26 Jan 2009 at 08:29 | Published by: JJM | Views: 8233 | News search

HE, LB, AO, AG, MT, JA, MB, RS, ML, BL.  (Photo by Arto Borg & Timo Metsäranta 2008)

Harald Erlbruch was chosen as Player of the Year 2008 in our public vote, and also in the expert vote of 12 well-known minigolf experts from different countries.

The expert vote included these persons: Pasi Aho (FIN), Markus Berger (AUT), Tim Davies (GBR), Ernst-Jan Meijer (NED), Astra Miglane-Stanwyck (USA), Michael Neuland (GER), Paolo Porta (ITA), Olivia Prokopová (CZE), Carl-Johan Ryner (SWE), Petra Szablikowski (GER), Jason Weaver (CAN), Florian Wietz (GER).

In the expert vote, each voter gave points to seven best men (7-6-5-4-3-2-1) and four best women (4-3-2-1) of the season 2008. The theoretical maximum in men’s vote was 25 % = 7 / (7+6+5+4+3+2+1).

Harald Erlbruch received 23% of the expert votes, not far from the theoretical maximum. His 2008 season was crowned by European Champion and German Champion titles.

The expert voters ranked Anders Olsson as the 2nd best player of the year 2008. WMF world ranking no. 1 won the Swedish Championships, was 3rd best player at European Cup, and 5th best at European Championships preliminary rounds.

The public voters ranked Lars Brown as the 2nd best player of 2008 season. And not without good reasons: Brown was 2nd best player at European Cup, 4th best at European Championships preliminary rounds, and played some of the best and fastest game in the world throughout the season in Swedish tournaments.

The expert voters ranked Alexander Geist as 3rd best player of 2008 season. Geist was the best player of European Championships preliminary rounds, and played a very impressive season in German Bundesliga. In the public vote Geist was not ranked inside the Dream Team of 7 best players.

The third best player of 2008 season in the public vote was Brad Lebo of United States. He picked a sensational 10 tournament victories in MOS adventure golf competitions, including the WMF major tournament US Masters 2008. Lebo hates losing, and he did not lose much to anyone during this season. In the expert vote Lebo was ranked 10th best, narrowly outside of the Dream Team of 7 best players.

Jesper Andersson was ranked 4th in the expert vote and 5th in the public vote. The highlight of his season was silver in the cup competition of European Championships, and top ranks in some Swedish competitions.

6th place in the expert vote went to Marco Balzer, who was 2nd best at European Championships preliminary rounds, and took silver at German Championships 2008. Balzer was the un-nominated Lucky Loser of the public vote (the only player in top 7 that our crystal ball forgot to tell us.) It is not a simple task to nominate 10 players who will get most votes both from experts and from the public, when we also need to guess how the voters will appreciate the different playing systems, and cup competition vs. preliminary rounds.

Marco Templin received 7th place in the expert vote, after a very fine season that included bronze at European Championships and 4th place at German Championships.

6th place in the public vote went to Manfred Lindmayr, who was 2nd best at Nations Cup, 12th at European Championships, and 4th at Austrian Championships.

Reto Sommer received 7th place in the All Stars team of the public vote. His excellent season may have gone a bit unnoticed by our non-Swiss expert voters: Swiss Champion 2008, 3rd best at European Championships preliminary rounds, and 4th best at Nations Cup.

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