6th London Masters GC Championship won by World No9

[<<] [>>] by Don Beck at Surbiton
14 Aug 2019 (GC - Championships)

The weekend was forecast to be windy on the Saturday but generally dry and 21C.

Saturday soon turned into something more than windy with the gust threatening to remove the Marquee extension to the clubhouse. Luckily that remained in situ but the players were severely hampered by the conditions. 40+mph winds with gust that felt much more.

Considering this the play was of a high standard with hoops run and clearances from a distance features of the matches. The standout player and World ranked 9 James Death showed his experience and ability in all except the first game which he lost to Robert(T) Clark 6-7. James won the next 2 and went on to win his other two matches 2-0.

In the other block Mark Daley and Lionel Tibble were unbeaten with 3 wins.

A feature of the weekend was the difficulty some players had with relatively fast flat lawns and the wind. Those with more experience found a way to play and still make the shots Golf Croquet demands.

The weekend was forecast to be windy on the Saturday but generally dry and 21C.

Saturday soon turned into something more than windy with the gust threatening to remove the Marquee extension to the clubhouse. Luckily that remained in situ but the players were severely hampered by the conditions. 40+mph winds with gust that felt much more.

Considering this the play was of a high standard with hoops run and clearances from a distance features of the matches. The standout player and World ranked 9 James Death showed his experience and ability in all except the first game which he lost to Robert(T) Clark 6-7. James won the next 2 and went on to win his other two matches 2-0.

In the other block Mark Daley and Lionel Tibble were unbeaten with 3 wins.

A feature of the weekend was the difficulty some players had with relatively fast flat lawns and the wind. Those with more experience found a way to play and still make the shots Golf Croquet demands.

Sunday brought a gentle breeze, sun and 21C

The players continued to find games challenging with some matches taking more than 3 hours.

The surprise of the morning came with a 7-2, 7-6 victory by Raouf Allim over James Death, putting James's place in the final in doubt. Robert Clark beat Noel Gill in a 4 hour battle keeping himself in contention.

In this block the options with the permutations of the final round were:

If James beat Tim King 2-0 then he would be in the final unless:

Raouf beat Robert 2-0. James did beat Tim 2-0 so all eyes were on the match on lawn 4 Raouf v Robert..

Raouf won the first game 7-2. (eliminating Robert from contention for a place in the final)

Robert took the second which meant should Raouf win the third he would tie with James on matches and net games and a hoop shoot-out would have decided who took their place in the final.

Raouf perhaps third a little having used a lot of mental effort earlier in the day beating James. Robert took the third giving James the opportunity to play Mark Daley in the final.

Mark had only needed one game in his best of three against Lionel Tibble to qualify and though losing the match he did win the second game 7-6.

Mark who was the losing finalist last year to Tim King stormed through the first game taking an early commanding lead and closing out the game.

The second game was a closer affair at 3-3 after six hoops.

James then ran an angled hoop 7 from near corner 2. (The breeze returned)

The score quickly became 6-3 to James before a missed clearance allowed Mark to score 4-6. James took hoop 11 and the second game.

THE DECIDER starts at 6:35pm

The number of spectators had fallen to 6 including the manager and Tim who was to be James transport back to Tadworth.

A cagey start to the third game saw the scores 2-2. James ran a confident hoop 5 before missing a good first opportunity at 6. He then cut blue to in front of 7 before running 6 with black. His hoop shot with blue hit the outside wire as too did his next two shots at the hoop. Mark then missed before James ran (5-2 to James)

Mark runs a short 8 to bring the score back to 3-5.

Hoop 9 sees a a clearance by Mark from half way up the west boundary which runs into commanding position 3ft in from the south boundary and 2 feet east of the hoop. James plays a nudge onto blue but Mark plays his jump, one bounce . Shortly afterwards Mark takes on a 6yd hoop ten levelling the scores.

Balls at 11 hit away then Mark over-approaches with Yellow leaving James with the advantage which he eventally takes 11.

Mark runs 12 with yellow but only by 2 inches.

James has first ball with blue to 2 feet in front. Mark shoots with red and misses. James then plays black almost hitting yellow which is hampered!!!

Blue runs

James wins the 6thLondon Masters in a good final well contested by both players.

Mark last year lost in the final to a player from Tamworth, this year he lost to another player from Tamworth. Next year third time lucky, or are there no more players from Tamworth?

By Don Beck