[<<] [>>] by Bill Arliss at Southwick
15th June 2003 (GC - Championships)

In the English Open Golf Croquet Championships, Reg Bamford retained his singles title by defeating Stephen Mulliner in the final by 7-5, 7-3. The singles event started as three block of three with the first three in each block going into a final knockout.

The block results were in order of placing:

Block 1, Reg Bamford, Bill Arliss, Ivor Brand
Block 2, Evan Newell, Stephen Mulliner, David Hopkins
Block 3, Derek Old, Sam Curry, Chris Sheen

The recent summer weather produced dry ground which got quicker as the tournament progressed and produced very firm and unforgiving hoops. As a result some of the quarter finals developed into long 'shootouts' which lasted over three hours for the best of three but provided some very interesting viewing for the spectators.

The first day was taken up by the doubles event which was run as a five round Swiss for the ten pairs of players. The Sheen brothers, Chris and Roddy repeated their success of last year and finished with five wins from five games.

The consolation singles event for the Hobbs Mallets Champagne was won by David Dray from Ramsgate, the youngest competitor in the competition.

Knockout