Captain Kukielka dominates at home to win 2nd Gloucester Aces Open title
Last Sunday the BMGA tour returned to one of the top courses in Britain, Aces Minigolf in Gloucester for the Gloucester Aces Open 2025 – the annual club open of the Gloucester Aces Minigolf Club. Aces Minigolf hosted last years British Championships, which promised much in advance of the return this year for the Gloucester Aces Open, as many of the field had mastered the course in previous visits and were well placed to make an assault on the top spots.
Round 1 brought a clutch of 29s from the field with 5 players sharing the lead. Perhaps the only shock was that pre tournament favourite and UK No 1 Seve Kukielka started with a respectable but unremarkable 31. With the tournament looking wide open.
Round 2 saw Chris Randell hit a fantastic 26 to take a midway lead over the field – having previously bagged a BMGA ranking title in Prestatyn, Chris looked to be a genuine challenger. Local player Mark Ingram popped in a second blue round with a great 27 while Foxes’ Jon Angel posted a 28 to get into the mix among a gaggle of Gloucester Aces members. Seve Kukielka came home with a great 26 too in order to climb back into contention.
Round 3 was the first sign of what was perhaps to come – with Kukielka backing up his 26 with yet another one, while Randell faltered with a disappointing 36. In changeable conditions with some rain falling the field started to score a little higher, allowing course specialist Simon Brown to climb to 7th with a 28 following a very poor start.
The final round it all come together with Seve Kukielka claiming the title comfortably in the end with a 3rd successive 26, easily compensating for his surprisingly average start. Local player Mark Ingram capped a great performance with a 30 to come 2nd – a breakthrough BMGA event for him. Chris Randell stabilised well with a great back 9 filled with aces in the home stretch to clinch the last podium place, edging Ben Cassidy out who should still be delighted with a 4th place finish. Another Aces player Simon Brown climbed to 5th with a solid last round while Balazs Tompa came 7th – ensuring that of the 7 money places 6 were taken by Gloucester Aces members, really showing that home advantage can be capitalised on! Foxes captain James Shaw was the only non local to crash the top end finishing in 6th. James will be immensely pleased with a strong showing which keeps him highly placed in the British rankings.
In Category 2, the aforementioned Ben Cassidy clinched a deserved gold, with Balasz Tompa in 2nd and another Gloucester Aces local Tony Davis in 3rd. Category 3/4 seen Mark Ingram storm to the win comfortably having come 2nd in the overall standings. Dragons Minigolf Club’s newest star, Gary Combs, took the silver with yet another local Matt McPherson taking bronze.
The Female category was hotly contested with no fewer than eleven players participating. Ruth Sturdy pipped Rachel King to the win with both backing up their standings in the British rankings where both are currently Top 10 and setting the standard for the rapidly developing female section of the BMGA tour. In 3rd place was Cindy Kukielka, another local who is no stranger to playing well in this event.
Rounding off the winners was the Juniors category where young local superstar, the ever popular Finn McPherson, stole the show again to win by a comfortable 9 shots. Another local Leah Cassidy posted an overall under par score to take 2nd in the category. Taking the last medal was James Curson Gask who putted very well throughout and will count himself unlucky not to have challenged higher considering how well he played.
As the sun shone and the heat dried the unexpected showers quickly, a sea of (mostly) red filled the course for medal presentations and celebrations as the Gloucester Aces Open 2025 drew to a close. A huge thank you to everybody on the tour who took part and we look forward to seeing you again very soon in Wisbech for the British Adventure Golf Masters!
You can find the full results here
