Whilst the golfing stars of the future have been making the news in this week’s Kärnten Golf Open, behind the scenes the real stars of the show have been working day and night to ensure the course at Golfclub Schloss Finkenstein remains in pristine condition.
Despite 130mm of rain since Wednesday, play has continued uninterrupted thanks largely to the sterling efforts of head greenkeeper Helmut Buxbaum – affectionately known as “Buxe” – and his team of agronomists.
Their hard work has not gone unnoticed by the players, with England’s Simon Wakefield summing up the feelings of many of his fellow pros when he said: “Now that’s how you run a tournament, we’ve had 27 hours of solid rain and the course is still immaculate. Any other course on any other tour, and we wouldn’t be playing. Well done guys.”
Dutchman Daan Huizing also took to social media to add his compliments, tweeting: “The heroes of the week are the greenkeepers. Two full days of continuous rain, and the greens are still great.”
Tournament Director Mark Litton was equally effusive in his praise for Buxbaum and his band of brothers.
He said: “Helmut and his whole team have done a fantastic job this week. Considering the amount of rain we’ve had, the greens have remained absolutely perfect both to play to, and to putt on.
“The greenkeeping staff didn’t cut the greens on Friday because of the continuing pouring rain, and yet we only lost about four inches of speed – normally you would expect to lose at least a foot, and for the quality to be adversely affected. All the players were amazed at how good the greens continued to be.
“I’ll be buying all the greenkeepers a drink once the tournament has finished to congratulate them on their efforts this week.”
Cheers to that.
