A new name for a well-established tour stop.
June 26, 2025 by Justin Westfall in Preview
The Discmania Challenge (formerly the Des Moines Challenge) at Pickard Park in Indianola, Iowa, has been a staple on the Disc Golf Pro Tour since 2021. The event begins this Friday, June 27th, and it will be the last US-based event until the Ledgestone Open begins on August 14th. A number of touring pros have already made the trip overseas and will not be competing this weekend. For a second consecutive year, there is not a single European player in the MPO or FPO fields for this event. The large majority will be playing in the European Championships, also on deck this weekend.
Last year, Adam Hammes came into the final round with a two-shot lead on Anthony Barela and Matthew Orum. Barela came out hot, birdieing the first seven holes in a row to take the lead. Despite starting the day six strokes back, Gannon Buhr made a charge from the chase card, shooting 14-under through 16 holes. Unable to make the island green on hole 17, Buhr took a double bogey on the penultimate hole, ending his chance at a comeback victory. Barela would go on to win by two-strokes over Orum, claiming his fourth and final win of the 2024 season.
In FPO, Ohn Scoggins held a three-shot lead on Natalie Ryan going into the final day. Scoggins struggled, and while Ryan and Eliezra Midtlyng played decent rounds on the lead card, it was the rookie Emily Weatherman who pulled in front from the chase card. Weatherman shot a clean 8-under par final round to claim her first ever DGPT win by three strokes.
Past Winners
| PDGA Tier | Open | Open Women | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | DGPT | Anthony Barela | Emily Weatherman |
| 2023 | DGPT | Gannon Buhr | Kristin Tattar |
| 2022 | DGPT | Simon Lizotte | Kristin Tattar |
| 2021 | DGPT | Paul McBeth | Missy Gannon |
Four Things We’ll Be Watching
1. 2023 champion Gannon Buhr is extremely familiar with Pickard Park, living just 30 minutes north in Urbandale, Iowa. With a somewhat limited field this week, Buhr is the clear favorite coming off an enormous 11-stroke win at the Preserve Championship, where he shot the highest 3+ round event rating in PDGA history. Buhr already has three victories on the year. By adding a fourth, he would actually move ahead of his pace from last season, a year in which he won Player of the Year. With a huge European swing right around the corner including two majors, Buhr seems to be rounding into form at just the right time.
2. Anthony Barela is coming off four consecutive podium finishes and will look to defend his title this weekend. While he’s known for having unbelievable power, Barela has found success these past two seasons from his C2 putting. AB currently leads the division in C2 putting at 37%. He also leads the division in scramble percentage at 63%. That’s a full point and a half better than Ricky Wysocki, who has led the division in that category in two of the past three seasons. Pickard Park gives Barela an opportunity to show off his full skillset by throwing big shots, making long putts, and scrambling for par on the more wooded holes.
3. With a limited field this week, it’s a great opportunity for a player like Cadence Burge to break through for their first win. Burge is coming off a second place finish at the USWDGC and back-to-back podium finishes on the DGPT. She has also seen a big boost from C2 putting, making 32.5% of her putts from distance over the past couple of weeks. For a player with Cadence’s level of talent, it seems like only a matter of time until the wins start coming. Even if this weekend isn’t quite her time, another podium finish would continue to add to her momentum.
4. This tournament is known for having one of the largest purses on tour for a standard Elite Series event. After exceeding a purse of $100,000 in 2022, Tournament Director and DGPT Retail and Partnerships Director Ty Tannatt was able to surpass $110K in 2023 and $107K last year. Sponsor TruBank also provided enough added cash to create equal payouts for both the FPO and MPO winners in each of the past two years. As purses continue to come in relatively flat over the past two seasons, we’ll be curious to see how much added cash this event was able to bring in.
The Course
Originally designed by 5x World champion and Iowa-native Juliana Korver, Pickard Park was established in 1999 and played host to the 2004 World Championships. The course offers a wide variety of both open and wooded holes, with multiple water carries and island greens.
A few holes have been modified for this year’s event, most notably hole 1. The starting hole now has three mandatories that will force players to tee off down the middle of the fairway, rather than taking a wide hyzer line. There is also a large hazard area short of the green. Hole 18 has also added a mandatory halfway to the green that will force players to throw a left-to-right shaped second shot. Several OB lines throughout the course have been tweaked as well.
2025 MPO: 9,573 Feet Par 64
2024 MPO: 9,609 Feet Par 64
2025 FPO: 8,456 Feet Par 65
2024 FPO: 8,132 Feet Par 64
Extended Forecast
Pack the sunscreen and try to find some shade on the course because it’s going to be a hot weekend.
Friday: Cloudy with highs in the mid 80s. Winds light and variable.
Saturday: Partly cloudy with highs near 90. Winds 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday: Partly cloudy with an isolated thunderstorm possible, highs near 90. Winds 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%
