Spanish Open 2019
Macanet de Cabrenys 04.10. – 6.10. 2019

116 players (28 women and 88 men) from Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Czech Republic , UK, France, Norway, Austria, Belgium, Argentina, Finland and Spain participated in this years Spanish Open, making this last WFGA event of the year the most popular Spanish Open of all times.

Many champions showed up in Spain, for instance World Champion in Footballgolf, Anders Bollerup from Denmark, as well as the Footgolf World Champion from Argentina, Matias Perrone, and last but not least the number one in the women rankings Pernilla Nordgren. We were also happy to welcome back Thomas Kirchberger, who is recovering from his heavy illness. We wish all the best to Bent Sandfeld, the former multiple winner of the Spanish Open and our colleague from the Board, who is fighting cancer and therefore was not able to join the competition. A special thought also goes to Karl-Heinz Ehmke who passed away at the end of last year from a cancer disease. His shirt was brought in memory to the club house, at his favourite tournament location in Macanet.

The Tournament:

A first double round in shotgun mode and the first single round took place on Friday. The double Alex Kober- Matias Perrone immediately took the lead, starting their first hole with a hole in one and finishing the first round with a sensational -18. They concluded the second round with a solid 62 (-10), enabling them to win the competition in front of Jens Larsen/Sune Rejsenhus (aggregate -21) and Steffen Bjorn Andersen/Heine Mikkelsen (aggregate -20).

The double Maja Kober/Sandra Mayer also made a great start with a frst 69 kicks round and kept the lead until the end with an aggregate score of -2 vs par. Louise Aagard/Jeanette Hansen finished second with an aggregate -1,  while Tanja Kristansen/Mette Stisen ended up third.

As a result of the many competitors registered for the tournament, the womens single competition was of a very high level. Jeanette Hansen took the lead after a fantastic first round with a 63 kicks (-9 vs par). She kept the lead until the 3rd round, but ended up third with 280 kicks. Maja Kober ended up second after an amazing last round and a play-off against the victorious swede Pernilla Nordgren who won her fifth Spanish Open emphasizing her number 1 position in the world rankings. Both Pernilla and Maja played the 4 rounds with as few as 278 kicks!

The Mens single competition was an exciting and totally unpredictable event! Jan Schmitz took the lead with 9 kicks afer 18 holes but could not keep the level of his first round during the tournament. After a poor start, the World Champion, Anders Bollerup played 3 strong rounds to end up 3rd with a total score of 254 kicks. Alex Kober (251 kicks) and Steffen Bjorn Andersen (250 kicks) battled for the win and finally Steffen managed to hold on to his his 1 kick advantage to become the 2019 winner of the Spanish Open.

Only 2 participants played the Junior Cup, proving that there is still some work to be done in the clubs and federations in developing the sport among  the younger players. The Czech Footballgolf federation is one of the most active in this development at the moment and as a reward, Michal Mares, a 10 year old boy won the competition with an amazing total score of 279 kicks! With this score, Michal ended up 29th in the men’s competition!!! Keep up the good work.

We would like to thank all the players that participated in the tournament, and thanks to all the players that took part in the other stages/tournaments of the WFGA 2019 Tour.  Special thanks to Harry, Maria and their crew who, once again, worked miracles to make everybody happy and comfortable.

On behalf of WFGA,

Karsten and Stephan