03 Oct 2007 at 08:31 | Published by: JJM | Views: 7778 | News search

Increasingly rainy weather could not stop Hans Olofsson from winning the first prize in Swedish Open 2007 — the first official competition on “open system” courses in the history of Swedish Minigolf Federation.

The competition was played at the 12-hole putting course in Åkersberga, near Stockholm. Players were allowed to use an official golf ball only, which was provided by the organizers.

Open system courses are designed to imitate the appearance and feeling of a real golf course, inviting golfers to play with minigolfers in the same tournaments. In United States the minigolf association has a long and successful tradition of a close relationship with golf players.

Åkersberga putting course has attracted large crowds of players during the summer, but the rainy September morning could not attract more than 17 players to compete for the sizeable money prizes. Rainwater was efficiently drained by the artificial grass of the course, however, and playing the competition was possible in weather conditions that would have been unthinkable for other types of minigolf courses.

In the preliminary rounds the best game was shown by Jesper Andersson (26.33), followed by Hans Olofsson and Harry Grönlund of Finland (both 27.33) and Bengt Svensson (27.67). More clearly behind this leading group, the four other players to qualify into the final cup phase were Ricard Lockner, Robbin Fahlén-Ådahl, Krister Magnus­son and Anders Schedin.

WMF world ranking no. 2 Anders Olsson stayed in the pace of Top Eight for two rounds (29 + 29), but in the catastrophic third round 34 he saw his chances washed away and gone with the wind.

The top scorers Jesper Andersson, Harry Grönlund and Bengt Svensson were knocked out of the competition in the first cup round, but Hans Olofsson was able to keep his position over the top. In the final round against Anders Schedin, Olofsson opened strongly and gained a lead of three points during the first lanes. Later in the round he made several unexpected mistakes, however, and Anders Schedin had a chance of tying the game, until his missed putt at the last hole let Olofsson walk away with the first prize.

Cup finals of Swedish Open 2007:

Qualifying rounds: 01.    ANDERSSON Jesper 02.    OLOFSSON Hans 03.    GRÖNLUND Harry 04.    SVENSSON Bengt 05.    LOCKNER Ricard 06.    FAHLÉN-ÅDAHL Robbin 07.    MAGNUSSON Krister 08.    SCHEDIN Anders 09.    THELIN Tommy 09.    SÖDERQVIST Jan 11.    MORELL Said 11.    OLSSON Anders 11.    GUSTAFSSON Tyko 14.    LUNDGREN Ronnie 14.    MATSSON Conny 16.    HÖGBERG Fredrik 17.    SJÖBLOM Diana

28   27   24   =   79    (26.33)    25   27   30   =   82    (27.33)    28   27   27   =   82    (27.33)    25   31   27   =   83    (27.67)    26   33   28   =   87    (29.00)    27   31   29   =   87    (29.00)    28   29   31   =   88    (29.33)    33   29   27   =   89    (29.67)    31   30   30   =   91    (30.33)    29   32   30   =   91    (30.33)    31   27   34   =   92    (30.67)    29   29   34   =   92    (30.67)    32   29   31   =   92    (30.67)    32   32   30   =   94    (31.33)    33   31   30   =   94    (31.33)    32   34   30   =   96    (32.00)    45   45   41   =   131  (43.67)

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