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The Waco Annual Charity Open returns this weekend, running Friday through Sunday at Brazos Park East. Though the tournament dates back nearly 20 years, this marks the sixth consecutive year it’s been a stop on the Disc Golf Pro Tour (DGPT).

The tour opened its 2022 season last weekend in Las Vegas, and Waco marks the second stop. After a long winter, it’s safe to say the pros are buzzing to get back out there and try to cash in with some chain-tickling putts.

“It’s kind of cool. We start the season in Vegas, and then we come to Waco,” said DGPT operations director Seth Fendley. “That’s bit of a drive, you know? So what we see is some players just opting to start in Waco. So we see that sort of excitement is just as hefty in Waco as it is in Vegas, where we start. To some extent, it’s like a second start.”

Brazos Park East’s course was established in 2003 by local designer Joey Harrell and is generally ranked on any list of the top 10 courses in Texas. That’s part of the appeal of coming to Waco, Fendley said.

“One of the things that we’ve seen is that the sport has advanced. Very much like golf courses have gotten longer and more complex, so has disc golf,” Fendley said. “Even through all those complexities and additions, the Waco course still holds up. … In the planning process for this year we had a unique instance where there were no changes to the course. … We’re saying, ‘You know what? The course is running exactly how we want it be.’ So, that’s one of the big draws.”

Of course, it’s still possible that some of these pros will make the Beast look like a kitten. These guys are the best players in the world for a reason. In 2019, five-time world champion Paul McBeth put together one of the most impressive rounds in the sport’s history when he shot 18-under in the second round in Waco. He tallied 18 birdies, one par and one eagle with no out-of-bounds throws on a course known for its numerous tree-lined tunnel holes. Not surprisingly, McBeth went on to win the Waco Annual Charity Open (WACO) that year.

Yet despite McBeth’s dominance in 2019, WACO has gained a reputation for wide-open competition and final-round flourishes.

“(McBeth) is a stalwart on tour, one of the top pros in the world, so him being able to come out and win is maybe not that earth-shattering,” Fendley said. “Then you turn around in 2020, you have Colten Montgomery win and it’s his first win on Tour, and then last year you had Nikko Locastro win and it was his second win on tour. … Same on the women’s side. We’ve seen a host of different winners on the women’s side, and it just creates a whole lot of excitement to have that sort of parity with the course.”

A full field of the top pros has registered for this year’s tournament, including past champs like McBeth, Montgomery and Locastro and two-time champ Jeremy Koling, as well as other successful pros like Eagle McMahon and Ricky Wysocki. On the women’s side, Texan and five-time world champ Paige Pierce will take aim at her third WACO title against a formidable field that includes past champs Catrina Allen, Evelina Salonen and Kona Panis. The latter is the tournament’s defending champion and she signed the largest sponsorship deal for a women’s player in the sport’s history in January when she inked a four-year, $500,000 deal with Dynamic Discs.

Panis, who has more than 58,000 Instagram followers, figures to generate some large galleries in Waco, along with Pierce, McBeth and pros like Brodie Smith and Simon Lizotte, who have substantial followings on YouTube. Lizotte is a native of Germany and former world record holder for the longest disc golf throw, while Smith is a former American Ultimate Disc League player who joined the pro disc golf tour in 2020, with Waco as his debut event. He’s well-known for his trick shot videos and for appearing on the CBS show “The Amazing Race.”

Fendley said tickets for Saturday’s second round and Sunday’s final round are sold out, but tickets are still available for Friday’s first round.

“It’s just like coming out and spectating any other professional event,” he said. “The excitement is there, the community really supports it, both players and non-players. I think the biggest thing is if you’re interested, be willing to get there early to spectate on Friday, or just watch online.”