Pele Breaks Record to Win FootGolf UK Ranking Tournament

Dan Ferretti, UK FootGolf & Pele Haydon

Pele Haydon won the June UK Ranking FootGolf Tournament at Stonham Barns Golf Centre on Sunday 15th June, smashing his own course record with a score of 6 under par, 52. This was his third straight win at Stonham Barns after winning the April and May tournaments. Pele had eight birdies helped by a back nine of five under par. His score bettered his own previous course record by 6 shots.

In second place was Danny Whitehouse, 5 shots back with a score of one under par 57 and in third was Ian Heydon, Pele’s father, with a score of 58.

The event attracted over 40 footgolf players from around the region and included over 32 men, 6 ladies and 2 juniors. This was one of six UK FootGolf ranking events that are being held on the scenic Stonham Barns 9 hole course this year. Full details of other ranking tournaments around the UK can be found at www.ukfootgolf.com.

Pele, who is now leading the National UK rankings, is bidding to remain in the top spot at the start of September as the leader will win a trip to New York to represent the UK and compete in the US FootGolf Open later that month.

Footgolf is one of the fastest growing sports in the UK and combines two great sports, golf and football. The game is played on a golf course to larger holes (21” diameter cups) with a size 5 football. Players then play around the course kicking the football using rules largely based on the rules of golf.

Stonham Barns has achieved fantastic success this year by opening their golf course to both golf and footgolf players. Tony Dobson, the PGA professional and owner of Stonham Barns Golf Centre, has been amazed by bookings for footgolf and said “We opened the FootGolf course at the end of last year and this year we have had over 600 players go round the footgolf course with more bookings already for July and August. I think the numbers have been boosted by the World Cup as we have been particularly busy in the last couple of weeks.”

The next FootGolf UK Ranking event at Stonham Barns will be on Sunday 20th July.  This event is open to anyone, men, ladies and juniors and there are prizes for all the categories. All footballs and equipment is provided. To enter contact Tony Dobson at Stonham Barns on 01449 711545 or email [email protected]. For more information on FootGolf at Stonham Barns go to www.stonhambarnsgolf.co.uk/footgolf.

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