First day of the championship flight of the NC Open

Another glorious sunny and warm day as the final and main event of “Extravaganza” week continues. The format is the usual straight knockout (best of three) with consolation Swiss. Also as usual, the first round contained one significant upset. Johnny Mitchell, playing well, took full advantage of several errors by an apparently still-asleep Jeff Soo to win easily.

Paul Bennett won his first match with a triple and a quad, and Damon Bidencope and Brian Cumming each won with a pair of triples.

Mik Mehas survived a three-game match with Ron Lloyd, then quickly beat Bennett in two games. Bill Berne likewise struggled through a protracted three-game match with Bill Bopp, then picked up the pace for an efficient win over Mitchell.

NC Open day 2

Today saw the conclusion of a couple of matches held over from day 1, the quarterfinals, and lots of Plate action.

The Berne v. Cherry quarterfinal was an absorbing spectacle on court 1, the “show court”, for about nine and a half hours, including a brief lunch break. The first two games involved three-ball endings, the one-ball player winning in both cases. Cherry had most of the play in the third game, winning +25 just in time to avoid a peg-down.

Mehas v. Bidencope was comparatively quick at about seven and a half hours.

Kroeger tried the putting-away-the-mallet trick after he missed the lift in game 3 against Cumming, but to no avail—Cumming finished his triple.

Huneycutt and Stewart Jackson traded +26 tp games, then Huneycutt won a scrappier third, +8 tp.

NC Open day 3

Semi-finals, Plate play, and wind. Plenty of wind, and from all directions.

Brian Cumming advanced to the final with a three-game win over Mik Mehas. Wind was a major factor in the match, with significant windage on long shots. Even simple rushes and short hoops could not be taken for granted.

The other semi-final, Danny Huneycutt v. Bob Cherry, has been pegged down in game 3. The standard of play has been very good considering the conditions. The peg-down was rather unusual, occurring as it did at 2:30 in the afternoon. (Huneycutt was granted leave for the rest of the day.) The match will resume first thing Sunday.

Several players remain in contention in both the Plate and the peeling contest. Two rounds of play Sunday should sort it all out.

NC Open final results

After a week of warm sunshine, the eleven-day run of Association Croquet events at Pinehurst ended, as it began, in freakishly cold weather.

Several hardy players withstood the cold and windy conditions to play a few more rounds in the Plate. Damon Bidencope won three games on Sunday to win the Plate with an 8-3 record. Johnny Mitchell stood pat at 7-3 for second place in the Plate and automatic qualification to the 2006 NC Open.

The final in the Main Draw pitted two current USCA national title holders against each other: Bob Cherry, winner of the 2004 USCA International Rules singles championship, and Brian Cumming, winner of the 2004 USCA national singles championship (American rules). Both players shot well in the first game, while making some significant errors in break play. Cherry won +15. Cumming never took croquet in the second game. His final shot appeared to be relatively safe, but Cherry played an excellent stop shot to lay out the break, then finished with a standard triple peel.

Jeff Soo won the peeling contest for the fifth time in seven years, with five triples plus a double on opponent. Paul Bennett was just behind, with a quad, two triples and one TPO. In all, seven players did a total of [correction] twenty-five triples plus the quad. This out of a total of twenty-three players and one hundred and seven games.

Note

Draw diagram below corrected to show Berne over Bopp -8, +15, +25, and Huneycutt over S. Jackson +26 tp, -26 tp, +8 tp

Last modified on 2 May 2005