Jonatan Andersson (Sweden) won the Sussex Open Golf Croquet Championship

[<<] [>>] by Nigel Graves at Southwick
12th September 2011 (GC - Championships)

The Sussex Open Golf Croquet Championship was won by Jonatan Andersson from Sweden, who beat Howard Cheyne (Surbiton) 7-4 7-6.

A last minute withdrawal reduced the field from 18 to 17, necessitating a complete reorganisation of the tournament into two blocks, one of nine and one of eight, with each player playing all the members of the opposite block. The top two players in each block then entered a best-of-three knockout; those not qualifying for the knockout were eligible to play in a flexible Swiss plate event.

Play got under way about 15 minute late in pleasant conditions, but the weather gradually deteriorated, and by about 5.30, after seven rounds of block play had been completed, the lawns were becoming waterlogged, and play was abandoned in the hope that conditions would improve by morning. In that we were not disappointed, and the block play was completed without further interruption. The A Block was led by Jonatan Andersson and Lionel Tibble, each with six wins out of eight; the B Block was headed by Ryan Cabble with seven wins out of a possible nine, closely followed by Howard Cheyne with six wins. In the semi-finals of the knockout Jonatan beat Lionel 4-7 7-2 7-4, and Howard beat Ryan 5-7 7-3 7-5, with Jonatan emerging as the final winner. The plate was won by Jonny Pallhed, another Swedish player on his first visit to England to play croquet.