Pele Wins First UK FootGolf Ranking Tournament at Stonham

Pele Haydon presented the 1st Prize by Tony Dobson

Amazingly a footgolfer named Pele (Pele Haydon) won the first ever UK Ranking FootGolf Tournament at Stonham Barns Golf Centre on Sunday 13th April. The event attracted over 30 footgolf players from around the region and is the first of a number of ranking events run by the UK FootGolf Association all over the UK.

Pele Haydon won the tournament by 3 shots after scoring a great score of 58 for the 18 hole event. In 2nd place was Oliver Riches who scored a 61 and in 3rd place (on countback) was Ian Haydon (father of Pele) who also scored a 61. The junior winner was Josh Driver who scored a 69 and the ladies winner was Emily Donnachie. We should mention the incredible hole in one achieved by Paul Dobson on the 7th hole which lifted him into the top twenty and gaining valuable ranking points. It’s the first hole in one at FootGolf achieved on the Stonham Barns FootGolf course since it opened last August.

Pele and many of the players are aiming to play in as many of the ranking tournaments as possible in a bid to top the National Rankings at the beginning of September. The leader will get an all expenses paid 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. 

FootGolf is now being taken seriously around the world, in fact recently the president of the US PGA, Ted Bishop, endorsed FootGolf saying that he was excited by the prospects of FootGolf as a way to bring people in who are into football and to give them the opportunity to go to the golf course, experience what it’s like to play round a course and maybe then come along and try golf. 

There are a number of UK Ranking tournaments around the country and all the details of these events can be found at www.ukfootgolf.com/2014-events/4582748787.

The next FootGolf UK Ranking event at Stonham Barns will be on Sunday 18th May.  This event is open to anyone, mens, ladies and juniors. All footballs and equipment is provided. To enter contact Tony Dobson at Stonham Barns on 01449 711545 or email [email protected]. 

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