Youngest competitor at an adult WMF World Championship tournament

The youngest competitor to play at a World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) World Championship-level adult tournament is Keiichi Kondo (Japan, b. 27 June 2011) who was aged 8 years 118 days old when he played for his national team in the adult division at the start of the 2019 WMF World Championships held in Zhouzhuang, Jiangsu, China, on 23 October 2019.

Over six rounds, his total score was 243, with the lowest scoring round being 34. He came 97th out of 128 entrants. Asked whether he was worried about playing against grown-ups, Keiichi said: "I did not care about playing with adults because minigolf has nothing to do with physical differences. I was nervous about whether I could get a good score because the course in China was a first for me and of a different type not available in Japan." At the end of the championship, he was awarded a Fair Play trophy, which he considers the proudest moment of his minigolf career to date.

Keiichi started playing recreationally at the age of three, then began to enter local and national contests at the age of four. At the 2016 Open Asian Minigolf Championships held in Yokohama, Japan, aged five, Kondo came second in the male Youth division including a round of 29. He also earned a silver medal at the 2018 Open Asian Minigolf Championships held in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Even younger players have played at WMF Youth World Championships, including Yueqian Wang (China, b. 25 October 2011), who was aged 6 years 287 days at the 2018 Youth World Championships in Cheb, Czechia, on 8 August 2018.

The World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) governs the sport of miniature golf. Registered in Sweden and headquartered in Germany, the WMF organizes World Championships for Youth, Adult and Senior players in alternate years. The WMF recognize six tournaments as World Championship (WC) level events. These are in General Class, Youth, Under 21, for Deaf Players, Seniors and the World Adventure Golf Masters (WAGM). The first World Championship was played in Karlsruhe, Germany in 1989, held as part of that year's edition of the World Games international multi-sport event where minigolf was a demonstration sport.