Croquet News Clips: Paul Scott Takes U.S. Championship

U.S. Champion Paul Scott in action / photo by Eric SawyerThree-Time Champions

The 2009 U.S. National Championship held at the Mission Hills Club in Rancho Mirage, CA concluded over the weekend. Paul Scott won the U.S. singles championship title over Danny Huneycutt to claim his third championship. Other three time winners include Archie Peck, Jeff Soo, Reid Fleming and John Osborn

In championship doubles, former USCA president Rich Curtis and Doug Grimsley took the doubles title over Rich Lamm and Ben Rothman. Following the theme it was the third national doubles title for Curtis and Grimsley.

Full game notes for both championship games were posted by Britt Ruby in the Croquet World Forum as well as all kinds of other interesting tidbits by Jeff Soo. Placings for all flights follow:

Championship Singles
1. Paul Scott
2. Danny Huneycutt
3. Ben Rothman

Championship Doubles
1. Rich Curtis & Doug Grimsley
2. Rich Lamm & Ben Rothman
3. Ben Morehead & Johnny Mitchell
3. Danny Huneycutt & John Osborn

First Flight Singles
1. Micah Beck
2. Rich Schiller
3. Marty Ormsby

First Flight Doubles
1. Micah Beck & Justin Berbig
2. Rich Schiller & Jake Johnson
3. Donna Dixon & Marty Ormsby
3. Soup Campbell & Bob Roth

Second Flight Singles
1. Justin Berbig
2. Eric Sawyer
3. Danna Huneycutt
3. Karen Comeau

Second Flight Doubles
1. Karen Comeau & Toni Kemp
2. Jean Engebretson & Danna Huneycutt

Plate
1. Patrick Sweeney
2. Frank Thompson
3. Sheri Foroughi
3. Steve Johnston

USCA Nine-Wicket Croquet Nationals Day Three Photos

Doubles Championship TrophiesThis is the final gallery in the series from the 2009 Nine-Wicket National Championship in Kansas City. The photos are from the final day which featured doubles elimination play and the finals.

Full photo series:

USCA Nine-Wicket Croquet Nationals Day One Photos

USCA Nine-Wicket Croquet Nationals Day Two Photos

USCA Nine-Wicket Croquet Nationals Day Three Photos

Croquet News Clips: USCA Nationals Update + WCF Golf Worlds 2011

 

2011 WCF World Golf Croquet Championship | The ninth Golf Croquet World Championship will be held in th UK from July 18-24, 2011. The Hurlingham Club, supported by the Surbiton Croquet Club will provide the courts for the event which will feature sixty four players battling it out for the world title.

Patricia Duke-Cox, Chairman of the Croquet Association, said:  “We are delighted to be hosting this event in the UK once again.  We are also pleased that two clubs who have not previously hosted this event will be doing so.  Hurlingham is very supportive of major croquet events and has hosted many world class events in the past, as has Surbiton.  We look forward to welcoming overseas players to these clubs in 2011”

Ahmed Nasr won the last championship back in 2008 in Cape Town, RSA with a victory over Reg Bamford of South Africa.

The press release indicates that the event is held "on average" every two years. That brings up a point about the unpredictable world championship schedule. I suppose it is a sympton of travel costs for amateur players, but it would seem like a good idea to establish a predictable pattern.

Block Play Concludes | The USCA National Championship at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, California keeps rolling on as block play concluding yesterday. You can follow the progress on the Croquet World forum. Overall, 54 players are competing in singles play with 30 players in the championship flight.  Here are the winner's bracket matchups for the championship flight:

J. Soo vs. Ruby
Osborn vs. Mitchell
Scott vs. Houser
Scalpone vs. Cochran
Grimsley vs. Van Tassell
Morehead vs. Huneycutt
Bennett vs. Lamm
Butts vs. Rothman

Croquet Search Trends (October 2009)

This month, I thought it would be interesting if I started a new monthly that would show the search terms that are bringing in the most traffic to the website. Think of it as our trend tracker for croquet:

INDIVIDUALS

01. Matt Griffith
02. Matt Smith
03. Shane Botwin (Weeds character)
04. Robert Fulford
05. Archie Burchfield
06. Duncan Quinn (shirt designer)
07. Reid Fleming
08. Mark Burchfield
09. George Cochran
10. Archie Peck

