Robert Fulford won the Championship of Surrey

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Robert Fulford receives the Championship of Surrey trophy (Photo: Samir Patel)

by Samir Patel at Surbiton
22 Jun 2009 (AC - Championships)

Robert Fulford beat Rutger Beijderwellen +2tp +26 +3qp in the final of the Championship of Surrey.

The lawns were playing at between 12 and 13 seconds (depending on lawn), and while the hoops weren't especially tight (I am assured that they were all set to 7/128"), they firm and consistent and that firmness caused many players problems.

Seeds 5 and 8 (Patel and Castell) lost out in the second round to Knapp -20 +4 +16 (who had won his first round match with a +12QP win over Noble in the third, with his first ever quad) and Butler +12 +6 (who had a first round +23 +9(t) win over Selman) respectively. Seed 7 (Hills) fought his way through against Town, but wasn't convincing enough to progress further. Seed 6, Farthing, continued his Lazarus act from the World Championship, by getting game, break and standard TP down in a best of three against Plummer, before recovering to win -26tp +9 +26tp.

The top two seeds were clearly out-playing everyone else, with Beijderwellen beating Stephens +24sxp +23sxp and Tibble +25tp +26tp, and Fulford symmetrically dealing with Mooney +24sxp +24sxp and Johnson +26sxp +26sxp, with all four games and SXPs completed before lunch on day 1. Robert then declined the opportunity for early plate games and the opportunity to break the record for the most ranking SXPs in a single day. Seeds 3 and 4 had comfortable wins, with Dawson beating Morrow +23 +25tp, and Death beating Polhill +20tp +26tp (the latter having had an 1130 late start and still finishing before lunch).

Three quarter finals went with seeds 2-0, with Chris Farthing causing a minor upset by beating James Death +17tp +9, however, none of this stopped the top two seeds who both cleared their way to the final with Fulford beating Dawson +4 +12tpo and Beijderwellen beating Farthing -8 +26tp +26tp.

The final was close fought, but some errors from Rutger proved too costly, with Robert running out the winner +2tp +26 +3qp

Full Details of Final

Rutger wins the toss and elects to go first. Rob chooses R&Y

Game 1, Rutger U&K

1.U long supershot, 2 yards SSW of the peg
2.Y corner II
3.K misses Y
4.R misses double
5.K to 4b, MSL
6.R lifts from 2, shoots at U and edge of Y from A-b; hits hoop 4
7.U picks up break, but runs 1 to 2, doesn't get a rush on partner near 4 to 3 and lays up near I.
8.R (between 3 and 6) misses Y (N of 4) to IV
9.U rushes to 3 and has delayed TP, but doesn't get rush after 5, rolls wide of K and misses dribble
10.R has break, fails pop on U after 2, has it straight at 6. Goes to 4b, with NSL. K in jaws of 4, U close to boundary near 2
11.U (now for 1b, with partner for 4b) hits Y from A-b, promotes R going to K before rushing R to 1b. Rolls K close to wire of 4b from long range (20+ yards) after 2b. Very good promotion after 4-back peel, straight rover peel with only three balls means no side ball. He decides to jump deep (2.5 yards) peelee, and misses 5 yard return.
12.Y finishes with a delayed tp, straight double finish.

Robert +2tp

Game 2, Rob K&U

1.K supershot 3yds SW of peg
2.Y just outside II
3.B shoots at Y, hits goes to 4-back with defensive spread
4.R takes shot from III, misses
5.K TP, but Maugham error at 4b Lunch
6.R misapproaches 1 (never got a good rush), and fails badly
7.K hits 10 yd, finishes

Robert +26

Game 3, Rutger K&U

1.K supershot
2.Y corner II
3.U hits Y, runs angled hoop 1 to N boundary, buts hits Y. To 4b with three ducks
4.R misses from A-b by a lot; 1 yd out of II on N
5.K gets hampered after hoop 5 with 1-peel done, and misses
6.Y sticks in 3b trying to run under control for MSL
7.K DP, but fails to get position at rover during straight irish peel.
8.R QP

