19 Sep 2009 at 20:57 | Published by: Hans | Views: 12510 | News search
Anders Olsson, happy winner of a brand new car worth 15.200 €. (Photo by Hans Bergström 2009)
Anders Olsson, the world ranked nr 1, won the biggest price so far in the history of Swedish Minigolf (and maybe in the world) today. First price in the Slottskogen MOS final was a car with the value of 160.000 SEK (approximately 15.200 Euro). Anders can choose whatever car he like in the Peugeot Store for that value and also chose a more expensive one if he adds the remaining sum. Unfortunately he would though need to pay Swedish tax for the winning value (Vinstskatt 30%).
But what happened during the wonderful late summer day in Göteborg. After the qualifying rounds (won by home player Anders Petterson on 39) the 31 participants was spread on a cup-three. Strangely the upper half was containing almost all star players. On the lower half the only star names where Sandra Weaver and Rickard Lockner who nowadays is almost a MOS-specialist.
The first real surprise was on the lower half where Sandra Weaver was beaten by a local amateur player Suljo Barlow. Suljo continued his surprises all the way to the semifinal where Rickard Lockner was to strong.
On the upper half Anders Olsson had a really though journey beating Roger Niord, Hans Olofsson and Jesper Andersson in the semifinal. The match against Jesper was a real struggle where Jesper only needed a shared lane on the last lane, but a bad first shot opened for Anders to win the lane and getting a sudden death. In the sudden death Jesper Andersson was making a slow shot on lane two ending up in the water. A 4 on the lane made it possible for Anders to play a "safe" 3 for a place in the finals.
The final were brilliant and fast. The two players had one ace each and two missed put each before lane 17. On lane 16 Rickard Lockner had a great opportunity to take the lead, but an unlucky hit in the stone made the lane equal. On the 17th lane Anders made a long put for a two and one lane up. The last shot by Anders was probably one of the best on lane 18 ending up within 10 cm from the hole. This forced Rickard Lockner to ace the lane for to stay in the game for the car but this lane is not something you just ace. So the winner was Anders Olsson, who said he now could cancel his train ticket back to Stockholm.
Below are some videoshots of the defing moments of the tournament.
Yep this minigolf course looks very nice, it has very attractive esthetic style. Looks more interesting and "a serious game for adults" (from golf / sport perspective) than the geometrically shaped WMF standard courses. But some details in this Slottskogen course design have received negative feedback from competition players. Minigolfers want to have a chance for hole-in-one at every hole of the course.
This could be the most valuable prize ever in European minigolf. Should be quite near the top 10 of most valuable prizes in minigolf world, after all those 50,000 USD first prizes in PPA National Championships of early 2000's and late 1970's.
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