Will Gee won the National Forest Golf Croquet Tournament

[<<] [>>] by Christine Mounfield
29-30 Jun 2013 (GC)

Will Gee won the event for the second time in its 3-year history.

This year the tournament was oversubscribed prior to the allocation date, but later cancellations meant that all entrants were able to take part. The field included players from Ashby, other Midland clubs, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Australia.

Block play was completed on the Saturday. Will, having won every game, topped Block A and Tim King was second, having lost only to Will. Block B was headed by Lionel Tibble and David Bell, each with 6 out of 7 wins.

Semi-finals, held on Sunday morning, saw Tim beat Lionel in 3 games and Will triumphing over David in two. The afternoon saw two closely fought games between Will and Tim. A pleasing number of spectators were treated to a combination of finesse and power shots from both players but Will emerged victorious on 7-6, 7-6, a worthy winner since he had not dropped a game in the entire tournament.

Consolation events took place on courts 1 and 3. As in 2012 the 'Headers' victor was Richard Thompson, but only after Rachel succeeded in beating Arthur in a tight last game and after applying the 'who beat who' rule. The 'Footers' event was won by Ray.

The weather was kind to us, the lawns were playing well (thanks to Martin), the hoops were not too forgiving (thanks to Tim), catering was good (thanks to Jenny and Simon), and ten players and three wives enjoyed a pleasant evening thanks to The Lakeside.

And the croquet world was instantly alerted to the results of every game thanks to Peter Freer and modern technology!