22 Jul 2011 at 06:09 | Published by: mindthegap | Views: 11361 | News search

Outsider Christopher Jäck wins German Championship.  (Photo by Achim Braungart-Zink 2011)

The men’s and women’s German Championship took place in Neutraubling from the 14th to 16th of July. This championship is always played on two courses of different systems, this time on the concrete and eternit courses in the Bavarian town Neutraubling. Both courses are challenging, but particurlarly the eternit course provided some diffcult lanes. Lane 9, the slope without obstacle, drove some players to despair as the lane statistics show. But nevertheless a new course record (19) was played on eternit.

There were 10 preliminary rounds to play and another 2 intermediate rounds for the best 16 women and 32 men after the preliminary rounds. The best woman after the qualifying rounds was Bianca Oberweg, 4 shots ahead of Corina Reinisch. Stefanie Kern came 3rd another 4 shots behind.

The leading man was Alexander Geist only one shot ahead of Marcel Noack and Dennis Kapke who both came second with the same score. But the competition later showed that the place reached after the qualifying rounds was almost meaningless.

The best 8 women and 16 men after 12 rounds qualified for the play-offs, played as matchplay, so only the won lanes counted. It always needs a bit of luck to win a matchplay round but on the other hand it makes the competition more exciting.

In the women’s play-offs mostly the favourites won. The final match then was Bianca Oberweg versus Corina Reinisch, the best two players after the qualifying rounds. Bianca won her first two play-offs in a normal manner, but Corina had to go through a sudden death play-off twice. As she is the 2010 Vice European Champion, Bianca could have been seen as the favourite, but Corina comes from Neutraubling and plays for the local club, so it is her home course. But she lives in Frankfurt now, so hadn’t had much lead of practice. But Corina won the final in a convincing manner, cheered by her father Klaus Reinisch, who was the main referee. So she ist the new female German Minigolf Champion. The final for the 3rd place was won by Nicole Warnecke against Stefanie Kern.

In the men’s competition a sudden death play-off was necessary to decide the last two places for the play-offs as Alexander Junkermann, Marco Henning and Christopher Jäck were equal on places 14 to 17. Alexander Junkermann had bad luck on the 1st lane and was thrown out.

The first round of the men’s play-offs brought a big surprise. Alexander Geist, the leader after qualifying, lost against Christopher Jäck who just qualified for the play-offs by a sudden death play-off as mentioned above. Christopher Jäck could continue his brilliant game and reached the final round against Marcel Noack, the 2010 Vice European Champion, who of course was seen as the favourite. Christopher Jäck gained a 3 points lead on the concrete course, but then Marcel Noack equalized on the eternit course - 3:3 before the last lane. With an ace on the last lane on eternit (the cheese or kidney - or more formal: sloped lane with obstacle) the outsider Christopher Jäck won the final and is the new male German Minigolf Champion. He plays for the club MGC Singen, and the team he plays for is in the regional league South. Most of the players he beat in the play-offs are members of teams in the 1st Bundesliga - two levels above the regional league.

Walter Erlbruch, who lost the semi-final against Marcel Noack, won the final for the 3rd place in a convincing manner and showed again, that he is one of the most experienced players in Germany.

Links to results, reviews, photos and a TV broadcast, all in German language:

» results after qualification
» finals women
» finals men
» summary 1st day by Achim Braungart-Zink
» summary 2nd day by Achim Braungart-Zink
» summary play-offs by Achim Braungart-Zink
» article S?dkurier
» article Mittelbayerische Zeitung
» video with photos
» tvaktuell broadcast, interview Corina Reinisch

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