04 Mar 2013 at 14:01 | Published by: Freebird | Views: 9500 | News search

Craig Patterson (CMGC) - British Crazy Golf Champion 2013  (Photo by Marion Homer 2013)

BMGA event report
Supplied by Sean Homer, BMGA Chairman

The first outdoor event on the 2013 British Minigolf Association season took place at the legendary seafront course in Hastings on Sunday 3rd March.

The three-round, 54-hole tournament was won by Craig Patterson (Cambridgeshire Minigolf Club) in only his third event on the BMGA tour. Patterson held off a strong challenge from a field full of quality players, sealing the title at the final hole by 1 shot, with the Kent Minigolf Club trio of Tony Kelly, Will Donnelly and Alex Pragnell all tied in 2nd place.

Speaking after picking up the trophy and gold medal Craig said “ I'm delighted with my first victory, especially after my slightly disastrous performance on this course last year in the World Crazies. It came totally out of the blue today, I've played a couple of times over the winter break and seemed to have really lost my game, but then last week I noticed a couple of things which were wrong with my stroke and it all fell into place today. I'm proud of myself for how I handled the 'crazy crazy' final round rules as I'd never played that format before and was very nervous about what to expect. It was a very exciting finish and I really thought Tony had me beaten with 2 holes to play but I somehow managed to hang on. The only downside of my victory is I've now got to wait 6 weeks to try and repeat it in Worthing!!!"

After a three way play-off to decide the runner up slot, Tony Kelly came 2nd overall with Will Donnelly 3rd and Alex Pragnell 4th.

The competition also had dedicated prize money for Category 2 & 3 players. Having just missed out in the play-off for second place, Alex took some consolation by winning the category 2 title, with Paul Johnson (Midlands Minigolf Club) 2nd and Chris Jones (London Minigolf Club) in third place. In category 3 Mark Wood (Kent Minigolf Club) won with Emily Gottfried (Cambridgeshire Minigolf Club) second and Dave Gomm (Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club) 3rd.

Adam Kelly (Kent Minigolf Club) won the Category 1 aces prize, with John Moore (Midlands Minigolf Club) taking the category 2 aces prize and David Pragnell (Kent Minigolf Club) winning the category 3 aces prize.

The event also saw the very first Hole-In-One Charity challenge take place between rounds 2 and 3. This was open to all (tournament competitors and the general public alike) and cost just £1 per entry (£2 for category 1 players). Half of the entry fees carry forward to the Players Championship charity fund (taking place in September, the day before the British Open) and the remainder were available to be won in the challenge. With 27 entrants on the day, each had 1 shot at the designated course hole (hole 13) with any players getting a hole-in-one sharing the prize pot. After a tense, exciting and very noisy challenge, Tony Kelly won the prize pot with the only ace of the shootout.

BMGA Chairman Sean Homer said “This was a great way to start out outdoor season and it was superb to see all players get the chance to experience the fun and mayhem of the final Crazy Crazy rules round with all balls in play at once something that only the top 18 players get to enjoy at the World Championship. I would like to thank all who played at the event, our Tournament Director James Rutherford, all the players who helped out on the day and David Hartley and his team at the course for their superb hospitality. The players and I are all looking forward to returning to the Hastings seafront later in the year for the World Adventure Golf Masters in June and the World Crazy Golf Championship in October".

Sunday also saw the entry window open for this years World Crazy Golf Championship – entries are now open to all and with limited spaces people are advised to enter ASAP to guarantee their place in the October competition.

The next event on the BMGA tour is the BMGA British Masters at Splash Point Minigolf Course in Worthing on April 14th.

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