Robert +3qp

Robert Fulford beat Rutger Beijderwellen +2tp +26 +3qp

Quarter Finals

Robert Fulford v Nick Butler	Jeff Dawson v Dick Knapp	James Death v Chris Farthing	Rutger Beijderwellen v Jonathan Hills
Game 1, Robert P&W 1.W supershot 2.G middle of East boundary 3.P misses G from corner III to 10 yards S of G 4.B shoots from III, hits G, to 4-back with D-spread, joined to level with hoop 4 5.Rob misses short lift 6.G mis-approaches 2, returns to partner 7.Rob retires P into I 8.G tries to approach 2 from corner I, returns to partner 9.Rob retires P to I 10.G has another leave, joined near III, leaves P in I, W near 2, close to W boundary 11.W misses B&G 12.G misapproaches 6, poor scatter 13.W hits B, Rob's first croquet stroke to come. Approaches 1 from corner 1, to 1-back with ladies leave 14.Nick misses with G 15.W LSXP Robert +12 LSXP	Game 1, Jeff R&Y 1.Y anti-duffer 2.U shoots and Y and misses 3.R shot at Y and missed 4.K hit double from B baulk but fails hoop 1 5.R hits from 2 to 1, diagonal spread 6.K misses from III into IV 7.Y took off the lawn in IV, now 4 and 4-back 8.K fails 2 9.Y fails 6 10.Dick misses 11.Jeff fails 2-back 12.Dick forgot lift, but hit, failed to approach 2 13.Jeff runs 2-back and retires to I 14.Dick (K) runs 2 and fails 3 15.Jeff (R) fails penult 16.K fails 5 17.... ... Y fails 4-back; clips R peg, Y 4b, U 1, K 5 ... K to 4-back with spread ... Jeff +17	Game 1, James R&Y 1.R supershot 2.K joins with R leaving no double 3.Y hits K, to 4-back with defensive spread, R&K about 2 yards apart 4.U misses from III into IV 5.R fails 1 6.K hits R (shooting at Y) from near 2, NSL 7.R at Y from where it lies (peg high beween 1 and 2); finds gap between ball and hoop 4 8.U TP, fails peel after hoop 3, jawses before 6, rushes it further into the jaws after 6, peels with take-off to 1-back. Final peel straight. Chris +17 TP	Game 1 Ruter G&R 1.B supershot 2.P mid east boundary 3.G misses badly, in contact with P 4.W misses also badly, a yard left of P&G from A baulk 5.G to 1-back 6.P misses B, looks like he may have hilled off 7.B fails 4, with G in 2-back 8.Jonathan misses 9.G to 4-back, cross-wire at hoop 4 10.P centre-balls G (which was intended to be behind hoop 2), but fails hoop 1 11.B TP, but double taps the strikers's ball on the straight rover irish peel 12.P gets hampered after 1-back and misses. 13.B gets a rover peel attempt from 6 yards, but comprehensively fails. Has hoop and leave (W near N boundary, P N of rover, G&B near S boundary wired from P) 14.P attempts to jump B, goes through hoop and misses 15.G finishes Rutger +19
Game 2, Nick G&B 1.G E boundary 2.P corner II 3.B at P, misses 4.W hits double; to 1-back with tea-lady 5.G attempts jump, misses 6.P SXP, starts badly, 1-back before 4, gets to STP attempt. Peels 4-back with croquet stroke (not straight), then plays promotion while approaching hoop, ends turn on penult and rover 7.From contact G gets break and goes to 1-back (Stephen will be pleased) with ladies leave 8.W missed 9.B goes for SXP, but faulted a takeoff after hoop 1 (with one peel done) after the balls fell apart. 10.Rob has two hoop and a hammer leave 11.Misses 12.Finishes Robert +18	Game 2, Dick K&U 1.U E boundary 2.R duffer 3.K at R from III misses 4.... 5.... 6.R to 4-back, D-spread 7.K lifted from by peg to end of Bbaulk shooting at double hits Y makes 1, goes off lawn by Y east Boundary. 8.Y gets wired from red and had leave 9.U ran 1 to N boundary and then missed 8yd return at Y on boundary 10.... 11.U makes break, with reverse spread 12.Y misses lift 13.K in break, could have delayed tp, but only gets one peel. 14.Jeff hits, and has a TP to win 2-0 Jeff +4tp	Game 2, Chris U&K 1.U supershot 2.Y shoots from I, misses 3.K shoots softly at double and misses (claims hill) 4.R hits, gets himself wired from pioneer at 1-back by intended MSL ball. Tried to jump U into the wire of the hoop and land on Y, but jumps clean through the hoop. 5.U to 4-back, NSL 6.Y hits in-lawn ball (U) from III, has TPO. Has Irish straight rover, but ends with Striker unrunnable, attempts it anyway and faults 7.K finishes Chris +9	Game 2, Jonathan R&G 1.R long supershot, near the peg 2.P from III attempts rush to hoop 1; misses into corner 1 3.G has a dream leave 4.W misses from corner I 5.R to 4-back, D-spread 6.P misses from III into IV 7.G only got to hoop 3 8.... ... x. P has one peel of TPO attempt on R, and has a rough ladies 1-back leave. x. R misses G across 1 to N boundary x. W rushes B to III and goes for SXP, runs 1 to N boundary, rushes P back to 1, goes for DPO instead, misapproach 1-back when irish peeling partner with peels done. Scattered x. G misses x. W continues break. Two balls pegged out, with partner in the jaws of 3-back, with Jonathon for hoop 3. ... ... Rutger +8
Robert Fulford bt Nick Butler +12sxp +18	Jeff Dawson bt Dick Knapp +17 +4tp	Chris Farthing bt James Death +17tp +9	Rutger Beijderwellen bt Jonathan Hills +19 +8

