Marcus Evans won the Nailsea Open Weekend 10-11 August

[<<] [>>] by Marcus Evans at Nailsea
11 Aug 2019 (AC)

With one late withdrawal but three late replacements (two of whom could only play on Sunday), the manager decided a flexible Swiss was the best solution, with a minimum of 5 games required to be in with a chance of a prize. What would normally be an unstretching target was put in doubt by heavy showers, which flooded the lawns over lunch on both days. However, they soon drained (along with the players' wine glasses) and all the 'full-time' entrants managed 5 or 6 games in the end.

Defending champion James Galpin was defeated by a tidy triple peel from Dave Kibble in round 1, but soon recovered and finished on 50%, a good result in a strong field. Pre-tournament favourite Mark Suter should have lost his first game to Robert Wilkinson but the latter inadvertently pegged out only the striker's ball and went on to lose by 1, after the rain delay. Mark then had another long battle to beat David Goacher +3tpo to leave him alongside Marcus Evans as the undefeated players at the end of the first day.

Their match-up on Sunday morning was another lengthy affair, this time Marcus completed a tpo with his customary two balls pegged out, but Mark won fairly comfortably in the end. Jim Field narrowly beat Kibble to remain on just one loss but then lost quickly to Mark. Goacher also had just one defeat until James Galpin took his scalp despite being pegged out. Meanwhile Kriss Chambers recorded a triple against fellow Sunday player Pete Trimmer, before narrowly failing to complete another (but winning anyway) against Kibble. This set him up for a game against Suter, which he battled hard to win, leaving the latter on 4 wins out of 5 along with Evans. As advertised by the manager, this resulted in a play-off for the trophy, which in view of the lateness of the hour was agreed to be a game of super-advanced one-ball. Evans was able to improve his shooting and hoop running just enough compared with the morning encounter to prevail.

Jim Field beat Clive Goode in a resumption of a pegged down game to take the prize for best performance by a handicap of -0.5 or higher, with a very creditable 3 wins out of 5.

Nailsea's lawns continue to improve under the expert eye of club member John Wallace, and the hoops were as usual very well set in new holes, rejecting poor strokes despite the softness of the ground. If we have better luck with the weather next year, I believe they can be among the very best in the country. The catering was also well up to the usual standard, thanks to Erica, Libby, Joan, Mike, Linda, and all the other club members who helped the tournament run smoothly.

Full results:

Jim Field beat Chris O'Byrne +19
Marcus Evans beat Clive Goode +21tp
David Goacher beat Jonathan Wolfe +23
Dave Kibble beat James Galpin +22tp
Mark Suter beat Robert Wilkinson +1
Marcus Evans beat Dave Kibble +11
Mark Suter beat David Goacher +3tpo
James Galpin beat Jim Field +12
Jonathan Wolfe beat Robert Wilkinson +13
Clive Goode beat Chris O'Byrne +16
Chris O'Byrne beat James Galpin +17
Dave Kibble beat Chris O'Byrne +14
Marcus Evans beat Jonathan Wolfe +5tpo
Mark Suter beat Marcus Evans +6otp
Jim Field beat Dave Kibble +2
David Goacher beat Clive Goode +17
James Galpin beat Jonathan Wolfe +19
Chris O'Byrne beat Robert Wilkinson +2
Kristian Chambers beat Pete Trimmer +5tp
Mark Suter beat Jim Field +26tp
James Galpin beat David Goacher +6
Marcus Evans beat Chris O'Byrne +4tpo
Clive Goode beat Jonathan Wolfe +26
Kristian Chambers beat Dave Kibble +5
Robert Wilkinson beat Pete Trimmer +26
Kristian Chambers beat Mark Suter +16
Pete Trimmer beat James Galpin +9
David Goacher beat Robert Wilkinson +21
Jim Field beat Clive Goode +5
Pete Trimmer beat Jonathan Wolfe +17

Marcus Evans (-1.5) 4/5 (won 1-ball play-off +3)
Mark Suter (-2.5) 4/5
Kristian Chambers (-1.5) 3/3
David Goacher (-2) 3/5
Jim Field (-0.5) 3/5
James Galpin (-1) 3/6
Pete Trimmer (-2) 2/4
Clive Goode (-0.5) 2/5
Dave Kibble (-1.5) 2/5
Chris O'Byrne (-0.5) 2/6
Robert Wilkinson (-1) 1/5
Jonathan Wolfe (0.5) 1/6

By Marcus Evans