From left to right: Nick Gray, Danny Huneycutt, Eric Sawyer, Cameron Evans, Brian Cumming, Mary Rodeberg and Ben Rothman. TD Rory Kelly is kneeling in front.

By Eric Sawyer

The 24th annual U.S. Open was played last week at the Mission Hills Croquet Club in Rancho Mirage, CA. The event was organized and run by Rory Kelly, the current USCA American Rules doubles champion. Rory did an incredible job with this event.

The Championship flight contained several international level players, including many members of the recent U.S. Solomon Trophy and MacRobertson Shield teams, such as Ben Rothman, Danny Huneycutt, Jeff Soo, Rich Lamm and Paul Bennett. Other notables included Brian Cumming, the best player from Canada.

Jeff Soo defeated Rich Lamm to take third place. I'm not sure Jeff viewed this tournament as a total success, but I think he played well, and finishing third in light of the serious competition is nothing to take lightly. And Jeff even got to take a day trip to Joshua Tree National Park on a day when the weather finally cooperated. Rich was still basking in the glory of his singles and doubles Golf Croquet National Championships, and he didn't seem bothered in the least finishing fourth. Rich had a nice 10-day run of croquet.

In the finals, Ben faced Danny. In the earlier bracket play, Ben had successfully completed a sextuple. For those around the court, Ben proudly announced as he was leaving the area, "now you can say you have seen a sextuple." I hadn't before. All I can say is, "wow." Ben also routinely ran triple peels in many of his other matches and was the hot player going into the play-offs.

Since Ben won his bracket and Danny won his, the two faced in the first round of the play-offs of the Patmor Draw. Ben quickly dispatched Danny in two games, giving him the automatic berth in the finals. Since Ben won those matches early in the morning, he had the rest of the day to don his San Francisco Giants jersey (boooo) and serve as the club bon vivante. Later that evening, just before dark, he was spotted playing a pick-up game of golf croquet with a friend, mallet in one hand and beer in the other. Cheers. I've seen Ben make a one-handed jump shot, so I guess I know now why he is proficient at it.

Since Danny lost to Ben in the bracket winners face-off, he had to beat most of the remaining top players to reach the Finals, which he did. Danny is a magician with his mallet.

The Final match was played Saturday morning and afternoon. Ben won the first game handily. Danny the same in game two. The rubber match was played while the other tournament participants were eating lunch court side. For unexplained reasons, both players broke down more than once on potentially game-ending breaks. In fact, it was quite surreal to be sitting next to Ben eating lunch during one of those breaks that Danny was running, chatting with Ben over topics unrelated to croquet, only to see Ben dart up from his seat when Danny missed a moderate return roquet. It was a rough third game. In the end, Danny finally ran a finishing break, in which he was able to peg out both balls and win. Cheers to Danny.

Martyn Selman ran the plate event. His goal was to make it fun and interesting. It appeared as if he succeeded. The great Brian Cumming was the eventual winner.

In the first flight, the top half of the finishers made the "A" flight play-offs. The bottom half made the "B" flight play-offs.

In the A flight, the top two seeds dominated play, i.e., myself and Mary Rodeberg, who in all likelihood should have played in the Championship flight this year. We met in the play-offs, which everyone predicted would happen. Mary got the first break to four-back, and I missed my hit-in after her pretty good DSL. I got a bit lucky when Mary missed a hampered roquet attempt after making hoop six. So I was able to run my lead ball to four-back. We jockeyed back and forth, Mary leading by two. In the last turn, I was able to go up by two and scatter my balls to a far corner and wire Mary's balls from each other. She missed her long roquet attempt and I won, barely.

In the "B" flight play-offs, newcomer Cameron Evans beat Nick Gray to take the crown. Cameron is on quite a roll. He won the Second flight American Rules Nationals, and the First Flight Doubles Golf Croquet National Championship. If he wins his flight of the upcoming Association Rules Nationals in February, he will have completed the "Cameron Slam."

Rory promises something big for next year's 25th annual U.S. Open. He indicates that it may sell out quickly. I'm sure Rory will deliver. This is a great tournament. Anyone who really likes Association Croquet should try to play this. It may become a habit! So sign up early for 2012.