Joe Lennon won the AC Tournament at Albert Park, Middlesborough 29/30 April

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30th April 2017 (AC - Handicap)

With twelve competitors, only three lawns (double banked) were required.
We welcomed back competitors from Ashby, Keswick and Glasgow, joining those from Tyneside and Middlesbrough. Handicaps ranged all the way from 2 up to 18.

The tournament format involved two blocks of six players, with pre-drawn rounds.
These rounds were played as 18 point games, with 2 hour time limits; this was satisfactory, as only two games went to time. Four rounds on the Saturday and one more the next morning. The resulting 'rankings' in each block put competitors in the following order:

A. Roger Staples (Mbro) on 5 wins, John Fitzpatrick (Mbro), Dennis Scarr (Mbro), David Millener (Tyne), Derek Johnson (Tyne) and Geoff Clemence (Tyne).

B. Joe Lennon (Glasgow) on 4 wins, Nigel Roberts (Mbro), Steve Skelton (Keswick), Charles Waterfield (Mbro), Mick Haytack (Ashby) and Julian Gibson (Mbro).

On Sunday afternoon there were six play-off games (full 26-point, 3 hour) between the corresponding Block A and Block B places, with the following results (the top two being very close affairs):

Joe Lennon beat Roger Staples (+1)
John Fitzpatrick beat Nigel Roberts +1t
Steve Skelton beat Dennis Scarr +15
David Millener beat Charles Waterfield +22
Derek Johnson beat Mick Haytack +17
Geoff Clemence beat Julian Gibson +4t

Handicap changes for:
Joe Lennon 10 to 9 (Joe also won this event two years ago)
Roger Staples 3.5 to 3 (consolation prize)
Mick Haytack 6 to 7