World Crazy Golf Champion - Marc Chapman

There are many world championships that attract global attention: football, athletics, and Formula One. Then there is crazy golf. Every year since 2003, the World Crazy Golf Championships have been staged on the seafront at Hastings, East Sussex, at a place called the Adventure Golf Complex. This is a setting where the English Channel provides a dramatic backdrop, the sea breeze offers an additional challenge, and competitors spend their weekend attempting to persuade a small white ball to travel obediently through a series of obstacles that appear to have been designed by someone with a mischievous sense of humour. Despite the sport's modest profile, the championship is a serious affair. Players travel from across the globe to compete for one of the game's most coveted prizes. Competitors have arrived from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Finland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Portugal and the United States, all united by the belief that putting a golf ball through a windmill or around an awkwardly placed obstacle is a perfectly reasonable way to spend their time. What makes the event even more remarkable is how difficult it is to win. During the first eighteen years of the championship, up to and including 2020, hundreds of hopeful competitors took their shot at glory. Yet only six individuals managed to lift the famous trophy. In a sport where one unfortunate bounce can turn triumph into despair, that level of dominance is extraordinary. Among those elite few stands Marc Chapman, a player whose skill, consistency and nerve have secured his place in crazy golf history. In a game that can appear delightfully eccentric to outsiders, becoming World Champion is no laughing matter. #golf #adventuregolf #sports #crazygolf