Drew Gibson kept playing this offseason to keep the momentum rolling. Photo: DGPT

Can’t stop, won’t stop.

That was the mentality for Drew Gibson this offseason after a scorching finish to 2021 and with that, the momentum kept rolling.

“I played every day this offseason,” Gibson said Friday after a 13-under, 1091-rated round skyrocketed him 40 spots up the leader board at the DGPT – Las Vegas Challenge. “I wasn’t playing in the rain or anything, but if it was nice enough to go play, I would get in a round or two every single day.

“I just felt like the way that I finished last year, if I kept playing like that then I would be in contention at every big tournament this year. I just tried to keep throwing and keep in that same groove.”

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Gibson, who is tied for third at 18-under heading into moving day on Saturday, said, on top of his bombing drives and prowess on the green, a positive mindset helped the cause.

“I just knew what needed to happen,” said Gibson, who signed a lifetime deal with Infinite Discs in October after top four finishes at USDGC and the Disc Golf Pro Tour Championship. “I was in 45th place. Up was the only way to go. I just needed to go out there and play my game, play disc golf.

“The more you love this game, I think the more it rewards you. I just went out there with a happy, fresh mindset and just tried to do my best.”

Gannon Buhr putts Friday at the Las Vegas Challenge. Photo: DGPT

Momentum seems to be on the side of Gannon Buhr as well. The 16-year-old, who swept the PDGA and DGPT Rookie of the Year awards in 2021, rattled off a 9-under round to pull into a tie for the lead with Calvin Heimburg with 36 holes to play. Heimburg is the lone holdover from the round two lead card with a sneaky 10-under round on the Innova course, where the tournament concludes on Sunday.

Anthony Barela rounds out the lead card at 18-under after a 10-under round on Friday. Eight players are within four strokes of the leaders as action shifts to the Factory Store course.

Catrina Allen built a six-stroke lead at the midway point of the Las Vegas Challenge. Photo: DGPT

Allen Keeps Rolling

Catrina Allen knew what the last putt of her second round meant.

And, as she’s done so far in Vegas, she cashed it.

Allen connected on a 38-foot, uphill, par-saving putt on the tricky 18th on the Innova course to keep her name atop the leader board after a scoring 11-under second round.

She now leads the tournament by six strokes.

“Bogey free – I knew that and there was part of me that was like, I know I’m sitting in a good position, but I just didn’t want the bogey,” Allen told Terry Miller of the Disc Golf Network. “My putt felt great all round.”

Allen, who leads the tournament in parked percentage (36%) and strokes gained tee-to-green (15.28), according to UDisc, found her first OB of the weekend on hole 10 on Friday, but saved par to keep a three-stroke lead over Paige Pierce and a four-stroke lead over Kristin Tattar.

She kept going from there and capped it with a circle two putt for a bogey-free round to find herself in firm control of the season-opening tournament at the midway point.

“That’s a long way to think about,” Allen told Miller when asked about returning to the Innova course for Sunday’s finale. “I just feel good. I feel confident, and that feels really good.”

Pierce and Tattar are tied for second at 13-under par. Eveliina Salonen rounds out the lead card at 12-under.

Live coverage of the Las Vegas Challenge begins at 8:40 a.m. PT / 11:40 a.m. ET for FPO. Coverage of the MPO begins at 1:30 p.m. PT / 4:30 p.m. ET on the Disc Golf Network.