Matt Griffith during the doubles knockout on court four
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA -- The second day of the USCA's 2016 Golf Croquet National Championship at the National Croquet Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, was just as jam-packed with action as day one. In fact, doubles games under the lights were still under way when I left the NCC around 8:00 p.m. And there did seem to be one player protesting the extended action.
Still the main theme of the day was the shift from block play to the knockout for the Champioship Flight. Here's a rundow of the first round results:
Danny Huneycutt 7-6, 7-5 over Paul Miller
Matt Griffith 7-3, 7-5 over Ian Harshman
David Maloof 7-4, 7-4 over Eric Sawyer
John Richardson 7-4, 7-2 over Jimmy Huff
Brian Cumming 7-4, 5-7, 7-4 over Mohammad Kamal
Sherif Abdelwahab 5-7, 7-4, 7-3 over John Osborn
Stephen Morgan 7-3, 7-3 over Dick Sullivan
Rich Lamm 7-6, 5-7, 7-4 over Leo McBride
The quarterfinals start at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow and the semifinals are scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Full bracket is posted below.
Doubles play is struggling to stay on track. The team of Sherif Abdelwahab/David Maloof is the first to advance to the semifinal. All of the other segments of the bracket are still at the quarterfinal round. Brian Cumming/Stewart Jackson are slated to play Matt Griffith/John Osborn and the winner of that one will play Abdelwahab/Maloof.
On the top half the matchups are Danny Huneycutt/Rich Lamm vs Michael Albert/Cheryl Bromley and Jimmy Huff/Leo McBride vs John Richardson/Eric Sawyer. This was the game mentioned earlier trying to finish under the lights.
Not much info was available on First Flight play, but I did hear that Caren Sawyer was 4-0 in Block A.
My doubles segment ended today with a 2-1 loss to Dan Pailas/Dick Sullivan, which was a disappointment, because I was getting a great clinic in GC tactics from my partner Khaled Kolief. I am still alive in the plate, but potentially I will be free'd up a bit more to check in on the first flight action.
Shots of the day (that I saw) -- Eric Sawyer had what must have been an 80-foot in-off from his own ball at hoop 10 in his playoff against David Maloof. Matt Griffith ended the third game of a doubles match against Russ Dilley/Donna Dixon with a nice jump shot at hoop 12.
SCORE UPDATES:
croquetscores.com/2016/gc/usca-nationals
CHAMPIONSHIP SINGLES KNOCKOUT:
CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLES KNOCKOUT
PLATE KNOCKOUT:
Player journal by Dylan Goodwin