John-Paul Moberly won the London Masters GC Tournament

[<<] [>>] by Don Beck at Surbiton CC
18th August 2016 (GC)

The strongest field to date included competitors from USA, Egypt, Germany and New Zealand. The best of Britain were ready to meet them on some slippery fast lawns at Surbiton.

Stephen Mulliner, having won two tournaments, was trying for the three in a week and looked like a strong contender through the early rounds. Harry Fisher swept aside the three top seeds in his block, looking very comfortable in this his first GC tournament.

Wolfgang Usbeck took a while to fine-tune his mallet then upset John-Paul Moberly in three. His hoop running was most impressive. Stephen continued to carry all before him until he met John-Paul in the last round. John-Paul needed a 2-0 win and that's what he delivered to qualify for the final.

In the other block Harry Fisher left Lionel Tibble, a previous winner, Harry Dodge and a competitive Guy Scurfield to fight over second place.

In the final John-Paul carried forward his good form from the match with Stephen. His greater experience and a good start meant he was always just ahead in a tight match 7-6, 7-5.

Amir Ramsis, President of the World Croquet Federation, presented a salver to Surbiton Croquet Club and the prizes to the runner-up, Harry Fisher and the winner, John-Paul Moberly.

The tournament was a pleasure to watch with top players overcoming testing conditions to demonstrate their high levels of skill. The entry looked very strong on paper and we were not disappointed. To all the competitors - Well played.