PLACES/EVENTS/TOPICS

01. Missouri Croquet
02. Solomon Trophy
03. St. Croix Croquet
04. Corfu (Greece) Croquet
05. Kansas City Croquet
06. Egyptian Croquet Federation

USCA Nine-Wicket Croquet Nationals Day Two Photos

Cochran vs Smith | Drawing by Elizabeth GoodwinContinuing with Day Two of the Nine-Wicket National Photos. Most of the photos are from the Matt Smith / George Cochran singles final. Smith won 32-23. The drawing above is how my eight-year-old daughter, Elizabeth saw the game (for the record, Cochran played blue/black). She gave the original to Matt.

Also included are photos from the Awards Banquet after the game.

Full Series:

USCA Nine-Wicket Croquet Nationals Day One Photos

USCA Nine-Wicket Croquet Nationals Day Two Photos

USCA Nine-Wicket Croquet Nationals Day Three Photos

Croquet News Clips: Third Eight Results & CroquetPro Activity

Ben's Been Busy | Ben Rothman has recently added quite a few posts to his croquet blog. The big news is that he has new croquet schools announced for January and February at Mission Hills. Check out additional details here. He also has good guide to attacking, a rundown on the two quadruples he performed at Selection Eights and some awesome croquet vs pop culture mashups.

Selection Eight Full Standings / The Third Eight was unavailable until late last week. Here is the list of standings for all four groups from the Croquet World Forum:

FIRST EIGHT FINAL STANDINGS
Place/Player/Record

1. Ben Rothman (10-4)
2. Danny Huneycutt (9-5)
3. Doug Grimsley (8-6)
4. Rich Lamm (7-7)
5. Jerry Stark (6-8)
5. Brian Cumming (6-8)
7. Jim Bast (5-9)
7. Paul Billings (5-9)

SECOND EIGHT FINAL STANDINGS

1. Rick Wilhoite (12-2)
2. Stuart Lawrence (8-6)
3. Bob Kroeger (7-7)
3. John Osborn (7-7)
3. Brit Ruby (7-7)
6. Charles Gillmartin (5-9)
6. Peter Just (5-9)
6. Johnny Mitchell (5-9)

THIRD EIGHT FINAL STANDINGS

1. Paul Emmett    (11-2)        
2. George Cochran (10-3)        
2. Leo Nikora (10-3)        
4. Rich Curtis (6-7)        
5. Louis Nel (4-10)        
5. Steve Scalpone (4-9)        
7. Dave Theiste    (2-11)        
Jim Houser withdrew (2-5)

FOURTH EIGHT FINAL STANDINGS

1. Jon Essick (11-3)    
2. Mike Gibbons    (10-4)    
3. Tony Reaves (9-5)    
4. David McCoy (7-7)    
4. Ken Shipley (7-7)    
6. Jane Beharriell (6-8)    
6. Robert Coleman (6-8)    
8. Stephanie Paduano (0-14)

USCA Nine-Wicket Croquet Nationals Day One Photos

John Warlick during 9-Wicket NationalsI saved back these photos until I was able to get the November issue of the magazine out. This is day one for the 2009 USCA Nine-Wicket National tournament. All of these photos were taken during block play. Two more galleries (day two and day three) will follow. Stay tuned.

USCA Nine-Wicket Croquet Nationals Day One Photos

USCA Nine-Wicket Croquet Nationals Day Two Photos

USCA Nine-Wicket Croquet Nationals Day Three Photos

Opening Game (November 2009)

I'll have to say November kicked off with a great start as the Kactus Kreek Club here in Kansas City was able to sneak in a day's worth of play on November 1. That definitely set a precedent as my latest day in the year to play the game. I'm considering it a reward for getting that second issue of the online magazine out. It was a beautiful day and a full crowd on the court as everyone was anxious to get in a little more play.

Speaking of the magazine, thank you to all of the subscribers that have done a great job of passing it on. Through the stats, I can see that the e-mail and magazine has been viewed by more than five times the amount of subscribers on the list. Great work -- this is how it grows. For anyone that is stopping by today, you can sign up for the magazine notification e-newsletter here.

