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Nigel Hames Keward won the Nottingham Autumn Handicap Weekend

[<<] [>>] by Rob Edlin-White at Nottingham
16-18 Sep 2005 (AC - Handicap)

Nigel Hames Keward, playing off 16 in his first ever CA tournament, won the Eclipse Goblet in an exciting final game against his wife Amanda Hames Keward (12), also in her first such event. The crowd was entertained to the last, with 4 clips on the peg for some turns, then one of Nigel's removed, until eventually Amanda finished to secure the runner-up position. Nigel's lead in the Flexible Swiss tournament was already unassailable, this being his only loss in 9 games.

The tournament was blessed with dry weather, with the lawns playing easily following some earlier rain and Autumnal mower adjustments, favouring the higher bisquers. Despite this, Peter Thompson (2) was mainly winning and looking strong until he was minus-26-ed by both Hames-Kewards. Some wondered whether Nottingham's 14-year old meteor, William Gee, would struggle with his handicap chopped from 12 to 6 following the Nottingham's Annual Tournament which he left laden with silver and gold, but he was hitting long roquets as convincingly as ever and finished with 67% (6 wins). Michael Bowser crept into 3rd position with 5 wins from 7 and was the only player to beat Amanda H-K. The manager was grateful to Amanda and Michael for their final wins which avoided the need for a 5 way playoff for runner-up position.

Jeane Ackermann, retiring tournament secretary, congratulated the winners and Rick Davis presented the Eclipse Goblet to Nigel and commemorative engraved glassware to winner and runner up.

The event was a 3 day Flexible Swiss with 18 players from handicaps 2 to 20, and 5 lawns. There were no general time limits as these disadvantage lower bisquers. A handful of games that had lasted over 4 hours had a limit of 1 further hour applied. Of these only 2 failed to peg out. Two players had a whole morning of leave (on different mornings) and several made themselves unavailable after 2 games in a day. A total of 59 games were played; players had between 5 and 9 games, with an average of 6.5 games and 19 hours court time. Two thirds of players completing games before 16:30 (days 1&2) or 15:00 (day 3) and looking for further play were scheduled again within 10 minutes; the other third had an average waiting time of 30 minutes. The manager played games when necessary to minimise waiting times. 3 games unfinished by 18:30 or 19:00 were pegged down and resumed the next morning. The last game completed at around 17:00 on Sunday.

Results

89% Nigel Hames-Keward
83% Amanda Hames-Keward
71% Michael Bowser
67% Peter Thompson, William Gee, Ian Hill, Michael Finnigan
60% Rob Edlin-White
50% Edward Barry
<50% Jeane Ackermann, David Brydon, Derek Buxton, Malcolm Gee, John Handy, John Hansen, Ken Knowles, John Leader, Julian Sweed

CA Award Scheme

Bronze: Malcolm Gee, William Gee, Amanda Hames-Keward, Nigel Hames-Keward

Handicap Changes

Peter Thompson 2 to 1.5
David Brydon 3.5 to 4
Amanda Hames-Keward 12 to 11
Nigel Hames-Keward 16 to 14
Rob Edlin-White 3.5 to 3



 

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