[<<] [>>] by John Taylo
11th May 2002 (International)

It's that time of year again. The sun is shining, the grape vines are green, and the players are gathering.

Saturday (11 May 2002) the courts at Sonoma-Cutrer are open for practice and a warm-up Golf Croquet tournament.

Tournament play begins Sunday with everyone playing 2 games at Sonoma-Cutrer followed by a welcoming Western Bar-B-Q in the evening. On Monday and Tuesday each player will spend one day at Meadowood Resort where they will play 3 of their block games and one day at Sonoma-Cutrer where they will play 4 games. Block play finishes with 2 games for each player at Sonoma-Cutrer on Wednesday followed in the evening by cocktails and dinner at the Comstock's home.

The 24 players have been divided into two round robin blocks of twelve.

Block 1

Reg Bamford (SA)
Chris Clarke (ENG)
Stephen Mulliner (ENG)
Jerry Stark (USA)
Richard Baker (NZ)
Bruce Fleming (AUS)
Leo McBride (CAN)
Ed Cunningham (IRE)
Keith Aiton (SCOT)
Bob Cherry (USA)
Kenster Rosenberry (USA)
Ren Kraft (USA)

Block 2

Robert Fulford (ENG)
David Maugham (ENG)
Jacques Fournier (USA)
Robin Brown (ENG)
Matthew Burrow (JER)
Ian Dumergue (AUS)
Mik Mehas (USA)
Bruce Baker (NZ)
George Latham (AUS)
John Evans (WALES)
Curtis Drake (USA)
Peter Payne (CH)

The medallist rounds and the knockout ladders begin at Sonoma-Cutrer on Thursday and continue on Friday morning. The final will be played on Saturday afternoon.

The top eight players from each block advance into a seeded single game knockout ladder. This Winners ladder will be seeded in the following order. The top two players from each block will play in a double round "medallist" block of four to determine their ladder seeding. The 1st place medallist is seeded into the final game, 2nd medallist into the semi-final, and 3rd and 4th medallists are seeded into the quarter final games. The 4 players finishing 3rd and 4th in the blocks are seeded into the 2nd level and the 8 players finishing in block places 5 through 8 start at the bottom of the ladder.

The block places 9 through 12 will compete in an 8 player single game knockout ladder to contest a plate winner.

I will keep you posted on the WCC results as the week progresses.