Yes, he’s on a cold streak, but it’s not as bad as you think.

November 1, 2022 by Matt Thompson in Opinion with comments

On Saturday afternoon — moving day at The United States Disc Golf Championship — there was a great migration on the grounds of the Winthrop Arena course. Gaggles of spectators were abandoning the lead card and the previous tournament leader to catch up with Paul McBeth, Calvin Heimburg, and Gannon Buhr. The Disc Golf Network’s camera men hustled over so every shot of the chase card could be watched at home. This bustle of activity was precipitated by Ricky Wysocki going four over par on the front nine and effectively taking himself out of contention for his first USDGC title.

At the start of the day, the headwear icon was sitting on a three stroke lead, had only taken one bogey through thirty six holes, and had a 46% likelihood to win, according to UDisc’s (still nascent) win probability metric. Things were looking up for the Disc Golf Pro Tour points champion, but through only five holes, it seemed his tournament was already over. It was a whiplash-inducing “blink and you’ll miss it” fall from the top. He finished moving day one over par and dropped six spots into a tie for seventh place. Even with a solid eight under on the final day, Ricky remained in seventh place as Gannon Buhr went scorched-earth with the putter en route to a 12-under Sunday and his first major title. 10 years ago, when Buhr was only 7 years old, his self-professed idol Will Schusterick took the same title from Ricky by 2 strokes.

It’s been a long and successful career for Ricky Wysocki in the decade between the two victories by Prodigy’s prodigies, but recently there has been a growing chorus of criticism surrounding his play at major championships. The chatter was exacerbated by Ricky’s own comments after a perceived lackluster performance at the World Championship where he said “It’s kinda weird that one week out of the year determines a world champion” before going on to extol his own consistency on tour. This was seen as, I think fairly, sour grapes from the biggest rival of the six time and reigning world champion, Paul McBeth. While Ricky does not express it in the best way possible, when taken generously, his comments do make a certain amount of sense. Ricky Wysocki believes he is the best player on the planet right now, and I think he’s correct, but it…