Golf Croquet A-Level Series Tournament at Woking

[<<] [>>] by Bernard Jones at Woking
13 Jun 2019 (GC)

Once again the weather had a profound effect on this fixture, only marginally less than it did two years ago. Fourteen players with handicaps ranging from -3 to +2 gathered at a cloudy Woking to play on four already wet courts. Intermittent showers and later steady rain was not enough to prevent play and by the end of the day the scheduled seven rounds had been completed with Woking's Jeff Dawson (-3) in the lead on six wins followed closely by four players with five.

However, heavy overnight rain ravaged the lawns, two of which were flooded, with no prospect of them recovering unless the conditions improved dramatically - which they didn't. After an hour's play another court puddled and became unplayable. An unfinished game was transferred to the remaining court but, with continuing rain, there was clearly no prospect of the remaining five rounds being completed and the tournament was abandoned with eight of the scheduled thirteen round completed. Lunch had been brought forward so that the players could enjoy Woking's renowned hospitality.

With three players on six wins - Jeff, Malcolm Bigg (-2) and Mike Town (-3) - and four on five it was clearly impossible to decide a winner, let alone the following three places. But after much head scratching and delving into rules, it was decided to invoke a CA regulation which covered the situation precisely. This provided a clear winner, Malcolm, with Jeff in second place and separated from third place Mike by a substantial net hoop tally. Colin Britt (Camerton & Peasedown, -1) earned a potentially valuable two points in the series by coming in fourth.