This year, as in 2012, the championships were played in five different series (mens, seniors, veterans, ladies, senior ladies).
The mens series was won by Niko Helin (his 5th win in the club championship!), who had the best score in the each of the first two rounds to take a six shot lead... before surviving an unconvincing final round to eventually win by three strokes from Andy Fowlie with Henri Lahdenperä in 3rd place.
In the ladies series it was great to have Minna Kaarnalahti in the field. Minna represents Kytäjä (very successfully!) in competitions all over Finland as well as overseas but usually the club championship does not fit into her schedule. Minna and five time winner Camilla Sommar had a good battle in the ladies event with each player having chances to win until Minna finally pulled away in the final three holes.
The senior mens and the senior ladies events both went to a playoff! In the senior mens event Kari Ruotsalainen defeated Pekka Witikka and in the senior ladies event Riitta Kiviranta-Kärkkäinen (the first round leader) managed to hold on and beat Paula Nokso-Koivisto (the defending champion).
In the veteran mens event Kari Helin (Niko's father) completed a Helin family double with a five shot victory over Pekka Grahn. This was the third time that Kari and Niko had won their club championship series in the same year... quite an achievement!
The event was organised by Kasper Kulmala, one of our caddiemasters, and I have to say that Kasper did a very good job with all the arrangements. Thanks very much to Kasper for his hard work.
Congratulations to Niko, Minna, Kari R., Riitta and Kari H. for their wins!
The KCT Order of Merit has been updated based on the club championship results and also based on the latest situation in the six reikäpeli competitions. The KCT Tour Championship is less than 4 weeks away on 21st September, the top 30 in the order of merit after the Kytäjä Trophy on 14th September will qualify for the Tour Championship and each of those will have a mathematical chance for victory. Last year it came down to the very last hole before Hannu Haimakainen was declared the winner by a small margin over Aki Erjonen and myself. Here's hoping for another exciting day on the 21st of September!
Until the next time,