hole [7]
2014 Texas State Championships Won with par on second extra hole [8]
2015 Ledgestone Insurance Open Lost to par on first extra hole [9]
2016 Lost to birdie on first extra hole [10]

Summary

Competition TierWins2nd3rdTop-5Events*
World Championships 5 4 0 7 11
Other Majors 10 4 2 14 16
National Tour 27 15 5 42 45

*As of January 1, 2017

Annual statistics

Year Events Wins Top 3 Earnings $ / Event Rating World
Rankings
2007 2 0 2 $0 $0 890 align=center-
2008 2 0 1 $0 $0 89935
2009 3 0 1 $50 $16.67 90435
2010 17 1 8 $3,643 $214.29 9348
2011 29 13 22 $11,249 $387.90 9484
2012 27 9 24 $12,209 $452.19 9604
2013 26 11 23 $18,128 $697.23 9613
2014 24 14 22 $17,661 $735.88 9761
2015 29 20 27 $26,571 $916.24 9621
2016 21 7 20 $18,556 $883.62 9583
2017 27 21 24 $36,328 $1,345.48 9751
2018 24 15 21 $26,877 $1,119.88 9691
2019 2413 21 $33,630 $1,401.25 9791
2020 14 8 11 $28,114 $2,008 991 1
Career 269119 227 $254,698 align="right"- align="right"--
At Year End

Major championships timeline

Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
European Open2141
552T71T23112
PDGA World Championships517121T2121
Other majors
Other majors (cont.)
Tournament 2020 2021 2022 2023
European Open1
1T21
PDGA World Championships2T5
Other majors

Notes and References

  1. Web site: PDGA World Rankings.
  2. Web site: Pierce Makes History.
  3. Web site: Windy then Wet Qualifier.
  4. Web site: PDGA Player Page: Paige Pierce.
  5. News: 2017 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships. Professional Disc Golf Association. 2017-06-27. en.
  6. udisc.com
  7. Web site: Paul McBeth, Catrina Ulibarri win at 2013 Kansas City Wide Open.
  8. Web site: Wysocki, Pierce fight the elements to win 2014 Texas States . Michalowski, J..
  9. Web site: Ledgestone Insurance Open: Simon Lizotte, Catrina Allen take down largest disc golf purse . Parcell, Z..
  10. Web site: Wysocki Flies To Third Straight NT Win At Beaver State Fling . Hill, S..