(Translated From Mr. Hubert Kleiner's Original German Version)

Greekeepers from Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland and Germany always do their very best not to miss this annual event when Peter Harradine invites them to attend his father's memorial trophy. It seems quite easy for Peter to achieve what the European Union has not accomplished since 1967 as for the last 15 years even the Swiss are part of this particular alliance! It was the turn of the German Greekeeper's Association to invite the greenkeepers and guests this year so, they came to the Bad Wiessee Golf Club to play this sporting competition for the chance of winning the coveted rock-crystal trophy.

The weather-God has no tears in his eyes when angels and greenkeepers travel, on the contrary, he laughs heartily for two days! We had the best weather conditions since weeks for the practice rounds and for the actual day of the tournament! Alois Tremmel and his team performed miracles on the course and made us forget the difficult conditions caused by the downpour experienced in the previous days. The club manager Eva Meisenger and Mr. Schöter the gastronomy chief continuously gave us the impression that we were extremely welcome in their club. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the helping hands that worked behind the scenes! The participants of the sightseeing tour (which is always falsely designated as the ladies programme!) had an interesting and entertaining outing cruising around the Tegernsee which included a guided tour of a cheese producer and a visit to a traditional hand-made paper factory in Gmund. The golf tournament started high above the Tegernsee with 83 contestants who played on sun covered slopes and valleys. Many "fores" were heard along the diversified fairways and the numerous photos clearly show the outstanding landscape, the successful integration of the 18 fairways, the magnificent views over the Tegernsee and the surrounding mountains which clearly compensated for many mediocre golf shots. A head to head contest between last year's winner and three of his competitors developed from the very beginning of the tournament and the winner finally had to be declared by using the stroke index on the score card. The new winner of the Rock Crystal trophy is Stewart Macintosh from Kassel, closely followed by Beni Kreier from Switzerland and Golob Aljosa from Slovenia. Former employees of the golf club were able to utilize their knowledge of the course in both the net groups. This local experience helped Christian Steinhauser win the A net category followed by Golob Aljosa and Beni Kreier. Local experience also helped Florian Eska win the B net category followed by Torsten Schmidt and Thilo Mohr. The guests competition was won by Thomas Beckmann followed by Wolfgang Von Sigriz and Franz Kaineder. The ladies "nearest the pin" went to Hadumoth von Escher from Switzerland and the men's "nearest the pin" went to Sebastian Wolf from Germany. The Bubi prizes were presented for the first time to competitors who were particularly unlucky during the tournament. The names of both recipients are known to the editor.

Apart from the traditional rock-crystal trophy all the other prizes were produced locally and hand-picked with care. Both dinners were held in a barn above the club house which was tastily decorated in a typically local style. The traditional dance and the brass band made it extremely clear in which part of Germany the tournament was being played this year.

In his amusing speech, and as expected, Peter Harradine did not miss the opportunity to mention certain predicaments affecting today's golf world. He also thanked all the sponsors, participants and gladly accepted Alex Hofinger's invitation to play next year's tournament in Bad Kleinkirchheim (Austria).

Finally, my remaining task as recorder and participant of this year's tournament is to thank Peter Harradine again for the coordination of the memorial trophy, Alois Tremmel and the Golf club for the implementation of the event, the sponsors for their valuable support and Jutta Klapproth from the GVD for this year's organization.

After the trophy also means before the next trophy, so I wish Alex a lot of success for next year!

Hubert Kleiner

President, German Greenkeeper's Association

Tournament Results
Gross Winner: Stewart Macintosh

Category A
Christian Steinhauser
Golob Aljosa
Beni Kreier

Category B
Florian Eska
Torsten Schmidt
Thilo Mohr

Guests Category
Thomas Beckmann
Wolfgang von Sigriz
Franz Kaineder

Nearest to the Pin
Hadumoth von Escher
Sebastian Wolf