[<<] [>>] by Dave Kibble at Southwick
10th April 2001 (AC)

Robert Fulford was an easy winner of the main event - he was in impressive form, even without considering the date: He opened with a sextuple, followed with two triples, two more sextuples and a triple, unstoppable! In the semi-final he picked up on the fifth turn from a long rush to 1 with opponent in II & IV to make a tight sextuple leave and finished smoothly after the 30+yd shot was missed.

Andrew Johnson made a return to the game after a few years absence. He looked unconvincing every time I looked over, Martin Gill even got to peg and peg against him before Andrew finished with a triple. However, his results got him into the semi-final with a triple in all but one game. Chris Clarke routinely tripled his way to the final to meet Robert. John Solomon was seen playing effortlessly and accurately but fell to Alex Jardine in the second round on a lawn with puddles that needed to be avoided but somehow always seemed to be in the way at that crucial moment.

The tournament entry included a range of handicaps from -2.5 to 6, with Peter Gosney, playing off 10, stepping in bravely at the last minute to compensate for a late withdrawal.

Louise Bradforth caused the only real upset by beating Lionel Tibble (the holder) in a fairly scrappy opening game. Dick Knapp playing off 3 did very well too, but fell to an Andrew Johnson TPO having had opportunities to win. Andrew Gregory pointed out that the worst player of the tournament was Lionel Tibble (the holder). The calculation is simple: work backwards, using who beat whom, and follow the loser in each round!

The lawns started off wet but playable, however, the rain would not stop and soon all lawns had standing water so play was suspended for just over 3 hours. This was the biggest entry for the tournament for some time and six rounds had to be played in the two days. All of the players soldered on, even though conditions suggested they should stop.

Sam Symonds was the only person to complete 5 games before tea on Sunday in the plate. She only lost one game in the weekend, the opening round in the knockout! Sam and Louise have improved greatly in the last couple of years and I'm sure that's due to playing in more competitive events: they both enter top class tournaments and have learnt a lot about the game by doing so. If you want to improve then don't be bashful; put yourself up against those better players sooner rather than later.

There were not enough playing sessions to decide the plate properly, so the manager abandoned all games at tea time on Sunday (subject to the players agreeing) and played a 16-way knock-out one-ball competition amongst those who had won enough games to look like they might have qualified. There were no audible dissenters and the competition was played keenly. Paul Castell seemed to hit every shot, regardless of whether it was long or short, a good idea or not and got himself into the hotly contested final with Tony Le Moignan. This was a good game between excellent shots - both hitting balls hidden in hoop jaws from some distance. Tony emerged the winner +2, so took the plate (well pen and pencil set) back to Jersey.

The food was excellent thanks to Rose and the team, even proper deserts this time. Bryan Teague and John Gosney put in a lot of work setting the hoops and getting rid of the surface water using brushes Ken Mason made; the all deserve the players' thanks. We only hope that using the lawns in such poor conditions did not seriously damage the playing surfaces.

Saturday

Richard Bourke beat Frances Low 22 Robert Fulford beat Jack Davies 26sxp Andrew Johnson beat Peter Gosney 19tp Tim Wilkins beat Paul Miles 26 Tony le Moignan beat Rutger Beyderwellen 7 John Hobbs beat Mary Knapp 10 Daphne Gaitley beat Dei Morgan 15 Andrew Gregory beat Christine Constable 12 Dave Kibble beat Mick Belcham 15 Alex Jardine beat John Solomon 13 Paul Castell beat David Parkins 3(t) Nick Harris beat Sam Symonds 10 Chris Clarke beat Robert Alexander 26tp Don Gaunt beat Bill Arliss 16 Dave Mundy beat Gene Mears 1(t) Louise Bradforth beat Lionel Tibble 13 Dick Knapp beat Andy Davies 7 Martin Gill beat Peter Pullin 15 Andrew Johnson beat Tim Wilkins 6 Dick Knapp beat Louise Bradforth 16 Rutger Beyderwellen beat Andy Davies 4
Nick Harris beat Peter Gosney 25
Sam Symonds beat Paul Miles 15
Jack Davies beat Robert Alexander 9

Sunday

Tony le Moignan beat Peter Pullin18 Dave Mundy beat Don Gaunt 4 Paul Castell beat Alex Jardine 19 Dave Kibble beat Andrew Gregory 22
David Parkins beat Mick Belcham 16 John Hobbs beat Daphne Gaitley 4 Andrew Johnson beat Martin Gill 2tp Robert Fulford beat Richard Bourke 26tp Dave Kibble beat Paul Castell 16 Chris Clarke beat Nick Harris 26tp
Don Gaunt beat John Hobbs 10
Robert Alexander beat Andy Davies 4
Louise Bradforth beat Andrew Gregory 16
Mary Knapp beat Bill Arliss 16
Gene Mears beat Peter Gosney 1(t)
Lionel Tibble beat John Solomon 24
Jack Davies beat Rutger Beyderwellen 17
Peter Pullin beat Alex Jardine 5
Tony le Moignan beat Dave Mundy 10
Tim Wilkins beat Dei Morgan 19
Sam Symonds beat Daphne Gaitley 24
Paul Miles beat Christine Constable 20
David Parkins beat Nick Harris 14
Richard Bourke beat Mick Belcham 2
Lionel Tibble beat Martin Gill 19
Sam Symonds beat John Solomon 13
Mary Knapp beat Francis Low 2t
Bill Arliss beat Dei Morgan 14
Paul Miles beat Daphne Gaitley 14 Chris Clarke beat Dave Mundy 26tp Robert Fulford beat Tony le Moignan 12tpo Andrew Johnson beat Dick Knapp 6tpo
Tim Wilkins beat Don Gaunt 9
Alex Jardine beat Rutger Beyderwellen 5
Lionel Tibble beat Jack Davies 2
Martin Gill beat Christine Constable 8 Robert Fulford beat John Hobbs 26sxp
Peter Pullin beat Andrew Gregory 15
Nick Harris beat Paul Castell 19
Gene Mears beat Richard Bourke 16
Andy Davies beat Peter Gosney 19
Robert Alexander beat Mick Belcham 20 Chris Clarke beat Andrew Johnson 12tpo Robert Fulford beat Dave Kibble 26sxp
Dick Knapp beat Bill Arliss 23
Paul Miles beat John Hobbs 16
Sam Symonds beat Dei Morgan 22 Robert Fulford beat Chris Clarke 26tp
Bill Arliss beat Andy Davies 13