05 Jul 2016 at 15:17 | Published by: PatPenguin | Views: 15052 | News search

From the left: Kosti Salonen, Aki Sillman, Tommi Lantta  (Photo by Sandra Walker)

Finnish championships on miniature took place in Lahti June 18 and 19.

Weather has been the story of so many minigolf events in 2016 and this tournament was no different, with 2 rounds being cut due to weather, dropping the championships from the traditional 9 to 7 rounds. Overall 37 players defied the very rainy weather and chased the medals. In men’s division Aki Sillman (Kungälvs BGK) took a strong lead after two rounds when another favorite Kosti Salonen (Tantogårdens BGK) started a bit poorly with two red rounds. After this Salonen was nine shots behind Sillman but in the last five rounds he was unbeatable and didn’t let Sillman grow the lead. Eventually Sillman took the victory by two shots and was also the best player of all with green average 23.14! The battle for bronze medal was between Tommi Lantta (TaRGS) and Jussi Heino (MG-Aces). This time Lantta was stronger and completed the podium.

Outside of men’s division Ari Ahrenberg (SMGK) took care of the toughest performance by winning the division of senior men with 11 shots and his first gold medal after many many years trying. Seija Björk (SMGK) won the senior ladies. SMGK was unbeatable in senior team competition. Manse was the second best team and Botnia the third one.

In ladies division was Mirva Juhola (TaRGS) absolutely outstanding right from the start. The contest for second place though was a real thriller which ended not sooner than in the last round’s last lane. Greta Wedman (Manse RG) took two to the last lane while Sandra Walker (SMGK) managed with one shot. So Walker won silver and Wedman bronze.

In division of veteran men “The Gold Machine” Markku Sillman won once again the brightest medal. This time the victory was a walkover victory by 31 shots!

Thank you to Ida Hiltunen for this article.

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