Day one of Solomon Trophy action at the Sarasota County Croquet Club (SCCC) in Venice, Florida, ended with a 2-2 tie between the host U.S. team and Great Britain. Two additional matches are under-way with the Tom Balding/Kyle Maloof U.S. duo taking a 26-11 win in game one over GB’s Gabrielle Higgins and Debbie Lines. Matthew Essick/Zack Watson (U.S.) also took game one 26-0 over Alain Giraud and Mark van Loon 26-0. According to the commentary posted by Stuart Lawrence, “One of those (matches) has been pegged down in the second game, with Alain Giraud having just scored hoop 1 with the prospect of a standard triple peel ahead to level the match against Essick and Watson.”

The Official USCA YouTube channel is set to live stream today’s action. Here is the link for viewing: https://www.youtube.com/live/RKnbTpEHQVo?si=Y57dJFpnzOp4o2MV

The doubles games will not resume today as the schedule now shifts to the first round of singles. Lawrence says, “We don't yet know each side's singles team order, the two captains having chosen to keep their hands close to the vest, but according to the test regulations the first singles matches will have 1 v 2, 3 v 4, and 5 v 6.” 

Lawrence also reports that all of Thursday's matches were played on the northernmost bank of courts (numbered 5, 6, and 7), all of which are either entirely new or newly expanded in just the last few months. These lawns, along with portions of courts 1-4, were sodded with bermudagrass as recently as three months ago, yet they already look and play like long-established and nicely-maintained turf. Some irregularities here and from settling soil will need to be remedied, but they have no more impact on the course of play than the slopes and bumps found on other top-class venues in the U.S.

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Day Two Commentary
Event Scores
Day Two Livestream
President’s Matches
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The event is using Atkins Quadway hoops that are being set to no more than a 0.8mm gap from the largest ball on a court. He says that In the club's sand-based lawns the Quadways “perform well but are not impressively challenging.”

“The speed of the lawns has been moderately fast but not exceptionally challenging,” says Lawrence. “I will try to get some lawn speed measurements posted on Friday, but my rough estimate is something like 11.5 Plummers. One can see that the grass could be cut lower by 1 to 1.5 mm, but given the amount of relatively new turf that is still being established it is understandable why the choice has been made to keep the height of cut where it is.”

Players that have tripled so far: Ben Rothman (2), Tom Balding (2), Aston Wade (1), Stephen Morgan (1), Matthew Essick (1).