April 1–4, Pinehurst Resort & Country Club

Wynand Louw has won the 2004 North Carolina Open championship. In the final match he beat Jeff Soo by the score of +17, +17tp. This was Louw’s second NC Open title in three attempts. For Soo it was the seventh trip to the finals and his fifth runner-up finish at this tournament.

The NC Open is now firmly established as one of the top Association Croquet events on the North American croquet circuit. Despite the organizers’ lowered expectations after last year’s MacRobertson Shield frenzy, this year’s tournament was as popular as ever. The field included six of the top ten North American players and was strong throughout.

So it was something of a surprise that the triple peel count would be so low, as compared to recent NC Opens, and the error rate and average game time correspondingly high. Perhaps one cause was MacRobertson Shield fatigue, perhaps another was the relentless and surprisingly chilly wind. Whatever the reason, the best-of-three matches dragged on interminably, frequently topping seven hours and in one case nearly reaching nine.

The NC Open has always featured plenty of upsets and this year continued the trend. Peter Just, ranked fifteenth in the field, started with match wins over Jim Houser and South African national champion William Louw to advance to the quarterfinals, where he won the first game against eventual champion Wynand Louw. Just’s excellent roqueting was equally effective in the Plate, and his combined total of eight wins in twelve games won him the Plate and fifth place overall for the tournament.

Curtis Drake was once again the victim of an in-form first-round opponent, falling to Stewart Jackson in two games. And top seed Leo McBride suffered the surprise loss of the tournament, losing in the quarter-finals to creative and effective play from Bill Berne. Berne has played notable Association Croquet events in the past, winning a national doubles title with New Zealand player Tony Stephens in 1994, but he has generally been known as an American Rules player.

Two relative unknowns also earned plaudits for their fine play. Roy Gee has been quietly moving up the rankings over the past few years, and he earned sixth place overall with five wins in seven games, including a Plate win over McBride. The youngest player in the field was UCSD sophomore Ben Rothman, who casually notched Plate wins against big-name players Drake and Danny Huneycutt, as well as winning the first game in his Main Event match with Bob Cherry.

Despite some disappointing losses, Drake turned in the best one-turn performance of the tournament, bagging his first tournament sextuple in a Plate game against Johnny Mitchell. He played the turn in fine style, making it look easy and finishing with a straight double.

The Main Event semi-finalists were Berne, Soo, Cherry and Louw. Berne reached this point with wins over Martyn Selman, cross-state rival Mack Penwell, and top seed McBride. Soo had beaten fellow Stoneridge player Andy Short, then defending champion Kenster Rosenberry in a reprise of last year’s final. Cherry had to deal with a succession of dangerous unseeded players: Rothman, Huneycutt and Jackson. Likewise for Louw, who beat Mitchell and the hot-shooting Just.

Soo v. Berne started off as a good-quality match but eventually degenerated into quite the opposite. The first game was played cleanly, Berne winning +4. Errors crept into the first half of the second game, but nothing too ugly, and Berne appeared to have the game and match well in hand, with two peels of his triple finished. But in a case of “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory”, a too-thin take-off while trying to leave peelee in position at rover was the start of what would become a comedy of errors. Soo caught up by fits and starts, and at times each player seemed to be trying to hand the game to the other. Soo eventually pegged out to force the third game. This continued in the same error-prone mode, a bemused Soo finally winning the match -4, +3, +8.

Cherry v. Louw was not exactly error-free, but was certainly a higher-quality match overall. Game 3, played early on Sunday morning, had its entertaining moments. Cherry had the first break of the game, but came undone when a take-off from 2-back to 6 left him cross-wired from his pioneer ball. This happened to be his partner ball, and he was able to lay up in a position wired from Louw’s nearer ball. Louw calmly jumped over 1-back to make the ten-yard roquet, then went round to a New Standard Leave. Cherry noted that the ball at 4 was too close to the hoop to be easily rushed to 1, so he played his other ball. He missed the lift, and then watched in aggrieved disbelief as Louw’s rush bounced off 5 and ended within a yard of 1. Louw finished to win the match +3, -18, +21tp.

The Plate stayed competitive through the final rounds. On Sunday morning there were still six players in contention to win the Plate. An added motivation was that the top two Plate finishers would automatically qualify to the 2005 NC Open. Gee decided to start his long drive home early, hoping that his tally of +3 net wins would hold up. It did, enough for second place in the Plate. Meanwhile Just beat fellow Plate contenders Huneycutt and Paul Bennett to reach an unassailable +4 net wins. McBride, though no longer in contention to win the Plate, won three quick games on Sunday to jump from 14th to 7th overall.

The peeling contest for the Biscuit Barrel also went down to the wire. Cherry was the points leader after each of the first three days of the tournament, but the losing semi-finalists were not eligible for Plate play. Cherry’s only possible opponent—Berne in an optional 3rd-place playoff—had already left, leaving Cherry to sit and watch to see if his four triple peels would be enough. They weren’t quite, as for the second year in a row the Barrel was won by a one-point margin. Several other players were still in the hunt, and Huneycutt’s triple on Sunday morning gave him four triples total. This matched Cherry’s tally, but Huneycutt also earned an extra point for his TPO in the first round.

The final featured long hit-ins, a few mistakes and a couple of shots that were either lucky or very well played, depending on your perspective. Soo had the first breaks to 4-back in both games of the final, but despite multiple chances could never get going with the second ball. Louw’s shooting form was outstanding, as evinced by his twelve-yard roquet on a mostly wired ball in game 1. Soo’s was spotty; he made some clutch roquets from over twenty yards, yet gave away game 1 by missing a six-yarder at Louw’s ball on the boundary.

In game 2 Louw started his second break with one ball hidden away in corner I, and Soo thought he would at least have another lift shot coming. But Louw’s rush on partner ball from 4 to 3 peeled the ball through 4-back. Suddenly Louw had a comparatively easy turn to win the game, match and championship. This he accomplished with the help of another interesting shot near the end of the break, when his croquet stroke to place peelee at rover put the ball into the jaws.

With a final score of +17, +17tp, Louw becomes the third repeat winner of this tournament, and the second (along with Soo) since the tournament became an Open in 1998. Louw’s previous title came in 2002. As a result of this tournament Louw is now the number two player on the North American ranking list.

For complete game scores see the Championship Flight News page.

Jeff Soo was the Tournament Director.

Tournament Director’s notes

We have been recording game times at this tournament for five years now. At each of the last four NC Opens the Main Event games always averaged two hours or slightly less, so with such a strong field this year it was surprising to see this number balloon to two hours seventeen minutes. Average game time in the Plate was similarly inflated, so some early starts and late finishes were needed to get through the schedule. Presumably this is an anomaly, and at any rate we will plan next year’s tournament in the expectation that the average game time will return to the usual two hours or so.

Order of Finish

Last modified on 20 November 2005