September 10-13
Bald Head Island Croquet Club

Championship Flight

First Flight

Second Flight

North Carolina’s state singles championship returned to Bald Head Island for the first time since 1996. The venue has not been in frequent rotation for state tournaments due to limited lawn space, long travel time to the venue, and expense of accomodation. But several years ago the club expanded from two to three full-size lawns, and the club made major efforts to make this year’s tournament a memorable one. All visiting players were invited to stay as guests in the homes of club members. Lawns were in top-notch condition, mowed and rolled every morning to a fast, smooth playing surface. The food and entertainment were superb, including an elegant club potlock dinner to go along with an opening “luau”, tournament dinner, and cooked-to-order lunches courtside. Many expressed the hope that Bald Head Island will again become a regular stop on the state tournament circuit, and both club and state organization seem willing for this to happen.

Croquet North Carolina did its part to ensure a quality competition. Danny Huneycutt brought in and helped set up three sets of his world-championship-tested tournament hoops. Croquet NC President Frank Thompson was Tournament Manager, overseeing all aspects of the tournament and personally attending to many details, including daily hoop setting. Tournament Director Jeff Soo provided the schedule and player handout, tallied the scores, and adjusted court assignments on the fly as needed to keep the games on time (with much help from Thompson and assistant TD Eileen Soo). Many others, including club members not playing in the tournament, volunteered as referees and boardkeepers.

Second Flight had just five entrants, so the format was double round robin with the top two advancing to the final. Rob Byrd, playing his second season of croquet and with the highest handicap in the flight, won six of eight games to claim the first finalist position. Danna Huneycutt suffered three one-point losses in the first round robin, but went undefeated through the second to earn the other finalist slot. The final, with a time limit of eighty minutes, lasted over two hours. Byrd had built a lead early, scoring five hoops with a four-ball break. But Huneycutt closed the gap, mainly one hoop at a time, leading to a tie and extra rotations — four of them. Huneycutt’s greater tournament experience made the difference as she finally closed out the game 12-11.

First Flight had eight players, handicaps ranging from 4 to 9. Games tended to be low-scoring, as players struggled to maintain breaks on the fast courts. There were some impressive runs nonetheless, including an all-round break by Becky Essick in the semi-finals. Not being used to having a clip on the peg so early in the game, Essick was at something of a loss for how to use her rover ball to advantage, especially given her partner ball deadness. This allowed opponent Bob Roth to gradually reduce the gap, but Essick still led 15-13 at game end to advance to the final. Top block seed Tom Yates had lost only to Essick in the block; after surviving 14-13 against Soup Campbell in the quarterfinals he advanced to the final with an impressive 22-6 against Conrad Haas.

Both finalists play at the Meadows Mallet Club, so they know each other’s style and tactics. The final began with defensive play—it was the middle of the game, after Essick picked up partner deadness, when Yates finally attacked. He advanced both balls to 1-back, stopping there to avoid clearing Essick’s deadness. The tactic worked and Yates, playing his first tournament at the first flight level, won 12-7.

Championship Flight had ten players in a block followed by a playoff for the top four. While the playoff seeding went according to handicap, there were plenty of upsets along the way. Perennial giant-killer and erstwhile mallet master Ed Roberts beat both of the top seeds, Jeff Soo and Danny Huneycutt, ending the block with seven wins in nine games. Soo and Huneycutt also had seven wins each, Soo beating Huneycutt but losing to 1989 state champion Harper Peterson, making a return to tournament croquet after a long absence. Current regional champ Horace Hayworth rounded out the playoffs by winning six of nine games. Huneycutt and Soo advanced to a rematch of last year’s final. The game started with a few rounds of positional play and some two-balling by Huneycutt. Soo then attempted to parlay a two-ball break into an attack, but fell afoul of the treacherous fourth corner. After that it was all Huneycutt. Soo had only two more strokes in the game, each time shooting into a corner; once Huneycutt got his first four-ball break under control he made the rest of the game look easy, winning 26-4.

Hence players from Meadows Mallet Club took home four of the six trophies, including all three first-place trophies.