Originally published at: https://discgolf.ultiworld.com/livewire/eagle-mcmahon-drops-from-usdgc-ending-2022-season/
Eagle McMahon, the 2022 European Open champion who has been rehabilitating a shoulder injury sustained last October, announced on Instagram that he will be withdrawing from USDGC and the Disc Golf Pro Tour Championship play-in and ending his 2022 season.
“This was a difficult decision but believe it’s the right decision for me long term for both my mental and physical well-being,” he wrote. “My intention is to work as hard and smart as I can to achieve a productive off-season so I can compete on tour healthy and capable in 2023.”
Due to the injury that has heavily limited the use of his forehand, McMahon had a heavily truncated season. He played in just five tour events, one of which he withdrew from early (Jonesboro Open). Despite that, he got the biggest win of his career at the European Open. In Finland, He shot the highest-ever average round rating at a Major championship (1074) and beat out a red-hot Paul McBeth by a stroke. He finished 17 shots better than third place (Kevin Jones). Remarkably, he had not played in a disc golf tournament in nearly three months when he took on The Beast at the European Open to get his second career Major victory.
McMahon told Ultiworld Disc Golf that his decision to drop from USDGC after playing the other Majors this season was driven by positive developments, not negative ones.
“I feel pretty good right now and that’s big reason why I decided to stop,” he said. “I figured instead of wearing down my body for two weeks I would start my offseason by going to the gym 4x a week and enjoying the the Colorado fall. Of course I am bit bummed on not competing for a title but I am content on the season where I got my biggest win to date. I want to maximize my chances for next year and this felt like a great decision to move in that direction.”
McMahon, who won four DGPT Elite Series events in 2021 prior to his injury, is the third highest rated touring professional in the world behind Ricky Wysocki and McBeth.