March 25–28, Pinehurst Resort & Country Club

This was the first of three consecutive “International Rules” events spanning ten days at the Pinehurst Resort & Country Club. Twenty-three players competed in three flights—Championship Qualifying Flight, First Flight and Second Flight—on four courts.

More was at stake than just trophies for the nine players in the Championship Qualifying Flight, who were also competing for an automatic bid to the 2005 NC Open Championship Flight. Bill Bopp, a newcomer to Association Croquet, earned the top playoff seeding by winning five of six block games. Ken Shipley and Gene Young followed as the #2 and #3 seeds. Tournament newcomer Mike Bendig earned his way to the playoffs by winning his final block game against defending First Flight champion Margot Leonard.

Bopp advanced to the final by beating Bendig 14-10. Each player managed one long break in the match, and Bopp was able to hold off Bendig with the help of some good hit-ins. The Young v. Shipley semi-final featured a dramatic ending, with Shipley making a heroic play to gain the lead in overtime to win the match.

In the finals Bopp achieved peg and 4-back with some fine break play. Shipley gained control with time running low and despite making good progress, he fell afoul of the clock, carrying on with his forward ball when what he really needed was to stop and set a leave for his partner ball. When time ran out, so did good options for Shipley. Bopp won the tournament and a berth in the 2005 NC Open Championship Flight with the 21-14 finals win.

In First Flight, Al Conolly and Jim McGill led a pack of four Pinehurst members out of block play into the semi-finals. They were joined by Bob Minick and Kathy Kuhasz, who edged out Jane Beharriell of Canada for the last two semi-final slots. Fourth seed Kuhasz pulled off the upset, winning over undefeated Conolly 9-4. McGill earned the other finalist position by beating Minick 8-4. McGill continued his steady play and defeated Kuhasz 16-4 in the finals.

In Second Flight, played according to the “Yorkshire variable base full bisque” method, newcomers surprised the rest of the field as Tommy Harrington from Greenville, NC, Becky Essick from Lexington, NC and Christian Paquet of Canada joined top seed Val Minick of Pinehurst in the semi-finals. Harrington came into block play ranked last but earned the top seed by winning 75% of his games. Essick avenged one of her losses by defeating Harrington 13-9, while Paquet won the other semifinal against Minick 8-7. Paquet defeated Essick 9-4 in the finals.

Championship Qualifying Advanced Singles

First Flight Advanced Singles

Second Flight Handicap Singles

Last modified on 20 November 2005 by Jeff Soo