KMGC THE KENT MINIGOLF CLUB
"unus putt rego lemma totus"
KMGC
THE KENT MINIGOLF CLUB
"unus putt rego lemma totus"
THE BRITISH INTERNATIONAL OPEN 2007
STROKES ADVENTURE GOLF COURSE, MARGATE
SEPTEMBER 15th & 16TH 2007
JOUNI VALKJARVI from Finland wins
MATTIAS STAHL from Sweden 2nd
EIRIK SELJELID
from Sweden 3rd - for full results click here!!
For Photos from the 2 days click here
“If you build it, they will come…”
A dazzling field of top class players from across the
Tournament fever began in earnest on Friday 14th September when the Players Championships and, in a first for the build up to the British Open, the International Players Championships were contested across the hallowed felt that would grace the Open 24 hours later.
As well as raising £85 for the Marie Curie Trust, this also gave the contestants an unparalleled opportunity to see how challenging the course can be and to maybe give an insight into what lay ahead for the Open weekend. A tight competition eventually led to Steve ‘F1” Gow and Olivia Prokopova claiming the UK & International titles and putting them both firmly in the running as fancied players and potential favourites for the Open itself, alongside the 2006 Champion Karsten Hein, the 2005 Champion Jouni Valkjarvi and the top ranked UK players from closer to home… only time… and 268 rounds of minigolf… would tell who would be crowned the 2007 champion…
Day one – Saturday 15th September
"All right ramblers, let's get rambling!"
Saturday morning came and the course was bathed in glorious Thanet sunshine as players were practicing solidly from the minute the gates of the course opened until the klaxon blew at 9.25am to signify the end of free practice and only five minutes until the competition started.
In a massive break from tradition, for the first time in BMGA history, a
rolling start was introduced for the Open (mirroring the format of the ‘big
golf’ British Open) – something new to the
The honour of the first group out at the 2007 Open went to the 2005
champion. Jouni Valkarvi from
The top Brit after the first round was the British number one Chris Harding, carding a 34, and sharing the second spot in the competition with 15 year old Swede Eirik Seljelid and his fellow countryman Bjorn Dinau.
Bill Bullin of Team Kent, and Tim Davies, British Number Two and Captain of Planet Hastings were both sitting comfortably in the top 12 amidst nine of the international players. Olivia Prokopova having claimed the International Players Championship the day before was in 7th place and Team GBs’ very own Steve Gow was in 19th place. Perhaps the glory of being crowned the Players Championships (and topping up his career earnings by £67.50) had taken the edge off F1’s play?
The novice prize was gearing up to a contest between two locals, Kieran
Davies from
With the nerves slowly subsiding, Round Two got underway and scores
started to drop. Jouni, first out and first in followed up his first round
score with another top round, a terrific
34. However only Norbert Rehfeld and the reigning champion Karsten Hein, both
from
The round finished with Jouni again in the lead and Eirik in second
place. With a score of 42, the leading Brit Chris Harding dropped to 16th
place with Tim Davies making a move up the leaderboard to 7th place,
Bill Bullin only 2 shots behind in 10th place, with John Moore and
With battles for titles and honours throughout the field, the fight for British Junior Champion between Seve Kukielka and Rocky Bullin was also hotting up with Rocky holding the lead by 5 shots. The Womens’ Championships was also being played out between the Czech 12 year old, Olivia Prokopova and 3 of Team Kents’ women stars, Ruth Bullin, Susan Forrest and Jane Booth. Olivia was showing more impressive form and was ahead of Ruth by 10 shots at the midway point of the day, with Susan and Jane battling away in their first major tournament.
After a short lunch break for each group for chips, burgers and possibly
a mile of bacon baguettes, provided by the dedicated Strokes team, Round Three
got underway. The signs were ominous as Jouni seemed to be intent on running
away with the tournament before the day finished leading the competition with a
highly impressive total score of 103 (an average of just over 34 a round!!). The
And what of the Novices and the Juniors I hear you ask? Kieran continued his strong performances from rounds one and two and was still ahead of Tim, and Seve was still trailing Rocky but in both cases, it was getting closer and closer, with only 2 shots separating the combatants!
However the big story developing in round 3 was that there was someone
out on the greens determined to haul in Jouni’s lead – and that someone was Mattias
Stahl. With 3 holes to play, Mattias was a staggering 5 under par and heading
to smash the course record in the process. As news spread across the course, players
delayed their starts to their 4th rounds and a crowd gathered at the
18th hole to hopefully watch ‘Strokes’ history being made. Despite
the gathering expectations, Mattias did not buckle under the pressure and saw
off the last three holes (including the notorious 17th –
After the fireworks of the 3rd round things just seemed to keep on sparking in the tournament. Bill Bullin, maybe spurred on by Mattias’ record in the previous round, went ands achieved a British course record of 32 in Round four, propelling him to 5th position. Olivia continued to perform in line with her previous days success and ended the round in 4th place, 19 shots clear of Ruth, chasing the Womens’ title.
