National Open 2010

24th January 2010



The new British Minigolf Association Tour season teed-off with the 2010 BMGA National Open competition at the Adventure Island Minigolf course at Star City, Birmingham.

After the end of season break I felt refreshed and mentally strong ready for the new season. Joint 1st with a 30 then 2nd with a 31 put me three shots behind Chris Harding going into the third and final round. A two-ace par score 36 left me tied in 3rd requiring a play-off with John Moore.

I won the toss and opted to play second on hole 1. John overhit and scored a 2. I rolled in an Ace to take 3rd place overall and £30 prize money.

A fantastic start to the new season.

Name R1 R2 R3 Average Diff Tot

1 Chris HARDING 30 29 28 29.00 2 87
2 Kevin MOSELEY 34 31 29 31.30 5 94
3 Marc CHAPMAN 30 31 36 32.30 6 97
4 John MOORE 31 33 33 32.30 2 97
5 Sean HOMER 30 35 34 33.00 5 99
6 Peter EMMERSON 33 34 33 33.30 1 100
7 Jam TRUBRIDGE 32 32 36 33.30 4 100
8 Richard GOTTFRIED 35 37 28 33.30 9 100

2009 End of Season Summary

My debut season finished on a high with my KIT win & 2nd Place in the Kent Open.
Top 8 finishes in all 3 Majors (Top 8 Brit at BO) cemented my place as Newcomer of the Year and as a threat for the 2010 Season.

The full list of results and final rankings appears below:

Star City Open - 13th
PHCGC Open - 25th
The Masters - 26th
English Open - 9th
British Doubles - 4th
British Championship - 7th
Players Championship - 9th
British Open - 17th (6th)
World Crazy Golf Championship - 8th
KIT - 1st
Kent Open - 2nd

BMGA Official Ranking List - 20th
BMGA Season Only Ranking List - 6th

Looking to continue my progression on the same upward curve with targets set at a Top 4 finish in a Major, Win an Open, Retain the KIT and to finish next season in the Top 10 of the Official BMGA Ranking list.

Kent Open 2009

1st November 2009

The day after my Kent Invitational Tournament victory confidence was high but the weather had turned bad - constant rain.
Paired with Nick Chitty from through all three rounds we both finished on level par tied for first place.
In the three hole play-off we were still tied but on the 4th extra hole I succumbed to an ace from Nick on hole 1.



I had to settle for the runners-up spot but I did win the Top Novice Trophy.

Rank Start no Name R1 R2 R3 Average Diff Tot Par
1 113 Nick 'Top Hole' Chitty 36 33 39 36.0 6 108 ±0
2 127 Marc 'The Force' Chapman 36 35 37 36.0 2 108 ±0
3 109 Andy 'No.2' Exall 39 36 35 36.7 4 110 +2
4 117 Tim 'Ace Man' Davies 40 35 36 37.0 5 111 +3
5 122 Scott 'Donkey Gringo' Lancley 40 38 33 37.0 7 111 +3
6 105 Sean 'Freebird' Homer 39 41 32 37.3 9 112 +4
7 116 John 'Big Top Ted' McIver 38 40 39 39.0 2 117 +9
8 107 Richard 'Squire' Gottfried 44 41 36 40.3 8 121 +13

Kent Invitational Tournament 2009

Finals: 31st October 2009

After the season long first round I had recorded an average score of 33 on the Strokes course, Margate. The finals consisted of two further rounds against the rest of the KMGC. A decent 35 set me up in second place followed by a storming 32 to win by 7 shots and take my first official title in my debut season!



Rank Name Club R1 R2 R3 Tot Avg Diff Par Ranking points
1 Marc 'The Force' CHAPMAN KMGC 33 35 32 100 33.5 3 -8 2002 Sean 'Freebird' HOMER KMGC 34 36 37 107 36.5 3 -1 100
3 Scott 'Donkey Gringo' LANCLEY KMGC 35 32 43 110 37.5 11 +2 50
4 Rocky 'Harry Putter' BULLIN KMGC 37 35 42 114 38.5 7 +6

World Crazy Golf Championship 2009

24th/25th October 2009

Held every year on the Crazy golf and mini golf courses on Hastings seafront, the World Crazy Golf Championship is the highlight of the season and the third and final major of the year. With a top prize of £1000 it is also the biggest minigolf event in the UK and attracts large worldwide media coverage.

This event was the reason I started playing competitive minigolf. My target set the year before was to reach the 'super-final' of the top 18 players after 6 rounds. In reality I had set a second target after the previous two majors where I had finished in the top 8 British players. This was to also finish in the top 8 overall and perhaps win some cash.

Day 1 went to plan and I knew that two good rounds on Sunday would put me high up in the top 18 players. A solid 38 & 34 see me rise up the leaderboard as others faded away.

In the super-final 7th round my playing partners were Andy Exall and Ted McIver playing under special crazy golf rules where all three balls were in play at the same time.

A fantastic tactical battle ensued with alternating playing orders on each hole. Ted was crapped on by a seagull by hole 2 as I stormed ahead with an under par score as I aced the first hole! Hole 10 gave me an opportunity to destroy the chances of Ted by holing out for a two whilst cannoning his ball away from the hole - he scored a four.

Finishing the event with a 35 left me in 8th place on +5 for the tournament, one shot of a play-off for 6th place and some cash over £100.



Rank Start no Name R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 Average Diff Tot Par
1 156 Keith Kellard 34 33 40 36 36 35 33 35.3 7 247 -5
2 107 Peter Emmerson 34 39 32 37 37 37 36 36.0 7 252 ±0
3 195 John Mittler 35 39 33 39 38 34 35 36.1 6 253 +1
4 113 Tim Davies* 34 34 37 37 43 34 35 36.3 9 254 +2
5 104 Sean Homer 37 36 39 32 37 37 36 36.3 7 254 +2
6 115 Jo Williamson* 34 36 34 38 46 33 35 36.6 13 256 +4
7 129 Anthony Pope 40 33 38 31 38 37 39 36.6 9 256 +4
8 131 Marc Chapman 39 35 36 40 38 34 35 36.7 6 257 +5