Dreams Do Come True For Paige Bjerkaas, Your 2018 Worlds Champion

Imagine wanting something for over a decade, striving and pushing yourself to grasp your ultimate goals. For Paige Bjerkaas, that long stretch came to an end as she captured first place at the 2018 Pro Worlds. While Paige prepares for every tournament in much of the same way, she went into this year’s event with a calm mindset and aimed to finish in the top five, but obviously exceeded her own expectations.

We got a chance to chat with Paige as the news was still sinking in, learned what was going through her mind during the five-day event, and explored how she feels like this is more than just a win on her own list of career highlights.

Focused On The Family

Bjerkaas started playing disc golf around the age of 10 when her family moved to Denver, Colorado. That year also marked her first tournament participation, and in 2009 she got the chance to travel to the Junior World Championships. There, she watched as Val Jenkins took home the win, and Paige vowed to herself that someday she too would win a world title.

Fast forward to 2018, where she’s been on tour for the last few months and has had support from her friends and family every step of the way. “I worked hard and it paid off, and I didn’t have to be mean or put on a super game face,” she said. “[People are] giving me this credit that I’m so humble and nice, but I was raised that way, it’s my parents. I think they won Worlds too - they deserve it.”

Perfecting Her Performance

Paige was able to play multiple practice rounds on each of the two courses before the competition began, and between this knowledge and comfort in her game plan as well as her trusted bag of discs, she was excited and ready to give it her all. As she played each hole, reminding herself to stay calm and stick to her plan became the focus.

Yet when she found out that Thursday’s round was her highest to date with a 1021-rating, she had to let that moment sink in: “After my last putt, Robert McCall told me that I had the best round by 5 strokes. He told me it was 1021-rated and I said ‘are you serious?’” Paige laughed as she shared, still letting the reality of her win sink in.

The OB and wooded shots at Fox Run Meadows and Brewster Ridge can be challenging for anyone, but Bjerkaas relied on her plastic to do much of the work. She throws a 168g BioFuzion Enforcer that came in handy on most of her drives, a Fuzion Burst Getaway that earned her some birdies, and a Fuzion Judge that helped her to stay in the fairways on tricky holes.

Vying for the win is tricky by itself, but when you have stiff competition from other DD team members, it can sometimes change up the flow of things. “We’re going to do our best to beat each other but sometimes, in the end, it doesn’t work out in our favor. We like to celebrate each other’s successes,” she said. And celebrate she will! Congratulations to Paige on her amazing performance and good luck during the rest of the season!