Woking Mid Summer Open

[<<] [>>] by Simon Carter at Woking
20th June 2022 (GC)

Historically, this popular event has been played as all-play-all over two days. However, as part of an upgrade to Ascot Cup Qualifier status, the format had been amended to block play. Our esteemed manager, Bernard Jones, did hid best at very short notice to accommodate the changes, but there were a few glitches and a 'wise counsel' of Bernard, Tim Russell and Liz Farrow stepped in to sort things out. We ended up with a hybrid of blocks and all play all and it worked out fine.

As seems to be the case with many tournaments, entries were down and we started with 13, moving to 12 on Tuesday when Colin Britt pulled out. Malcolm Bigg's steady and unflappable play saw him in the semi-final, but he elected to watch from the shade and so gave Jeff Dawson, the top seed, an automatic final spot. Meanwhile Simon Carter and Tim Russell had a close fought game for the other final spot, with Simon just prevailing.

The final was a re-run of last year's, between Woking favourite Jeff Dawson, and Dulwich's Simon Carter. Both players elected to play just one, single 19-point game. It was close all the way, with good hooping from both players and strong clearances ensuring that there was never more than a two hoop lead. Unsurprisingly, it went to 9 all with Simon having first approach to Hoop 19. Two solid positioning shots put the pressure on Jeff to clear, and with his balls just missing, it left Simon a fairly easy 3 yard hoop to win the match.

Thanks were given to Bernard, for his agile adapting of the format as we went along, and the catering team, who provided excellent lunches.