British Open 2008

Strokes Adventure Golf Course in Margate, Kent played host to four British Minigolf Association (BMGA) Tournaments over three days (12th-14th September), these included the prestigious 11th Annual BMGA British Open. Full details of the four events follow below.

BMGA Players Championship

In the traditional warm-up to the British Open 31 players competed in the BMGA Players Championship at the Strokes Adventure Golf Course in Margate, Kent on Friday 12th September in a Strokeplay/Matchplay/Strokeplay format over three rounds.

Andy Exall from Tunbridge Wells took the title with a play-off win at the third extra-hole over the Kent Minigolf Club’s Sean Homer. Andy Exall said “The Players Championship win was very satisfying, rounds of 33 then a 32 (which equalled the BMGA course record) in the final were very nice. The final fourball was great fun with all players swapping the lead until the final hole which Sean aced to force a play-off with myself. Luckily the ball dropped in for a win on the 3rd hole after two tense holes beforehand.

He added “Sandwiched between the two Strokeplay rounds was quite a comprehensive Matchplay win over a top player too, so a great warm-up for the main event.”

Andy’s win saw Ł112.50 raised for his chosen charity, the National Autistic Society (http://www.nas.org.uk).

Round 2 - Matchplay

BMGA International Players Championship
Also on Friday 12th September the second annual BMGA International Players Championship took place with 14 players competing in a Strokeplay/Matchplay/Strokeplay format over three rounds. Winning the tournament was Sweden’s Mattias Stahl, equalling his course record score of 31 (-5) set in 2007. Second was Torgny Kjellstrom, also of Sweden, and in joint third place were Olivia Prokopova from the Czech Republic and Sweden’s Bjorn Dinau.

BMGA British Juniors Championship
Held over the first two rounds of the BMGA British Open on Saturday 13th September the Junior members of the BMGA (aged 16 and under) took part in the BMGA British Juniors Championship. Defending Champion Rocky Bullin retained his title with a two round total of 73 (+1), with Matthew Harding in second place with 88 (+16) and Adam Kelly in third with 92 (+16).

In the two-day BMGA British Open held at Strokes Adventure Golf Course in Margate, Kent it was Mattias Stahl of Sweden who took the BMGA British Open title with a 7 round total of 238 (-14). The 64 strong field contained players from the UK and also from countries including Sweden, the Czech Republic, Germany and Finland.

In second place was Bjorn Dinau of Sweden with 239 (-13) and in third place was 2007 Champion Jouni Valkjarvi of Finland with 246 (-6). Norbert Rehfeld of Germany was in fourth place with 247 (-5)

Top placed among the UK players was Andy Exall who finished in 5th Place with 250 (-2). He said “I played some nice consistent rounds on both days, with a low score of 34 and a high of 37 so that for me is a sign that the practice there paid off.” Exall added “It was great to compete against some of the best players in the world and to be up there amongst them at the end is awesome! Mattias & Bjorn were out there alone up front but to be very close to Jouni (Valkjarvi) and beating Torgny (Kjellstrom) is something I didn't think would happen, so I enjoyed the weekend immensely! On top of that I have also leapfrogged Chris (Harding) and Tim (Davies) to be the current British number one in the BMGA rankings.”

Top among the 13 Novice players was Scott Lancley who finished in 33rd place overall, he said "After my rollercoaster ride of inconsistent rounds on Saturday I was elated to come away from the Tournament on Sunday with two great rounds and the honour of Top Novice. Well done to Gary and Mark the other two novice players who made the cut, those last two rounds were a great shootout."

Aces Champion was Chris Jones of the London Minigolf Club who struck an amazing 17 holes-in-one over his six rounds.

Top among the nine ladies competing was the Czech Republic’s Olivia Prokopova who carded a seven round total of 260 (+8), second was Great Britain’s Ruth Bullin with a seven round total of 271 (+19) and in third place was Sweden’s Ann-Charlotte Ullberg with a six round total of 254 (+38).

During play two new course records were set, with Ted McIver scoring a new UK record of 31 (-5) in his fifth round and Sweden’s Bjorn Dinau setting a score of 30 (-6) as the new all-time record in his sixth round.

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