LIBERTY, Mo. — Kansas City Disc Golf has staged the Kansas City Wide Open for 43 years, but for the first time ever it’s a Disc Golf Pro Tour Elite Series event.
“We’ve worked our butts off to make this happen,” KC Wide Open volunteer Sydney Klein said.
Klein and her fiancé moved to Kansas City from Iowa five years ago.
“It was in the middle of COVID, so we started going out and playing disc golf and that's how we met a whole bunch of people,” she said.
That included tournament director Jerry Patterson and his wife, Tina.
The KC Disc Golf community became Klein’s people, so she’s thrilled to play a role in helping the KC Wide Open grow.
“It's so surreal, I can't even put words to it,” she said. “It's one of the greatest things I've ever done, honestly. Getting all these professional players out and the community out fills my heart.”
Klein admitted that’s she’s been starstruck this week during practice rounds leading up to Friday’s first round at Stocksdale Park in Liberty.
“Oh, my god, everyone, just everyone — I've told people I love your YouTube channel and I'm just over the moon; it's gross,” Klein said with a laugh.
Forty-four women and 116 men entered the field for the KC Wide Open, which became a professional event in 2023 but only became a stop on the Elite Series, the highest level on the Disc Golf Pro Tour.
The winner after Sunday's third round will score a five-figure payday.
“We're really, really excited — and we think that we're going to have one of those higher purses, especially for this part of the year,” KC Wide Open Event Director Chris Timko said.
He said the Pro Tour has aimed to grow the game with more than 100 players able to earn a living playing disc golf.
“For years and years, disc golf was more of a hobby, something you kind of did on the side,” Timko said. “Now, you're seeing more and more players, with these larger purses, that can make disc golf a full time profession.”
More than 1,500 tickets have been sold for the KC Wide Open, which requires 150 to 200 volunteers to run each day, according to Timko, who said he expects to sell another 500 tickets before the weekend ends. They are available on the KC Wide Open website.
“One of the biggest pieces is that we're going to really get those elite players — top-five, top-10 players — that are going to come, and that's really what's going to drive those spectator numbers that are going to bring more and more people from the Kansas City metro out to watch,” Timko said.
The KC Wide Open hopes even bigger and better events are on the horizon.
“That's all we think about; that's all we talk about,” Klein said. “We've got a group chat going, and it's like, ‘How can we make things better for tomorrow, for next year, for 10 years from now?’ So, we never stopped thinking about it, and I'm so excited.”
Kansas City Disc Golf is also hosting the Liberty Block Party from 5 to 9 p.m. on Saturday in downtown Liberty in partnership with Historic Downtown Liberty Missouri and Visit Liberty.
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