From the desk of Owl P. Jackson, Esq.

August 23, 2022 by Owl P. Jackson, Esq. in Opinion with comments

After two lackluster rounds, the 2022 Des Moines Challenge turned into an instant classic. It had everything: mando rules, tree stumps, lightning, lay ups, finger guns, and playoffs! Yes, Jim Mora, we’re talking about playoffs…and everything else that happened at the last Elite Series event of the DGPT regular season. In my opinion, these are the top 10 storylines of the 2022 Des Moines Challenge.

1. Simon wins his 3rd Elite Series of the year

“It slowly disappears to somewhere in the back of my mind; It will remain there ’til I wish to retrieve it.”

I must admit, I thought Simon was done with winning this season. Over the past four tournaments, he went 22nd at Idlewild, 16th at European Open, 10th at DGLO, and 26th at Ledgestone. It seemed like Simon’s two wins were just going to be a fun storyline to remember from the year. (For example, remember when Luke Humphries was on lead cards?)

Turns out, Simon wasn’t finished. A great first round put him onto lead card going into the final day, where it looked like he was in great position to hunt down Evan Smith. He did that rather quickly. Instead, it was Robert Burridge that would be the player Simon was chasing. Simon ended his round with five straight birdies to force a playoff. This was the best playoff of the year, and Simon was able to seal the deal after four holes. It is hard to not consider Simon among the favorites for Worlds. After all, this Simon renaissance really took off in Emporia, where Simon took second to Ricky.

2. Robert Burridge goes 58 holes

“Everything else is just dust and sound.”

Just a year ago, Robert Burridge was competing as an amateur. He won Am Nationals, but there is a good chance you had never heard of him before the final round of DMC. Burridge found himself going toe-to-toe with one of the biggest names in the sport, after going 7-under on the front nine. You would expect him to be a nervous wreck, but he seemed calm, cool, and collected the entire time…chewing his gum, tossing his chalk bag in the air, fist bumping Simon, and loving every moment. His putt on hole 3 of the playoff was the highlight of the tournament. In the end, a bad bounce led him to lay up on a 60-footer downhill towards O.B. on hole four. He later…