Robert Fulford v Nick Butler

Jeff Dawson v Dick Knapp

James Death v Chris Farthing

Rutger Beijderwellen v Jonathan Hills

Game 1, Robert P&W
1.W supershot
2.G middle of East boundary
3.P misses G from corner III to 10 yards S of G
4.B shoots from III, hits G, to 4-back with D-spread, joined to level with hoop 4
5.Rob misses short lift
6.G mis-approaches 2, returns to partner
7.Rob retires P into I
8.G tries to approach 2 from corner I, returns to partner
9.Rob retires P to I
10.G has another leave, joined near III, leaves P in I, W near 2, close to W boundary
11.W misses B&G
12.G misapproaches 6, poor scatter
13.W hits B, Rob's first croquet stroke to come. Approaches 1 from corner 1, to 1-back with ladies leave
14.Nick misses with G
15.W LSXP

Robert +12 LSXP

Game 1, Jeff R&Y
1.Y anti-duffer
2.U shoots and Y and misses
3.R shot at Y and missed
4.K hit double from B baulk but fails hoop 1
5.R hits from 2 to 1, diagonal spread
6.K misses from III into IV
7.Y took off the lawn in IV, now 4 and 4-back
8.K fails 2
9.Y fails 6
10.Dick misses
11.Jeff fails 2-back
12.Dick forgot lift, but hit, failed to approach 2
13.Jeff runs 2-back and retires to I
14.Dick (K) runs 2 and fails 3
15.Jeff (R) fails penult
16.K fails 5
17....
... Y fails 4-back; clips R peg, Y 4b, U 1, K 5
... K to 4-back with spread
...

Jeff +17

Game 1, James R&Y
1.R supershot
2.K joins with R leaving no double
3.Y hits K, to 4-back with defensive spread, R&K about 2 yards apart
4.U misses from III into IV
5.R fails 1
6.K hits R (shooting at Y) from near 2, NSL
7.R at Y from where it lies (peg high beween 1 and 2); finds gap between ball and hoop 4
8.U TP, fails peel after hoop 3, jawses before 6, rushes it further into the jaws after 6, peels with take-off to 1-back. Final peel straight.

Chris +17 TP

Game 1 Ruter G&R
1.B supershot
2.P mid east boundary
3.G misses badly, in contact with P
4.W misses also badly, a yard left of P&G from A baulk
5.G to 1-back
6.P misses B, looks like he may have hilled off
7.B fails 4, with G in 2-back
8.Jonathan misses
9.G to 4-back, cross-wire at hoop 4
10.P centre-balls G (which was intended to be behind hoop 2), but fails hoop 1
11.B TP, but double taps the strikers's ball on the straight rover irish peel
12.P gets hampered after 1-back and misses.
13.B gets a rover peel attempt from 6 yards, but comprehensively fails. Has hoop and leave (W near N boundary, P N of rover, G&B near S boundary wired from P)
14.P attempts to jump B, goes through hoop and misses
15.G finishes

