Gary Bennett won the Watford One-Day Advanced Tournament

[<<] [>>] by Simon Hathrell at Watford Croquet Club
15 Jun 2013 (AC)

Watford repeated the previous year's 1-day tournament format with a block of 8 playing Level Advanced and a block of 4 playing Handicap Advanced.

The morning session was breezy but dry and largely sunny. The courts were slow. Unfortunately the clouds appeared and the skies opened after lunch, the showers became progressively more frequent and heavier, and by 3pm standing water had started to appear on the courts. Eventually two of the Level Advanced games were suspended for tea, and subsequently abandoned since by that point none of the players involved in those two games could win the title. The rain finally stopped at about 3:30 and the standing water started to clear quite quickly. By 4pm one of the courts was deemed playable again. In spite of that though, one of the two rain-soaked contestants for the Level Advanced title was unwilling to play on, as were some of the others who were no longer in contention for it, and so the title was rather regrettably won by a walkover.

All the players in the Handicap Advanced block were happy to play on, however, and in the event there was no more rain, the sun re-emerged, the courts dried out quickly and they had a full evening session of uninterrupted play.

Photos and further details can be found on the Watford website at www.watfordcroquet.org.uk/2013/ac_open.php

Winners:
Block A (Level Advanced, 8 players, 3-round Swiss) - Alfred Purvis Memorial Trophy: Gary Bennett (3/3)
Block B (Handicap Advanced, 4 players, all-play-all): Alan Clark (3/3)

Block A (Level Advanced) results:
Gary Bennett beat John Smallbone +15
Jon Palin beat Arthur Reed +14
Terry Mahoney beat John Bee +7
Jeremy Scott beat Graham Brightwell +3
Gary Bennett beat Jon Palin +6
Terry Mahoney beat Jeremy Scott +22
John Bee vs. Graham Brightwell Ab
John Smallbone vs. Arthur Reed Ab
Gary Bennett beat Terry Mahoney w/o
Block B (Handicap Advanced) results:
Alan Clark beat Rick Weinstein +2(T)
Robin Barry beat Brian Havill +13
Alan Clark beat Robin Barry +12
Rick Weinstein beat Brian Havill +1(T)
Alan Clark beat Brian Havill +8
Robin Barry beat Rick Weinstein +2(T)