Last weekend’s 2022 Trubank Des Moines Challenge was the most exciting tournament of the season yet. Team Innova’s Robert Burridge, a player who was competing in the Amateur division less than a year ago, faced off against Simon Lizotte in a playoff that will go down in disc golf history. Though Burridge finished in second place, he put on an unprecedented and inspirational display for a player so new to the MPO division. Joel Freeman made the podium as well, finishing in a tie for third. And Eveliina Salonen took second place in FPO, her best result at a DGPT tournament so far this season. With the 2022 Professional Disc Golf World Championship starting next week, excitement on the Pro Tour is mounting at just the right moment. 

This year’s Des Moines Challenge was played in Indianola, Iowa at the beloved Pickard Park, originally designed by Juliana Korver. The event had the largest MPO payout for a three-round tournament ever, with the winner receiving $11,000. Not only was the payout huge, but as the final event of the DGPT regular season, players were gunning for every point possible to earn themselves a spot in the Disc Golf Pro Tour Championship in October. 

Epic Playoff

A rain delay on the first day of competition caused a tight schedule on Saturday. Through the bad weather and rescheduling, Robert Burridge sat just two strokes off the lead going into the final round. A rookie player, his performance thus far was impressive, but lead-card, final-day pressure would surely unnerve the inexperienced competitor. Robert Burridge, however, came out on Sunday looking like a veteran Pro. He shot the hot round of the day, 11 under par, and made 100% of his inside the circle putts. 

This stellar round was good enough to land Burridge in a tie for first place with Simon Lizotte. The two faced off in a four-hole playoff that will be remembered as one of the hardest fought battles ever by an athlete so new to the MPO division. After sinking a clutch 55 footer on the 3rd hole of the playoff, Burridge forced Lizotte to make an outside the circle death putt to push to the next hole. On hole four of the playoff, Burridge threw a beautiful-looking tee shot that was on track to land in the circle. Heart-breakingly, his shot skipped off of a stump just 25 feet from the basket and landed 60 feet away with no look at the pin. With no other option, Burridge layed up, leaving Simon Lizotte a 38 footer for the victory. 

Though Robert Burridge…