Nordic domination in Cornwall

The 2019 edition of the World Footballgolf Championship took place from 14. To 16. of June on the fantastic Cornwall Footballgolf course located in St. Austell / Devonshire, one of the most beautiful and also poorest regions of the United Kingdom that has suffered from the decline of both the mining and fishing industries.

In Rosamunde Pilcher´s garden, the players coming from 13 different countries experienced everything but just a walk on two spectacular courses named “Parkland” and “Hillside”. Perfect English grass, top conditions, English weather and top catering services had been prepared by Toby Robinson and his amazing team to make sure everybody would enjoy the tournament.

As a consequence, top performances were registered during the 3 days of the event.

First Nordic strikes!

The first Nordic signal was given by the Swedish double Emilie Flink and Linnea Höök who won the double women contest in the play-offs against their Danish opponents Louise Aagaard and Randi Laursen. The two newcomers Lucia Čermáková from Slovakia and Renáta Hámori from Hungary showed their promising skills for the first time in the tournament and finished third only one kick behind the two first teams.

The double men competition was almost as exciting, as the winners, Anders Bollerup from Denmark and Bjørnar Storsveen finished only one kick ahead of the second Danish pair composed of Daniel Lund and Simon Secher Jensen. In an exciting play-off for the last podium place, the German Team around Oliver Meyer and Alex Kober beat another Danish team involving Henrik Fitos and Thomas Jensen.

Swedish domination in the ladies singles

Although two of the best world female players couldn`t participate to the tournament, namely Laura Rolli from Germany and Ane Bjerke from Norway, the single women competition involving twenty one players remained extremely competitive and totally open until the last breathtaking hole in round four. After her first title in doubles, Emelie Flink won the single competition to become 2019 world champion in the single women category. With a total amount of 274 kicks on 4 rounds, she managed to finish 1 kick ahead of a the Hungarian newbie Renáta Hámori who has been surprising  everybody with her second place in her first major competition. Pernilla Nordgren finished third with a hole in one on the last hole, one kick ahead of another Swedish colleague, Julia Berglind Nillson who played a very steady tournament. Another newbie from Slovakia, Lucia Čermáková, finished fifth. All in all, the level of the single ladies competition was very high on a challenging course and the density of players in the top of the leaderboard and the appearance of talented newcomers are promising signs for the future competitions.

Footbollerup and the Danish Dynamite!

The men`s single competition involved 111 players and strong representations from Denmark, the UK, France, Sweden, Germany and Hungary. Anders Bollerup, the leader of the world ranking and former World champion left no doubt on who is currently the best and won the singles men competition with 13 kicks less than his Danish colleague Michael Hansen who finished the 4 rounds with an excellent score of 227 kicks, only one kick ahead of the third Jens Larsen Lønberg who, guess what?... is also from Denmark!. Actually, 9 out of the 10 first players came from Denmark, an amazing performance of our Nordic friends!

First Junior World Champion 

Last but not least, the first Junior World Champion, namely Walter Wingh has been celebrated by an enthusiastic public and the Swedish player is the first ever winner of the Junior World Footballgolf title…Congratulation!

A special mention has to be given to UK’s team who won the slightly less official beer contest in the local rugby club house and to the Hungarian team who participated for the first time to a world championship with a total of 10 players.

Finally, we would like to thank Toby and his team for the excellent preparation as well as all the members of our unique community who joined them in Cornwall to celebrate our beloved sport and its fairness spirit.

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