March 21–23, Pinehurst Resort & Country Club

A stand-alone First Flight was a big success at the 2003 NC Open, drawing fifteen players. Seven North Carolinians were joined by players from Virginia, South Carolina, Maryland and Texas.

There were two separate singles events: handicap play and advanced play. Each was arranged in a modified Swiss format. Most players opted for the maximum number of games, and played ten two-hour games over the two and a half days of the tournament.

Twelve players took advantage of the pre-tournament clinic. Persistent rain over the previous twenty-four hours had left the courts unplayable for the morning session, but Tournament Manager Mack Penwell solved the problem by laying out a small court in the Resort Club Dining Room, using the indoor hoops he keeps on hand for corporate golf croquet events. The rain stopped by lunchtime, and the fast-draining courts were in fine shape for the afternoon session.

The Handicap event featured the new “Yorkshire variable base” form of full bisque play. For each game, the base is the sum of the players’ handicaps divided by four (rounded down). For example, if an 8 plays a 4, the base handicap is 3, so the 4 gets one bisque and the 8 gets five bisques.

Most players quickly learned to make good use of their bisques, building and maintaining four-ball breaks. Still, all of the games went to time and there were many interesting end games. There were two rules that many players learned the hard way: the rule against pegging out the striker’s ball unless the partner ball has scored rover or an opponent ball has been pegged out, and the rule against playing a bisque during or immediately following “last turns”.

Ed O’Laughlin, who like several in the field was playing his first International Rules games, used his bisques very well indeed. He led the early going with four successive wins on Friday. Close behind were Bob Minick, Don Burrell and Kathy Kuhasz.

Scores were naturally a bit lower in the Advanced games, but there was still much good break play. Margot Leonard staged a dramatic comeback in her final round game against Jim McGill, “going round” at the end of the game to take a two-point lead, but conceding a contact lift. McGill scored a hoop but missed a hampered roquet, leaving Leonard with a one-point win. This turned out to be the deciding match of the Advanced event, with Leonard taking first place and McGill second overall.

The Handicap event was also decided by a come-from-behind win, this time by Bob Minick over Ed O’Laughlin. Minick used his bisques to build a break to take the lead near the end of the game, and then kept the innings through the game’s final minutes to prevent O’Laughlin from scoring. This left Minick and O’Laughlin tied on wins, Minick edging O’Laughlin on the “strength of schedule” tiebreak.

Don Burrell was the most consistent player across the two events, compiling the best overall record for the tournament.

The tournament was directed by Jeff Soo.

Advanced Singles

Handicap Singles

Last modified on 12 December 2004