Rutger +19

Game 2, Nick G&B
1.G E boundary
2.P corner II
3.B at P, misses
4.W hits double; to 1-back with tea-lady
5.G attempts jump, misses
6.P SXP, starts badly, 1-back before 4, gets to STP attempt. Peels 4-back with croquet stroke (not straight), then plays promotion while approaching hoop, ends turn on penult and rover
7.From contact G gets break and goes to 1-back (Stephen will be pleased) with ladies leave
8.W missed
9.B goes for SXP, but faulted a takeoff after hoop 1 (with one peel done) after the balls fell apart.
10.Rob has two hoop and a hammer leave
11.Misses
12.Finishes

Robert +18

Game 2, Dick K&U
1.U E boundary
2.R duffer
3.K at R from III misses
4....
5....
6.R to 4-back, D-spread
7.K lifted from by peg to end of Bbaulk shooting at double hits Y makes 1, goes off lawn by Y east Boundary.
8.Y gets wired from red and had leave
9.U ran 1 to N boundary and then missed 8yd return at Y on boundary
10....
11.U makes break, with reverse spread
12.Y misses lift
13.K in break, could have delayed tp, but only gets one peel.
14.Jeff hits, and has a TP to win 2-0

Jeff +4tp

Game 2, Chris U&K
1.U supershot
2.Y shoots from I, misses
3.K shoots softly at double and misses (claims hill)
4.R hits, gets himself wired from pioneer at 1-back by intended MSL ball. Tried to jump U into the wire of the hoop and land on Y, but jumps clean through the hoop.
5.U to 4-back, NSL
6.Y hits in-lawn ball (U) from III, has TPO. Has Irish straight rover, but ends with Striker unrunnable, attempts it anyway and faults
7.K finishes

Chris +9

Game 2, Jonathan R&G
1.R long supershot, near the peg
2.P from III attempts rush to hoop 1; misses into corner 1
3.G has a dream leave
4.W misses from corner I
5.R to 4-back, D-spread
6.P misses from III into IV
7.G only got to hoop 3
8....
...
x. P has one peel of TPO attempt on R, and has a rough ladies 1-back leave.
x. R misses G across 1 to N boundary
x. W rushes B to III and goes for SXP, runs 1 to N boundary, rushes P back to 1, goes for DPO instead, misapproach 1-back when irish peeling partner with peels done. Scattered
x. G misses
x. W continues break. Two balls pegged out, with partner in the jaws of 3-back, with Jonathon for hoop 3.
...
...
Rutger +8

Robert Fulford bt Nick Butler +12sxp +18

Jeff Dawson bt Dick Knapp +17 +4tp

Chris Farthing bt James Death +17tp +9

Rutger Beijderwellen bt Jonathan Hills +19 +8

Main Event Scores

Robert Fulford beat David Mooney +24 SXP +24 SXP
Nick Butler beat Martyn Selman +23 +9 T
Paul Castell beat Kevin Carter +19 +14
Samir Patel beat Tim Wilkins +24 TP +18
Dick Knapp beat George Noble +15 -26 TP +12 QP
Ian Plummer beat Gary Bennett +5 +16
Chris Farthing beat Jerry Guest +16 +22
Lionel Tibble beat John Daniels +22 TP +5
Rutger Beijderwellen beat Bob Stephens +24 SXP +23 SXP

Robert Fulford beat Andrew Johnson +26 SXP +26 SXP
Nick Butler beat Paul Castell +12 +6
Dick Knapp beat Samir Patel -20 +4 +16
Jeff Dawson beat Nelson Morrow +23 +25 TP
James Death beat Nigel Polhill +20 TP +26 TP
Chris Farthing beat Ian Plummer -26 TP +9 +26 TP
Jonathan Hills beat Mike Town +8 +15
Rutger Beijderwellen beat Lionel Tibble +25 TP +25 TP

Robert Fulford beat Nick Butler +12 SXP +18
Jeff Dawson beat Dick Knapp +17 +4 TP
Chris Farthing beat James Death +17 TP +9
Rutger Beijderwellen beat Jonathan Hills +19 +8

Rutger Beijderwellen beat Chris Farthing -8 +26 TP +26 TP
Robert Fulford beat Jeff Dawson +4 +12 TPO

Robert Fulford beat Rutger Beijderwellen +2 TP +26 +3 QP