photo by Walter Teupe, DMV

Uppsala BGK of Sweden renewed its gold medals of last year, both in men’s and women’s competitions, at European Cup 2008 in Hilzingen, Germany.

After last year’s landslide victories on felt in Eskilstuna (win margin 136 points in men and 48 points in women), the competition was expected to be essentially tighter in 2008 on beton — on German home field. But the news and results of German Bundesliga 2008 took some of the excitement away, long before European Cup 2008 ever started: all men’s club teams in Germany were out of their best shape this year.

Uppsala BGK took a relatively easy victory in men’s competition, with a win margin of 30 points (0.71 points per player and round) before another Swedish team, BGK Jönköping. Olsson, Ryner & co. can enjoy their gold medals with a clear conscience, as their average score 26.024 was better than the average 26.417 played by BGS Hardenberg some weeks earlier on the same beton course, in German Bundesliga.

German men’s champion 2008, MGC Dormagen-Brechten, was holding the third place in the competition after 5 rounds, but in the two last rounds their medal hopes turned into a disappointing fourth place, as Austrian champion WAT 21 found a top form and took the bronze medals, 13 points ahead of Dormagen-Brechten. MC Olten of Switzerland was 5th, 4 points behind Dormagen-Brechten.

More clearly behind the medal candidates, GSP Vergiate (Italy) was 6th, SK Tempo Praha (Czech Republic) 7th, Putter Team Odense (Denmark) 8th, Taivallahden RGS (Finland) 9th, MGC Appelscha (Netherlands) 10th, CM Porto (Portugal) 11th and MTGC Prievidza (Slovakia) 12th.

Women’s competition ended with a thriller between Uppsala BGK (Sweden) and MGC Mainz (Germany). Uppsala had a comfortable lead of 10 points before the last round, but Mainz came back into the game with a blue final round, equalling the total score when the last players had only 2 lanes left to play.

Alice Kobisch, the anchor player of MGC Mainz, missed lane 17, offering the Swedes a rare opportunity to knock the Germans off the gold podium in international women’s team competitions. Uppsala BGK anchor Charlotte Ryner did not miss the opportunity, scoring the two last lanes with a hole-in-one, and sealing victory to Uppsala BGK with a one point margin ahead of MGC Mainz.

The fate of bronze medals was decided in a tight last-round battle between BGK Jönköping (Sweden), MGC Knittelfeld (Austria) and MC Effretikon (Switzerland). BGK Jönköping found the best fighting spirit, rising from 5th place to bronze in the last round, 34 points behind the silver team Mainz, but only 3 points ahead of MGC Knittelfeld in 4th place, and 2 more points ahead of MC Effretikon in 5th place.

MC Monza (Italy) was 6th in women’s competition, MGC Leeuwarden (Netherlands) 7th, SKGC Františkovy Láznĕ (Czech Republic) 8th and CM Porto (Portugal) 9th.

Best players in the competition:

The easy beton course of Hilzingen gave many players and teams the chance to update their all-time records.

Sandra Bengtson of Sweden broke all possible women’s world records on beton:
- 1 round 22 (tied record with Elisabeth Gruber, Austria)
- 2 rounds 45 = average 22.50
- 3 rounds 73 = average 24.33
- 4 rounds 99 = average 24.75
- 5 rounds 123 = average 24.60
- 6 rounds 149 = average 24.83
- 7 rounds 179 = average 25.57

The only world record not broken by Bengtson is the record of 8 rounds (or more) — as the competition included only 7 rounds. Women’s world record on 2 rounds and 6 rounds of beton is now better than men’s world record.

Anders Olsson of Sweden tied men’s world record on 2 rounds of beton (average 23.00) and 4 rounds of beton (average 24.25). Philipp Albrechtsberger of Austria equalled men’s world record on 6 rounds of beton (average 25.17). World record on 7 rounds of beton is now in the hands of Fredrik Persson of Sweden, with average 25.14.

Uppsala BGK scored the new official world record on one round of beton for men’s club teams, with average 24.83. (BGS Hardenberg played even better in German Bundesliga some weeks earlier, with average 24.67, but official world records are counted only from international tournaments.)

Women’s team of Uppsala BGK broke women’s world record on one round of beton, with average 24.33. MGC Mainz played the same score two rounds later in the competition.

results of the competition

photo gallery by Walter Teupe, DMV

official website of the tournament

world records of minigolf