08 Apr 2014 at 12:34 | Published by: Joep | Views: 13435 | News search

Jeroen van Holland, MGC Oirschot  (Photo by Loes van Gisbergen 2014)

Last Sunday, April 6th 2014, the highest Dutch minigolf competition, de Landelijke Hoofdklasse (LHK) started in Drachten, a city in the north of the Netherlands, on eternite. A beautiful minigolf course with excellent conditions, only the weather was not that good. Several rain interruptions made it difficult for all teams.

There are 6 teams in the LHK, playing with 6 players and 1 substitute. Each team can play with a maximum of 2 women and the winner after 5 competition days will take part in the men’s team competition at the European Cup in Schriesheim, Germany.

Besides reigning champion MGC Oirschot there are 5 other clubs present. New is MGC Drachten, who promoted to the LHK last year. Other teams are MGC De Vrije Slag (Wageningen), MGC Appelscha (Appelscha, the host of the European Cup of 2015), RMC De Holeridders (Ridderkerk) and MGC Zoetermeer (Zoetermeer).

The first round of the day was won by MGC De Vrije Slag, only 1 stroke in front of champions MGC Oirschot, who have lost their second team inside LHK last year. The youngster Youri Bottenberg (MGC Drachten) played a magnificent 19, with only missing lane 18. Also Jeroen Mantoua (MGC Drachten) played 19, but unfortunately he couldn’t continue towards the end of the day due to sickness.

The second round, a few times interrupted by rain, was a clear win for MGC Oirschot, who took a 10-stroke lead before MGC De Vrije Slag. Despite of the bad weather Natasja Klarenbeek, back at MGC Oirschot after 1 year playing for De Vrije Slag, played 19.

In the third round the weather was still bad and it had to be interrupted again. MGC De Vrije Slag took 6 strokes back, so it all came down on the fourth and final round.

This fourth round only MGC Oirschot was able to get a “green score” (140) on the scoreboard and with a 11 strokes win in the last round over MGC De Vrije Slag they took their first win in the 2014 season (with 569 strokes). Second place was for MGC De Vrije Slag (584), the hometeam of MGC Drachten finished third (597). Best individual player was Youri Bottenberg with a courserecord of 84 strokes, before Chris Campfens (MGC Oirschot, 88) and Wilbert van Helmond (MGC De Vrije Slag, 90)

Another thing worth mentioning was the “debut” of some players from the past, who started playing minigolf again: Runner-up in the 1991 World Championship Iwan Wijkstra, former Appelscha-/Geldrop- and Dutch teamplayer Henk de Boer and Jeroen Mantoua (all playing for MGC Drachten).

Next stop: the concrete course of MGC Geldrop, the host of the 2006 European Championships, next weekend.

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