Scintillating Seve stuns with spectacular score to win the Hastings Open
Seve Kukielka’s dominance of the Adventure Course in Hastings continued last weekend with his third win in three years – completing an unlikely “threepeat” with a fantastic winning score of -9. A total of -24 for his last 9 rounds of the course over three years shows his mastery of the event.
Ironically though, it remains tough to break par! Outside of the Top 12, the other 55 players didn’t break par once. Only 6 players broke par more than once and all deserve a mention – Paul Tutt, Ruth Sturdy, Murray Thomson, Simon Brown and Luke Ryan all went under par twice. Only Seve broke par in every round however. A new course record was also set – the previous record was a 32, which was beaten by Seve’s 30. A notable mention also goes to James Shaw who hit a 31, which propelled him up the leaderboard to a great 2nd place finish on three under par.
In third was local surprise package Luke Ryan (+1) who achieved a career best finish and a first podium in a BMGA event on his Gloucester Aces debut. Luke played with skill throughout, recovering from a disappointing first round to eventually gain – and win – a playoff for 3rd against the excellent Terry Exall, keeping a calm head in the playoff to do so.
The average score for the Top 10 stays similiar to 2023 and 2024. The line has been 37.7 the past two years and this year improved by one shot to 37.3. Sub 38 average seems to be the line of quality on the course – which due to a very tough Hole 9, plays perhaps more to a Par 37 than a standard Par 36. Something for players to note for 2026!
Elsewhere, in Category 2, Terry Exall took gold on +1, with Ruth Sturdy (+3) and David Hartley (+4) both hot on his heels. Luke Ryan would have been Category 2 winner but was promoted to the next level of prizes up due to finishing 3rd overall by winning his 4 hole playoff with Terry Exall.
The Category 3 gold went to talented local Murray Thomson (+2), ahead of both Cameron Fincher and John Sharp (both +11).
The top Junior and top Woman awards were both claimed by the superlative Elena Teubler on +2, which meant she also came tied 5th overall. A great performance!
Of course – the day belonged not just to the players mentioned but also to legendary hosts Hastings Minigolf Club who were celebrating 25 years as a club. Here’s to another 25 and more!
