The final day of the 2023 USCA Selection Eights held at the National Croquet Center yesterday in West Palm Beach, Florida, had last day drama in both the First and Second Eight. In the First, Stephen Morgan needed one win of two to claim the group and he took care of business early with a 26tp-4 win over Sherif Abdelwahab in the first game to clinch the victory.
He was 8-4 overall in the event and is currently ranked fifth in the U.S. AC player rankings and #37 in the world. Morgan says it was his 12th year in the event and the first time he’s won the First Eight.
When asked about the pressure to get at least one win on the day, Morgan said, “Yeah, I needed one out of two and there I was playing Sherif and Zack, so it was definitely not guaranteed. I played a good game in the first one versus Sherif. He made an error early that was unlucky. He got wired to his other ball at the peg so he couldn't hit it, and then I was able to run the break and the leave and then run the triple again. Against Zack, I lost, but I had a chance — he swapped balls giving me an easy break. And then. I set the leave which he hit and then he ran his break around. I hit his leave and then had a bad takeoff and then failed to approach one. Then he tripled.”
It was Morgan’s eighth time in the first group, so when asked about how it felt to get that first win, he said, “I'm happy about that. It is a lot easier to win when Matthew Essick is not here, so I appreciate his absence, but I hope he comes back next time because it's more fun to play against the best.”
SECOND EIGHT
The Second Eight was just as entertaining as Chris Percival-Smith had to face both of his challengers on the final day. He started the day with a 26-22 win over Paul Neubecker before facing David Druiett in the second game. It was another interactive game with Percival-Smith taking a 26-15 win to claim the Second Eight title with a 12-2 record. This was his second time in the Eights and he currently is ranked #2 in Canada and #22 in North America with a DGrade of 1960.
Second Eight Winner Chris Percival-Smith
When asked about what it took to win the group after falling a game back, he said, “I think on Day 2 when Paul won a very close game with me, where I had stuffed penultimate and I had used his ball to get there. We were playing two on one at that point and I had two balls and he had one. It gave him the opportunity to get a point ahead and as time was ticking down, you know, I just couldn't put the next attempt at a hoop together. He played really well. That loss kind of put me into a bit of a mental thing and that made the next game much more challenging against David. So now I'm playing the second from top player in the block and because that dialogue was going on, I choked in that game 26-11. And then I had to rally myself. I played Mike (Todorovich). And we played into the dark on Court 8 and the toads started coming out on the lawn. We had the full moon to help illuminate it, and we just kept on going and (I) turned that game around 26-20. When I showed up the next day, I was back in my normal form and positive and optimistic about things. I didn’t lose another game.”
THIRD EIGHT
The Third Eight was already decided, so the only question was whether or not David Isaacs could finish undefeated. He came through with a 26-1 win over Robert Smothers and a 26-10 win over Arlene Parker for a perfect 14-0 record and a staggering +226 net.
With this being his first official AC event, his starting grade of 1500 now stands at 1610 to rank him at #41 on the U.S. list.
Third Eight Winner David Isaacs
After the event Isaacs reflected on the experience, “It's a lot of croquet. It's 14 games, which is more than I think a lot of tournaments have. I think that it's an interesting game. I am predominantly an American rules player and this was my first AC tournament. I don't necessarily think that one rule set is better than another, but you know I've just never taken up an AC tournament before now and I wanted to do this one because I know that you get to play a lot and I thought it would be great to get some good practice and see how some other players do with their breaks and leaves and how they put it together and recover.”
As far as how he was going to celebrate the win, he said, “I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I’ve got a house guest, so I imagine we’ll probably get some drinks or dinner later and just go out on the town a little bit.”
He also noted that the Selection Eights is a different kind of event. He said, “Not enough people really know about the event and can be intimidated by the length of the play and that it's a different style of tournament … I encourage everyone to play all the rule sets however much they want. I don't think any one rule set is better or worse compared to the others. People have different styles and different preferences. As long as someone is playing and swinging a mallet and hitting a ball through a hoop — that’s great. That's what I think should be everyone's goal that plays croquet — trying to get more people into the community.”
HISTORICAL NET PERFORMANCES
Isaac’s +226 net performance certainly stands out, but there was some question as to whether or not it was an event record. CroquetScores.com only goes back to 2012 and the oldest recorded Selection Eights on the site was 2013. So, unofficially, going back to 2013, the highest net performance was +232 by Zack Watson in the First Eight in 2021 on a 12-2 record.
Best Net Yearly (2013-2023)
2023 - David Isaacs +226 (Third Eight)
2022 - Paul Neubecker +217 (Fourth Eight - 12 games)
2021 - Zack Watson +232 (First Eight)
2019 - Charles Xavier +192 (Second Eight)
2018 - Tom Balding +200 (Fourth Eight)
2017 - Simon Jenkins +185 (Second Eight)
2016 - Zack Watson +196 (Third Eight)
2015 - Derek Wassink +143 (Third Eight - 2nd Place)
2014 - Ben Rothman +210 (First Eight - 2nd Place)
2013 - Mike Todorovich +209 (Sixth Eight - 12 games)
NOTES
The First Eight was short one player after Rich Lamm had to withdraw for health reasons.
Next year’s event will be held in September at the Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club in Hartfield, Virginia. The move out of the traditional end of October slot makes way for the 2024 WCF Golf Croquet World Championship to be held at the National Croquet Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Of the 24 players that started the event, five were from Canada: Brian Cumming, Chris Percival-Smith, Arlene Parker, Mike Sully and David Druiett.
Next up on the U.S. AC scene is the 2023 Solomon Trophy and President’s Matches to be held November 7-12 at the Sarasota County Croquet Club in Venice, Florida.
—Player Report by Dylan Goodwin