Saturday, February 27, 2016

World Minigolf rankings update

Latest minigolf rankings from the World Minigolf Sport Federation.

The World Minigolf Sport Federation, the international governing body for miniature golf, has published the latest edition of the General Class Rankings for the year ending 31st December 2015.

The Great Britain 3 Team of John Moore, Emily Gottfried, Richard Gottfried and Craig Patterson at the 2013 WMF World Adventure Golf Masters in Hastings. The team finished in 5th place
The GB 3 team of John Moore, Emily Gottfried, Richard Gottfried and Craig Patterson at the 2013 WMF World Adventure Golf Masters. The team finished in 5th place

In the Nations Rankings Great Britain is ranked 13th of 30 countries, up from 16th place. Fourteen GB players (13 men and 1 woman) have contributed to the nations ranking between 2013 and 2015. Germany, Sweden and the Czech Republic lead the rankings.

Once again Emily and I are both in the General Class Rankings.

Emily and Richard Gottfried on international minigolf duty
On international duty

In the Women's World Ranking List Emily is the sole British female player and is in tied 98th place (105 players) alongside Erika Benka (HUN), Anja Derks (NED), Asta Korpi (FIN), Ana Lopes (POR), Tänia Monteiro (POR), Amara Silva (POR) and Nathamon Tayutivuthikul (THA).

Emily on her way to a British Women's Record Round of 24(-12) on the Eternit format of Miniature Golf at the WMF Nations Cup in 2011

In the Men's World Ranking List I am in tied 387th place (404 players) together with Mislav Bjazic (CRO), Miguel Angel Hernandez (ESP), J. Hinojosa De Torres-Peralta (ESP), Erik Hjalmarsson (SWE), Marcel Korinek (SVK), Arton Krasniqi (KOS), Pawel Larus (POL), Hugo Madera (ESP), Sabri Maloku (KOS), Santiago Paramo (ESP), Jawaharlal Purohit (IND), Jose Maria Rivera Cadierno (ESP), Juan Pablo Ruano De Fruto (ESP), Petri Saukko (FIN), Craig Small (GBR), Georgij Srebren (CRO) and Lavdim Zylfiu (KOS).

Richard Gottfried plays Hole 17 on Concrete (Beton) at the Tantogårdens Minigolf Club in Stockholm
Playing hole 17 on Concrete (Beton) at the Tantogårdens Minigolf Club in Stockholm

Aside from the March 2011 list Emily and I have been in the sport's international rankings since November 2008 following our debut for the Great Britain team at that year's Nations Cup championships in Tampere, Finland.

The 2008 Great Britain team - Jouni Valkjarvi (coach), John 'Big Top Ted' McIver, Marion 'Mation' Homer, Sean 'Freebird' Homer, Tim 'Ace Man' Davies, Steve 'F1' Gow, Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried, Andy 'Sarge' Booth, 'Squire' Richard Gottfried
The 2008 GB team in Finland

It's nice to be listed alongside my friend Lavdim Zylfiu. He's a great ambassador of the sport and his country of Kosovo. I had the pleasure of competing against him in his international debut at the 2011 WMF World Adventure Golf Masters in Hastings. This year Lavdim is helping to organise the 2016 edition of the tournament on his home course in Prishtina.

At the 2011 WMF World Adventure Golf Masters in Hastings with Lavdim (right), Alan 'Stormin' Norman and Arben Alija (left). Alan and I took on Kosovo's first ever international minigolfers in a doubles match on the Pirate Golf course

Check out the WMF website where you can find out more about the sport, as well as the Junior and Senior Rankings - both lists feature GB players.

The Great Britain Minigolf Sport Team is sponsored by UrbanCrazy, suppliers of permanent and portable mini and crazy golf courses.

Great Britain 2 (from l-r Björn Dinau, Tony Kelly, Richard Gottfried, Emily Gottfried, Scott Lancley, Eirik Seljelid)
The 2011 GB 2 team and coaching staff in Stockholm

The World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) is the umbrella organisation of Minigolf sports association's worldwide and continental associations in Asia, Europe and America.

The WMF has 55 member nations, with the sport played in Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Canada, China, Chinese Taipai, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Kenya, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Togo, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, USA and Vietnam.

There are more than 38,000 competitive minigolf players registered with the WMF via the 55 member nations, with 900-plus clubs between them. Over 1,000 courses are approved for official competitions and around 1,500 minigolf tournaments held each year.

The WMF is a member of SportAccord - the union for both Olympic and non-Olympic international sports federations, and organisers of international sporting events. The WMF is also a member of AIMS, the Alliance of Independent Members of SportAccord.

Links:
World Minigolf Sport Federation
European Minigolf Sport Federation
British Minigolf Association
UrbanCrazy
SportAccord
Alliance of Independent Members of SportAccord (AIMS)

Related blog posts:
Updated WMF World Minigolf Rankings (March 2015)
World Minigolf Sport Rankings
- Minigolf Diary - 5 Days on International Minigolf Duty - WMF Nations Cup 2011 - Stockholm, Sweden

Player profiles
Miniature Golf Player Profile for Richard Gottfried
Miniature Golf Player Profile for Emily Gottfried

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems.

You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Woo hoo! In the top 100 in the world :)