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Minigolf season comes to a close
Gottfrieds' places are revealed
Luton minigolfers Richard and Emily Gottfried's 2009 minigolf season came to an end last week in Margate, Kent, following their participation in the British Minigolf Association's biggest Tour Calendar to date.
In total Richard competed in 18 of the 19 BMGA Tour Ranking Events he was eligible for, winning three of them. Emily played in seven tournaments, with her best result being a second-place finish.
Richard won the Mini Masters at PlayGolf Manchester in April and followed this up on his next visit to Manchester by winning the Miniature Open title in July.
In the Miniature Open, Emily also had her most successful tournament to date when she won a play-off to finish in second spot.
Richard's third win of the season came in the Blackpool Pleasure Beach Open in September where he won by eight clear shots and also set the new BMGA and all-time course record at 24 (par).
Only four other players won more than one tournament this year, and Richard was among only two other players to net three titles in 2009.
Richard was also very close to sealing victory number four in early October when he attempted to defend his Weymouth Open title.
After tying for the lead he lost a sudden-death play-off at the fourth extra hole and had to settle for second place, his second in two days after also finishing runner-up at the London Open in Staines. He did, however, set his second course record of the season at Weymouth with a 41 (+5).
In the 2008-2009 BMGA Order of Merit Rankings Richard finished the year in 16th spot out of the 74 competing players with a total of 3,022 points, slightly down on last year when he finished in 14th out of 68 with 2,553 points.
Emily, however, moved up seven places in the Order Of Merit, this year finishing in her highest position to date, in 38th place with 692 points.
In the Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Rankings list both Richard and Emily have made significant movements up the table following a good showing in this year's World Crazy Golf Championships in Hastings.
Richard moves up from 45th spot to 31st of the 255 players, while Emily enters the top 50 at 50th place, up from 82nd spot.
In the World Minigolfsport Federation (WMF) World Minigolf Rankings list for international men's competitions Richard is now ranked 352 of 365 players, up from 425th place of 433 last year. Emily, meanwhile, has moved up from 115th of 120 players to 100th position in the women's ranking list.
In the 2009 BMGA season-only rankings released on Sunday, Richard finished eighth out of the 164 players with 1,190 ranking points.
He also finished eighth in 2008, when 129 players were ranked.
Emily dropped down slightly on her 2008 ranking, moving from 29th to 37th place of the 164 competitors.
Richard has also competed in 12 non-ranking minigolf tournaments, picking up three wins and six other podium places.
Richard said: "Last year I had set myself the objective of winning more individual BMGA Tour events and breaking into the top five of the BMGA British Rankings.
"I've certainly won some titles but haven't yet broken into the top five.
"In 2010 I'd like to continue my winning ways and I'd definitely like to be in the top 10 by the end of the season."
Emily added: "I have really enjoyed this season, and although I only played in a handful of tournaments, I played much better and achieved a higher ranking than I expected."
In the three-month close-season Richard and Emily will be practicing at the recently-refurbished Crazy Golf course at Tea Green Golf at Wandon End, Luton.
They will open the 2010 season with the BMGA National Open at Star City in Birmingham, with around 20 further events also scheduled.
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Weather for Luton
Friday 25 May 2012
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