As the clock struck 9:25 a.m. Saturday at Albert-Oakland Park, the peace and serenity in the air was met with screams, laughs and round plastic discs clashing into metal baskets.
The commotion signaled the start of the 37th annual Ice Bowl in Columbia. Starting in 1987, the disc golf tournament kicks off on an early Saturday morning every February ... no matter the forecast.
“The motto for the Ice Bowl is ‘No wimps, no whiners,’” Columbia Disc Golf Club president and tournament director Adam Morrison said. “Sleet, snow, rain (or) shine, it’s all here, and people always come.”
Morrison, 29, has been playing disc golf since he was 5 years old and living across the street from Albert-Oakland Park. In his time playing, he has traveled across the country trying to climb the ranks of the Professional Disc Golf Association leaderboard. He has accumulated nine career wins, with his last coming in the 2022 Ice Bowl.
Morrison was inspired by his father, Paul, who is widely known as Mo Louis, a disc jockey on BXR/102.3 FM. Paul said he was introduced to the sport in 1998 and instantly fell in love. Both of the Morrisons agree that the sport’s popularity has changed since they started playing more than two decades ago.
“The club (CDGC) was probably only like 50 players, maybe less, when I joined back then. Now we’re well over 100, 150 club members. And, yeah, it’s exploded a lot,” Adam Morrison said. “I mean, the PDGA itself, when I joined, I was the (36,514th) member to join. And now we have well over 250,000 members. The sport is exponentially exploding right now.”
“This is the biggest Ice Bowl we have ever had,” Paul Morrison said, “by far the most players we have ever had.”
Unlike the Ice Bowl last year, the event Saturday didn’t feature any snow or sleet. But the spirit of the event was ever-apparent. In total, 179 players took to Albert-Oakland Park all in the name of fun, competition and charity. This exceeds the 89 players who played in the Ice Bowl last February. All tournament proceeds went to The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri.
“We saw a lot of support this year and raised a lot of money to help others,” Adam Morrison said.
Adam Morrison placed sixth in the Mixed Pro Open division, finishing 6 under par. Quentin Borengasser won the division, finishing 15 under after posting 12 under in the second round.
Paul Morrison placed fourth in the Mixed Amateur 50 and over division, finishing at 9 over.
For more information about how to get involved with the Columbia Disc Golf Club, visit the CDGC’s Facebook page.
To learn more about disc golf, visit PDGA.com.