On Saturday 29th March Luton Minigolfer Richard Gottfried travelled to Southend-on-Sea to compete against 29 of Great Britain ’s best Minigolfers in the first Minigolf ‘Major’ of the 2008 British Minigolf Association Season - the BMGA British Masters Tournament. Played over 36-holes at the tough Inca and Aztec themed Adventure Golf Course at Adventure Island the winner, with a score of 74, was Newcastle ’s John Moore.
Richard finished the tournament in 22nd place, only 14 shots off the winner and five shots away from a place in the top ten, after four 9-hole rounds scoring 22 – 22 – 24 – 20 for a total of 88 and an average of 2.44 shots per hole. Tournament winner John Moore averaged 2.05 shots per hole.
Pos Name R1 R2 R3 R4 Total Average
1 MOORE, John 19 19 18 18 74 18.50
2 KELLARD, Keith 19 19 18 20 76 19.00
3 HARDING, Chris* 17 20 21 19 77 19.25
22 GOTTFRIED, Richard 22 22 24 20 88 22.00
*Third/Fourth place decided after play-off.
Richard said “I made my debut in this competition last year and I scored a total of 95 and finished 24th of 28, so I have definitely improved this time around. This year my finishing was better, although I did still trip myself up with a five on the 9th hole and left myself some tricky second shots in places, but learning from mistakes is all part of Minigolf.”
Tournament organiser Ted McIver said of the competition “The BMGA British Masters tournament is now in its ninth year and is one of the key tournaments on the BMGA Tour Calendar. This year the competition was fierce as there were very good scores across the field, with a total of 19 players carding scores in the 80s.”
Saturday also saw the latest two knockout matches in the season-long BMGA British Matchplay Championships being played. In the first match Brighton & Hove Minigolf Club member Kevin Botto beat Ted McIver by one hole, while in the second match British Number 5 Andy Exall, of the Tunbridge Wells Minigolf Club, beat Richard Gottfried 4&3.
Commenting on his victory over Richard, Andy Exall said “It was a good match, unfortunately for Richard I played easily my best Minigolf of the day during the match. He did get a nice Ace on the 10th Hole and I’m going to try his line next year.”
Match Referee Trevor Robertson said “It was a great pleasure to preside over the Exall/Gottfried Matchplay tie. There was quality play all round, and the match was much closer than the final score suggested.”
Richard said “It was a great tournament and a really good Matchplay match. Unfortunately I lost, but I did so against one of the tournament favourites. It's all good practice for me and playing against highly experienced players like Andy Exall can only help me improve in the sport.”
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