[<<] [>>] by Jeremy Dyer
10th September 2001 (AC - Championships)

David Goacher won the Chairman's Salver, beating David Harrison-Wood +16 in a scrappy playoff game. David made nervous mistakes and David's play was nothing to write home about. The Goat played marginally better to beat the Player formerly known as Woody in this playoff, though I would suggest that the Player formerly known as Woody would be slightly ahead on the quality, consistency, and speed of his play over the course of the four days.

First Day

First day of the Chairman's, Four rounds comfortably completed. Sunny/Cloudy weather, easy lawns, easy hoops, no excuses! Plenty of TPs and FTPs, One superbly constructed a Sextuple, when the oppo had failed to get the straight rover peel when finishing a TP - first SXP in the Chairman's for many years apparently, anyone remember any others?. Farthing and the Goat are lucky to lead with 3, Dyer and Dawson both on one win (quality not quantity), but expected to make their move tomorrow.

Day 2

Second day of the Chairman's, Four rounds almost completed. Cloudy weather, occasional sun, easy lawns, easy hoops. Another solid Sextuple, this time from Aiton. One game left to finish between a couple of duffers on lawn one... pegged down as the light faded. TPO proved to be a losing tactic again. Buster Mottram came over and asked to be explained the rules. Looks like Goacher will be in the lead, with Farthing coming up on his rear. One game was pegged down after lunch, but then restarted later and finished by tea... it was the classic Goat v Woody contest which cured the insomnia of the spectators. (OK, spectator.)

At the halfway stage (Seven Rounds) there had been 20 TPs or better out of 28 games, including 2 SXP, 12 TP, 4 TPO, 2 OTP

Day 3

Third day of the Chairman's, Four and a bit rounds completed. Sunny and warm, with the odd bit of cloud. The pegged down game from last night was played at the end of the day, and saw Farthing lose to the Goat... leaving Farthing with the honour of five losses on the same day. In the first round of the day Dyer polished off Aiton in the 5th turn... finishing the game in less time than it took the Goat to take his first ball to 4-back on the 4th turn against Heap. Heap later learnt the hard lesson of never pegging out just one of your balls even when peg and peg v 1&1 as Avery played two 3-ball breaks to win +1. Bit windy today, as Aiton will tell you... the wind blew a blackboard over in the tent leaving his head rather sore. Woody was given a warning by the Manager to be more expeditious in play, and the rest of us tried to get him to eat his mountainous lunch a little quicker.

Woody and the Goat lead with 8 wins, Dawson just behind with 7 wins. Woody plays Dawson first thing, Goacher plays Aiton; Goacher Avery follows, Woody - Heap, and Dawson-Dyer.

Final Day

Two rounds left to play to decide the Winner and the Wooden Spooner. Bullet the blue sky again as the sun shone bright in the morning. With Woody and the Goat leading, all eyes were on their games, as the snail-like Goat raced to a +26TP vs Aiton in a shade under 2 hours (Aiton did not take croquet). Meanwhile Woody overcame Dawson with Dawson left to rue a missed one foot hoop. Following a very pleasant lunch, the two leaders were in further sparkling form, as the Goat lost to Avery ("I need to leave early so I had better not let the Goat in") 26TP, and Heap finally beat Woody +16 (Heap: "I made rover at the start of the break and thought I was conceding a lift"). Farthing ended his run of seven losses with an easy 26TP win over Aiton. One sextuple attempted by some idiot, that ended unluckily at Penult after five peels done. (Moi.)

So leading to a play-off between Woody - who doesn't like to be called Woody by the way, and the Goat.

Results

Goacher 9
Harrison-Wood 9
Avery 8
Dawson 8
Farthing 6
Heap 6
Dyer 5
Aiton 5

Round 1

Aiton bt Avery +26
Goacher bt Farthing +10 TPO
Dawson bt Heap +3
Harrison-Wood bt Dyer +3

Round 2

Woody bt Dawson +16
Heap bt Dyer +26TP
Farthing bt Avery +2
Goacher bt Aiton +26TP

Round 3

Heap bt Goacher +17TP
Avery bt Woody +9TPO
Dyer bt Aiton +3SXP
Farthing bt Dawson +17TP

Round 4

Avery bt Dyer +5TP
Goacher bt Dawson +17
Farthing bt Heap +26TP
Aiton bt Woody +10TPO

Round 5

Farthing bt Woody +4TP
Heap bt Aiton +26TP
Dawson bt Avery +12TPO
Goacher bt Dyer +8

Round 6

Aiton bt Dawson +25TP
Farthing bt Dyer +18TP
Goacher bt Woody +13OTP
Avery bt Heap +14 TP

Round 7

Woody bt Heap +26TP
Avery bt Goacher +26
Aiton bt Farthing +4SXP
Dawson bt Dyer +5OTP

Round 8

Dawson bt Heap +21
Woody bt Dyer +12
Aiton bt Avery +25TP
Goacher bt Farthing +4

Round 9

Avery bt Dawson +5
Dyer bt Aiton +26TP
Goacher bt Heap +26TP
Woody bt Farthing +26TP

Round 10

Goacher bt Dyer +17
Dawson bt Farthing +19
Woody bt Avery +8TP
Heap bt Aiton +17

Round 11

Heap bt Farthing +9TP
Woody bt Goacher +26TP
Dawson bt Aiton +26TP
Dyer bt Avery +26TP

Round 12

Woody bt Aiton +26TP
Avery bt Heap +1
Dyer bt Farthing +17
Dawson bt Goacher +26

Round 13

Dyer bt Heap +12TP
Woody bt Dawson +2
Goat bt Aiton +26TP
Avery bt Farthing +17

Round 14

Avery bt Goat +26TP
Farthing bt Aiton +26TP
Dawson bt Dyer +5TP
Heap bt Woody +16