08 Jun 2014 at 19:02 | Published by: mindthegap | Views: 15138 | News search

The Felt Master, Marcel Noack from Mainz  (Photo by TV Niederstetten)

The German Felt Masters took place in Niederstetten in the South of Germany (Baden-Württemberg) on the 31st of May and the 1st of June. It's a relatively new competition in Germany, just held for the 2nd time. The whole competition is run in Match Play, so every round only the won lanes count.

The competition is played by up to 64 players - men, women, juniors and seniors. There is no distinction between categories. Up to 48 places are reserved for members of the German squad, but minigolf clubs in Germany can apply for places at the Felt Masters for their members. Places are then given to the applicants by their order in the German Ranking List (DRL). So most of the best German players participate in this competition.

Up to 16 groups of 4 players, depending on the number of participants, are formed. Every player of a group plays a matchplay round against everyone else in his group. 2 points are given to the winner, 1 point to each in case of equality. The best 32 players after the qualification reach the first final. Another 4 final rounds are played to decide the winner, all played as play-offs and in match play. To get a proper ranking list at the end additional play-offs are played after each final round to decide the ranking for those who have lost their finals. So it's an unusual but exciting system.

This time 44 players participated in the competition, so 11 groups were formed for the qualification. The best two of each group qualified for the finals as well as the best 10 out of the 11 players on the 3rd place of their groups. In the results list you can recognize the qualified players by the light blue background colour in the ranking list of each group.

There were only two surprises in the qualifying. Oleg Klassen, the new World Adventure Golf Champion, and Markus Janssen, the current number one of the Seniors World Ranking List, couldn't reach the finals.

Last years winner Marcel Noack from Mainz easily reached the final and won all three rounds. In the first final he won easily against Danny Hense from the Bundesliga team of Arheilgen. In the 2nd final he beat Sebastian "Brezel" Heine from Wesel, nominated for the Nations Cup. In the quarter final he won against Frederick Mießner from Ingolstadt. Marcels semi-final then was more like a final - against the current World Champion Achim Braungart-Zink from Arheilgen, but he could win again and reached the final. His final opponent then was his team mate from Mainz, Sebastian Piekorz. By winning the final, the 8th won round in a row, he defended the title of the German Felt Master. As the looser of the final Sebastian Piekorz ended up on the 2nd place. Achim Braungart-Zink won the match for the 3rd place against Lukas Zimmermann from Schwaikheim, the best player not being in the German squad.

Links to results, reports and photos, all in German language:

»Results
»Online reporting by TV Niederstetten
»Photos by TV Niederstetten

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