Capitalize on long summer days

June 23, 2023

Happy Friday, you’re In The Circle! Let’s get started.

🧠 Friday Fun Fact: There were 55 aces at DGPT tournaments and PDGA Majors in 2022, the longest (450 feet) was by Ezra Aderhold at the PDGA World Championships.

On today’s card:

☀️ Capitalize on long summer days
👁️ Des Moines Challenge Preview
😂 Disc golf memes

Read time: 4 minutes and 11 seconds

6-23-2023-upcoming-disc-golf-pro-tournaments

☀️ CAPITALIZE ON LONG SUMMER DAYS

Wednesday marked the official first day of summer (aka summer solstice) in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

While Wednesday was the longest day of the year for those in the U.S., sadly it does mean the days will now get progressively shorter. But, like all those shanked shots from your last round, let’s put this out of sight and out of mind for now. We are halfway through the DGPT 2023 season and have lots of daylight and disc left to enjoy before winter hits.

Aside from disc golf tournaments, leagues, and practice rounds, another way to take full advantage of the long days is with some fieldwork. Consider going out and trying to implement Robbie C’s two mental tips to gain easy distance in disc golf.

Get out there and enjoy the long, warm days while they last!

👁️ DES MOINES CHALLENGE PREVIEW

The Disc Golf Pro Tour moves 300 miles northeast from Emporia, Kansas to Des Moines, Iowa for the ninth Elite event of the year.

2023 marks the 33rd year for the Des Moines Challenge as an event, the 19th year as an A-Tier, and its 3rd year on the DGPT. It will be held at Pickard Park, originally designed by Julianna Korver, the five-time disc golf World Champion.

DGPT

2022 DMC Recap

Last year we saw a breakout performance for the 2021 PDGA U.S. Amateur Champion, Robert Burridge. Robert was tied for 3rd place after two rounds and shot the best third round in the MPO division allowing him to keep pace and tie Simon Lizotte at 27 under par. Simon and Robert battled it out in a playoff through four holes until Simon made a birdie from the circle’s edge for the win.

The FPO division was slightly less thrilling than the MPO as Kristin Tattar held at least a four-stroke lead throughout the tournament. Eveliina Salonen was staying close during rounds two and three and finished in second place overall. However, Eveliina’s play was not enough to catch the near-flawless performance from Kristin.

2023 Feature Cards

MPO: Simon Lizotte, Gannon Buhr, Ezra Aderhold, Brodie Smith
FPO: Kristin Tattar, Missy Gannon, Paige Pierce, Juliana Korver

📺 How to watch

First-round live coverage is available on the DGPT YouTube channel.

DGPT

🏆 Past DMC Champions

2022 - Simon Lizotte (-27) / Kristin Tattar (-15)
2021 - Paul McBeth (-28) / Missy Gannon (-5)
2020 - Cancelled
2019 - Ben Callaway (-36) / Sarah Gilpin (+19)
2018 - Terry Rothlisberger (-40) / Catrina Allen (-5)

👀 What we’re watching

Eyes are on Kristin Tattar once again as she returns to Des Moines in the hopes of winning this tournament in back-to-back years. She finished fourth at DDO last weekend, only the third time this season she has not placed in the top two at a tournament.
Simon Lizotte was the MPO champion in 2022 and is back to hopefully becoming a 2x champion at the event. So far this year, Simon’s performances have been a mixed bag. He won the Music City Open, and placed second at the Open at Austin, but also has finished as far back as 51st and everything in between.
The best player on tour this year is Calvin Heimburg. He has three DGPT wins so far this season and has only finished outside the top ten once. His showing last year at DMC was not great, finishing tied for 35th place. He’ll look to take advantage of the dominating year he is having this year and potentially add a fourth title to his 2023 record.
We’re welcoming Paige Pierce back to the tour after her workation at Bonnaroo. Paige has only competed in six of the fifteen DGPT tournaments so far this year. Out of six events, however, she has won two of them. Paige finished in fifth place last year at DMC. She’s specific about which tournaments to play in this year, so if she’s there expect her to be a serious contender to win.