Christian Carter won the Hamptworth Advanced Weekend

[<<] [>>] by Kevin Carter at Hamptworth Croquet Club
16 Jun 2013 (AC)

Twenty chaps (where were the ladies?) contested the Hamptworth Advanced weekend for -1 to +3, a niche which worked well for a tournament which coincided with the Men's and Women's Championship. We had a good combination of rising young stars and old lags.

This was the first tournament at which Hamptworth opened its new, fifth lawn, reinforcing this as a club which goes from strength to strength. The surface, the hoops and the beer provided a good challenge, sufficient to ensure that only one TP was completed out of the dozens attempted.

From the outset the two to watch were Luc Berthouze and Christian Carter. Luc's very straight shooting, rushing and hooping will take him further. On the other hand, the manager's black sheep nephew, Christian, does tend to overcomplicate things; but he has talent in abundance and Christian, too, is becoming a seriously good player. Leading the old lags was Nigel Polhill, who delivered his usual consistent doggedness.

Will Gee returned to AC after a four year absence in a GC wilderness and performed creditably, if rather rusty. Don Beck seems to swing both ways these days but found the competition tough and collected the wooden spoon.