Official Results: https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/56122


The 8th Annual Bear Hollow Ice Bowl in Ava, MO was this past Saturday. Again, the temperature made it a true Ice Bowl. There was some snow on the ground and the temperature ranges from mid 20’s to lower 40’s. Although it did warm up in the second round, the winds also picked up. I believe Rick Rothstein’s Ice Bowl slogan of “No Wimps and No Whiners” was up held by everyone, as I never heard any complaining.

Last year we had 50 players at this event. With this years record setting 71 players, the 2022 tour is off to a great start! The Heart of the Hills Thrift Store and Food Pantry will again be the recipients of the food and monetary donations that were raised. Nick Helm, the Bear Hollow founder, will post the donation amounts soon.

There were 11 divisions this year. This showing for a cold day in January is just awesome. Kudos to all of you who braved the the cold conditions.

Here are a few high lights:

Juniors (3) Case Sciba ran away with the win shooting a 59 first round and a 57 2nd round. There was a true battle for 2nd with Conner Yancey besting David Richeson by 2 in the 2nd round.

Rec Women (3) Like the Junior field the ladies also had 3 players. These ladies played tough and made it a very close match up. Liberty Howell took a 1 stroke lead over Madison Feedback in the first round with Joy Vincent only a few off the pace. The second round was a carbon copy of the first, only the girls improved their scores by 5 & 6 strokes. Liberty took down the win shooting a 129, to win by 2.

Rec (23) The largest division was started off fairly close by four players separated by only 4 strokes: Casey Carnell, Brady Weston, Aaron Stillings, and Brady Fox. The second round was different making it a 2 horse show with Brady Fox and Aaron Stillings being the only two to finish under par. Brady with the win with a -6 held on to win over Aaron Stillings who finished at -4.

Int (4) This 4 strong division was a good contest as well. The 1st round scores were only separated by 4. Both Davis Ford and Brett Stoffer shot 52’s while Joshua Owens and Nathan Crandall shot 48’s. Despite Davis being the only one in the division to shoot better his second round, Joshua and Nathan still held on to 1st and 2nd shooting a -4 and an even. Joshua’s -10 finishing score would have won Advanced and finished 4th in Open… Move Up!! To soon? Nah!

MA50 (8) Despite Ray Preznell’s 1 over second round, his solid 3 down first round was enough to hold off Tour and Tournament sponsor Jeff Ford and also Darrin Dodson. His -2 finish was the only under par score in the division. Darrin and Jeff tied as they shot even.

MF40 (1) Julie Crouch shot a 120 total. This score would have taken down the Advanced Women division… I bet Mary would like the competition.

MA40 (4) Peter Michalack took down the win with a a convincing -5 finish. The real battle in this division was for 2nd place between Roy Crouch and Mike Abbott. They both shot similar rounds but their scores were flip flopped in opposite rounds. Mike Abbott finished 2nd just 1 better than Roy.

FA1 (1) Mary Abbott was the only Advanced Lady. She shot a 126 total.

MA1 (9) This division had the highest % of players finishing under par. Almost 78% of the field beat the course. There was definitely a nice battle in this division. There was only 4 strokes separating 1st and 4th after round one. Noah Gentry shot the hot first round at 49. Jon Musick was tied for 2nd, but it was the the scores in the high 40’s by local Drake Ford (taking 2nd) and the winner Nevada McAlpin that made the difference. Nevada won by a stick shooting -9.

MP40 (4) If I had been told I would win this division by 15 strokes, I would have laughed. Seeing the competitors I was certain it would be a tough battle. The first round Dan Newlin was 3 back in his professional debut, with Matt Hitt only 5 back. The second round I managed to play very well. I got some rolls, hit the island, made some putts, and my drives were pretty good. I shot -17 to run away with the win. Congratulations to Dan for finishing 2nd and cashing (and excepting the money). He now has made the moving up official. I look forward to shooting with you more. I have to thank God for letting me compete and play better than I could have ever imagined. Coming fresh off of a 10lb lifting restriction and being limited to only walking for exercise, I know I couldn’t have done it without Him.

MPO (11) Well, it’s no doubt that Jeff Renner was the overall champion blistering a -21 for the day. With all the OB’s and the cold, this is a remarkable score. Rounding off the top five players that cashed were: 2nd place Andrew Presnell (-16), followed by 3rd place James Reichert (-13), 4th place Ryan Elliott (-10) and taking last cash Jon Paul Finney (-7).

Congratulations to Jeff Renner for your incredible play! To all the others that cashed great job. A big thanks to Jeff Ford and Patriot’s Gold & Silver for their title sponsorship. To all the tour sponsors thanks so much for helping make the DGM tour what it is. To the players who continue to support the tour through rain, shine, cold, wind and whatever mother nature brings, you all Rock! Last but not least, thanks Nick Helm for getting this fun course put in years ago. It is great having a place to play in Ava. This event is looked forward to each year by a lot of players. From all of us we appreciate you making this event happen each year!

I hope to see all of you next month in Springfield at the Presidential Cup. You Can Register Here:

https://www.discgolfscene.com/tournaments/7th_Annual_Presidential_Cup_presented_by_Q102_2022/register