But just when he seemed to be on the verge of being caught, Jouni ruled
again in this round, stretching the lead to 5 points clear of both Eirik and
Mattias, the chasing Swedes. After 2 tremendous rounds of 34, Brad Shepherd leapt
up to 9th place in the overall standings, 3 shots ahead of the only
remaining Brit in the top 12, none other than the Aceman himself, Tim Davies,
in 12th place. Special mention goes out to Dave Forrest of Team
And so day one drew to a close. The cut for day two was verified and those players below 36th place set off on their long journeys home all deciding they’d be back next year, others vowing to return the next day to cheer on their friends and see who would be lifting the trophy. The sun set on a group of players getting more practice for the next day (is it possible to ever have too much practice!), the team at Strokes washing mountains of tea and coffee cups and the Internationals off for a beverage or two at their hotel…
Day Two
"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey"
Round Five began at 11am on another bright and sunny
The players went out in reverse order from 36th place to 1st, Dave Forrest, Richard Gottfried and Tim Witherden took the honour of leading out the field. For once someone else other than Jouni would lead the tournament at some stage during the day as it worked out that each group that returned was posting a top score – it’s amazing how many photos were taken of the leader board showing them in 1st place, even if only for one round! After all, how many people can say they led the Open – clearly a great tale to tell the loved ones on those long, dark winter evenings ahead!!!
At the end of Round Five, the flying Finn Jouni remained firmly in first
place. Bill Bullin was still the highest placed Brit however Chris Harding was
only one point behind him (and the pressure was mounting as the highest placed
Brit at the end of round six was to be crowned the British Champion 2007!).
Karsten, the 2006 British Open winner from
The sixth and final round before the cut began with much anticipation. Five of the International players cemented their final placings by banging in sub 36 rounds just when it mattered; Jouni trumping all comers with a superb 32, securing his place at the top of the table for 6 consecutive rounds – incredible stuff! Olivia confirmed her position as the top placed woman in 5th place, Ruth Bullin pulling back a few strokes to just 14 shots behind and unfortunately out of the final 12, although she did win the British Women’s Championship in the process.
The top Novice was finally taken by Team Kents’ own Tim Witherden,
beating Kieran Davies by just 1 shot to claim the prize of £50. The title of
British Junior Champion 2007 went to Rocky Bullin, who ended ahead of Seve
Kukielka by 5 shots after 108 holes. The British Senior Championship went to
Bill Bullin just beating Tim Davies to the hotly contested honour of top placed
old man after 6 rounds!!! And after a terrific 6 rounds, the British Champion
2007 went to a deserving Chris Harding – the current
Ted and Sean, both tied on 232 shots and sitting in joint 12th place were readying themselves for a potential play-off with none other than Tim Davies who was approaching the final hole of his 6th round. An ace at the 18th from Tim would secure him the 12th place and leave the other two with the dubious distinction of ending 1 shot off the final 12. Needless to say that in true Aceman fashion, he ended his round with a fine ace, securing his own place in the Super Play-off final round and leaving Ted and Sean pondering what might have been as they sloped off towards the café leaving Tim to bask in their demise!
Round Seven – The Final
"I love pressure. I eat it for breakfast. "
And so the mighty gladiators of minigolf were through to the last round. The final 12 competing for the trophy and cheque for £500 geared themselves up for a tough round, especially as the wind had picked up again and more spectators had appeared to root for their favourite player, or failing that, Tim or Bill.
First out were Tim, Bill and Petr Mendik from the
All were under the watchful eye, as everyone had been throughout, of referee Peter Parr, who worked hard to ensure the play went without incident on both days.
Bill and Tim put in strong rounds of 36 but Chris Harding matched their scores and triumphed as top Brit for the competition, securing himself a £100 cheque to compliment his recently acquired British Championship trophy.
Torgny continued his impressive form from the second half of the competition and, with a terrific 34, pulled back 4 shots on Karsten to tie for 4th place and take us into a sudden death play off for the £50 prize. Torgny won the toss, and proceeded to ace the first, something that on this occasion Karsten couldn’t replicate and Torgny took the honours.
Third place overall went to Eirik, a terrific performance in his first
Which just left the battle for the champion. And amazingly, after 6 rounds of masterful minigolf by the 2005 Champion, at the death it appeared that the previously unassailable lead of Jouni was being overhauled as Mattias continued to put more and more pressure on the leader, pulling the scores level by the mid-point of the round! But it was clear that Jouni was not going to give up without a fight – an ace at the 11th (Heartbreak Ridge) steadied his nerve and straight twos for the rest of the round (combined with Mattias taking an unfortunate 3 at the 15th), saw Jouni emerge the victor, ultimately beating Mattias into second place by 2 shots - and rewarding himself with some mighty gulps of vodka from his stash of duty free once the final ball had dropped on the 18th before being crowned the British International Minigolf Open Champion for 2007!
The prize giving ensued, and with thirteen presentations being made to conclude a terrific weekend, all watched by a large crowd, there was a sigh of relief when the master of ceremonies kept the speech to a minimum (relatively speaking of course!!!). Special thanks were given to the Strokes team, and to Louise who helped with the running of the tournament, before Chris Harding wrestled the mike off Sean to thank the Homers for all their hard work making this an Open to remember.
And then it was all over…
All it leaves to say is many congratulations to all the players who competed over the weekend. It was a tournament played with great spirit and sense of fun and all must be congratulated for their achievements. For those who did not do as well as they would have liked, there’s always next year… and for those of you who can’t wait until next year, there’s always the Kent Open in November to see if you can tame the mighty Strokes!!!
See you all soon!!!!
Marion and
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then why not drop us a line at admin@kentminigolfclub.co.uk