The 2014 Thrower’s Choice Awards had votes come in from 35 different countries around the world. Nearly 8,000 votes were cast in some of the categories this year. We did not vote in the awards. It is truly an award voted on by disc golfers just like yourself.

It was exciting to watch all the votes come in. Seeing it shared on social media, talked about on podcasts, and promoted by disc golfers everywhere really reminds us, not only why we run the awards, but why we run ATDG itself. Thank you for making this another successful year.

Enough talk… the winners are…

2014 Disc of the Year: Innova Thunderbird

The Innova Thunderbird has won the award of Disc of the Year for 2014 in the Thrower’s Choice Awards after receiving 23.29% of the 7,957 total votes. The Thunderbird led after the first day of voting and held onto its lead until the end. It was a close race between the Thunderbird and the Dynamic Discs Felon, but in the end the Thunderbird had enough to be crowed the winner.

Innova Thunderbird (23.29%) Dynamic Discs Felon (20.17%) Legacy Discs Outlaw (10.61%) Discraft Buzzz OS (10.18%) Latitude 64 Claymore (9.74%) Axiom Discs Envy (9.5%) Prodigy Disc PA3 (7.59%) Westside Discs Harp (5.81%) Dynamic Discs Enforcer (3.12%)

We’ll continue with this format of voting in the prelims to narrow it down to a final 9 in 2015.

2014 Men’s Pro of the Year: Paul McBeth

Add the Thrower’s Choice Award for Men’s Pro of the Year to the ever growing trophy case for Paul McBeth. Along with winning his third straight World Championship, McBeth claimed victory in 2014 at the Memorial Championship, Steady Ed Memorial Masters Cup, Kansas City Wide Open, European Masters, Brent Hambrick Memorial Open, and the 2014 National Tour points race.

7,678 votes were tallied for the Men’s Pro of the Year with McBeth taking 29.96% of the vote. JohnE McCray finished in second place (19.04%), while Simon Lizotte claimed third (13.27%). Ricky Wysocki and Will Schusterick round out the top five.

Paul McBeth (29.96%) JohnE McCray (19.04%) Simon Lizotte (13.27%) Ricky Wysocki (6.45%) Will Schusterick (6.37%)

2014 Women’s Pro of the Year: Catrina Allen

The race for Women’s Pro of the Year was between two pros right from the start: Catrina Allen and Paige Pierce. It is fitting after these two battled it out on the course at virtually every tournament they were in. These were the two names you saw the most at the top of the leaderboard in 2014.

It would be Allen though with 31.94% of the 6,600 votes edging out Pierce who took home 27.71%. Allen’s first World Championship highlighted her 2014 run where she also picked up wins at the Steady Ed Memorial Masters Cup, European Masters and many A-Tier tournaments. In fact, Allen never finished lower than third in any tournament this year.

Catrina Allen (31.94%) Paige Pierce (27.71%) Ragna Bygde (8.24%) Valarie Doss (4.78%) Paige Bjerkass (5%)

2014 Moment of the Year: McBeth wins third straight World Championship

This was the award that we looked forward to the most. The main reason we added it was to show just how many great events took place in 2014. We loved seeing the comments about how it was so hard to pick one for this award. Narrowing it down to just the 12 that were up for the award was hard enough.

While we keep our thoughts to ourselves in the other categories, we do want to go into some detail on these. It was hard for me to even select a favorite. McBeth’s run to a third title and the entire final around was certainly the most thrilling moment of the year. It had us on the edge of our seat.

The most impressive moment of the year was Simon Lizotte crushing two new world records. It just isn’t human what he can do. We can’t discount what JohnE McCray did this year. Any time you go from nearly losing your life to bouncing back with such energy is impressive. McCray has always been a joy to talk with and we can’t wait to see what he has in store for 2015.

If we were to vote, we’d have to give a nod to Paige Pierce and what she did at the 2014 USDGC. Not only did she win the Performance Flight and become the first female to win at Winthrop Gold, but she crushed the field. You can remove the handicap format for the Performance Flight and her scores are still jaw dropping. She can hang with the longest throwers in the Men’s division without a doubt.

In a sense, there isn’t just one winner in this category. There were so many great moments. It really makes us look forward to next year!

In the end though there were five moments that easily took the top spots for Moment of the Year. McBeth’s come back took 37.16% of the vote for the top spot. JohnE McCray returning to the National Tour was voted number two (14.39%) with Dave Feldberg’s crazy putt (12.64%), Lizotte’s world records (11.77%), and Schusterick’s third USDGC win (10.63%) rounding out the top five.

Paul McBeth rallies from down six, forces playoff, wins third straight PDGA World Championship (37.16%)

JohnE McCray returns to National Tour, reminds everyone he still has it (14.39%) Dave Feldberg hits ridiculous putt on final hole to force playoff, goes onto win Rochester Flying Disc Open (12.74%) Simon Lizotte sets distance record (863.5 feet) and mini distance record (528 feet) (11.77%) Will Schustrick survives crazy final round, wins third USDGC title in playoff (10.63%)

Thanks to all who voted in this year’s awards! We’ll be back in December 2015 to crown even more winners.