David The GOAT Goacher Won The Coles Cup

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David The GOAT Goacher (Photo: Richard M Smith)

The Coles Cup 29 April - 1 May held at the Cheltenham Croquet Club was a prestigious event featuring 16 entries with 4 players ranked in the top 20 in the world, including the world number 2, Reg Bamford.

The main event was a fully seeded draw with a best-of-three knockout followed by a flexible Swiss, as the consolation event, for those knocked out of the main event. Super Advanced rules were an option if both players agreed. The lawns were playing mainly true with an easy pace apart from a couple of boundaries which spat your ball off if you got too close.

The tournament saw some exceptional play and some memorable moments.

On the morning of day two, Louise Bradforth completed her first Triple Peel of the season by peeling rover at hoop 5.

Later in day two, in the main event, a match was played on lawn 8, (the show lawn) by two of the most experienced players in the world and a comedy of errors ensued. Playing super advanced, player one went around first and set up a tea lady (sextuple leave), the second player, knowing what the gallery knew, proceeded to walk past smiling at them with a huge grin on his face. He then took a six-yard lift shot from A Baulk and missed instead of choosing a six-inch lift shot from B Baulk. Player one then walked over to player two and reminded him of the six-inch lift shot he should have taken, the gallery was in stitches.

In the main event, David Goacher (seeded 9) played exceptionally well throughout the whole tournament. His shooting was on target and his break play was flawless. He knocked out the number one seed, Reg Bamford, in the quarter-final +26TP, -24TP +20TP and then went on to beat James Death (seeded 4) in the semi-final +16TP, +26TP.

The final ended in glorious sunshine and David, the GOAT, Goacher lived up to his nickname and continued his excellent form by beating an in-form David Maugham +24TP, -22TP, +17, to become the Coles Cup champion.

Lorna Dewar won the consolation event with 100% wins and also completed her first triple peel of the season when she beat Louise Bradforth +21TP.

Overall, the event was a great success, finishing at a civilised time of 5:30 pm on the bank holiday Monday evening. Pat Francis and her team provided excellent lunches and teas throughout which went down very well with all. The players, officials, and organisers all enjoyed the competition, and it was a pleasure to see such high-quality play from the participants. The Coles Cup was a testament to the skill and dedication of the players and is known as one of the most prestigious events held in the Croquet calendar each year.

All the results are on Croquet Scores