For November on the website, you can look forward to additional content that was used to build the November issue. I'll be presenting some info from the interviews and I have plenty of photos and I believe more video. I'll also be reviewing a new croquet game for the Wii that is part of the Game Party 3 compilation. Definitely wait for my review this month before you make the purchase.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of the people that helped make the November issue possible. For the interviews, thank you to George Cochran, Ben Rothman (croquetpro.blogspot.com), Billy Bob Breeden, Matt Smith and Nick Zink. For the Rothman photo, thank you to Tim Rapuano with the New York Croquet Club. Also, I'd like to mention Matt Griffith and his Kactus Creek Croquet Club as that is where I took the photos for the contents page in both issues.

In addition, Matt Griffith, Matt Smith and Billy Bob Breeden have all been fantastic in teaching me the game over the summer. Sundays are generally always open for practice games at Kactus Creek and those guys are always willing to take some time explain the great tactical dilemmas that pop-up and strategy in general. Personally, I have a long way to go, but I feel like I've been on an accelerated plan thanks to those guys.

Anyway, stay tuned to the website and look for the December issue of the magazine by the end of the month.

Upcoming Tournaments / November-December 2009

November 2009

Oct 29-Nov 1 / West Indies Croquet Championship / St. Croix, VI
Les Kelley - lkelley@nnldlaw.com (340.773.9363)

Oct 30-Nov 1 / SCCC Fall Invitational (Singles Only) / Venice, FL
Jackie Jones - crokpeople@aol.com (941.484.3206)

Nov 04–08 / Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club 13th Croquet Invitational / Boca Raton, FL
Norma Truman, TM - (561-368-9291) tntboca@aol.com

Nov 08–14 / USCA National Championships / Rancho Mirage, CA
Erica Sherman - (561-478-0760) tournamentusca@aol.com

Nov 17–21 / USCA Seniors & Masters Championship / West Palm Beach, FL
Erica Sherman - (561-478-0760) tournamentusca@aol.com

Nov 21–28 / WCF Womens Golf Croquet World Championship / Cairnlea, Victoria, Australia

Nov 30-Dec 02 / USCA National Golf Championship / West Palm Beach, FL
Erica Sherman - (561-478-0760) tournamentusca@aol.com

December 2009

Dec 03–06 / USCA Florida Regional Championship / West Palm Beach, FL
Erica Sherman - (561-478-0760) tournamentusca@aol.com

Dec 03 / USCA vs CA President's Match / Rancho Mirage, CA

Dec 04–07 / WCF Solomon Trophy / Rancho Mirage, CA
Rich Lamm - (415-928-5525) richlamm@comcast.com

Dec 04–06 / SCCC Doubles Invitational / Venice, FL
Jackie Jones - (941-484-3206 or 941-416-1009) crokpeople@aol.com

Dec 08-12 / 2009 US Open / Rancho Mirage, CA
Stan Patmor - (602-955-1547 or 866-252-2135) patmor@fastq.com

Croquet Network Magazine (November Issue Available)

November IssueThe November issue of Croquet Network Magazine is now available and simply requires a subscription to our free e-newsletter to gain access. Again, there is no charge for subscribing. This month's issue is 19 pages and is packed with the following features:

  • Six pages of USCA Nine-Wicket National Championship coverage
  • Ben Rothman Profile
  • Editorial on the Nine-Wicket game
  • Listing of popular croquet websites
  • Upcoming tournaments calendar
  • Relevant advertisements from croquet manufacturers
  • Active links in the magazine can take you directly to external websites or specific articles in the magazine
  • PDF based so you can download it

If you love croquet, you can support this project simply by subscribing to the list. Just follow the steps below.

FREE ONLINE MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION


STEP ONE

To subscribe to the FREE monthly online Croquet Network Magazine (PDF), enter your e-mail and name in the form below. You will be sent offsite for a username and password that will get you into the magazine page. Click the "Return to Website" to log into the magazines page.

STEP TWO

Later, you'll want to check your e-mail as you need to verify that you want to receive the Croquet Network E-Newsletter which provides the new password for each issue.

Subscribe to Our FREE Monthly PDF Magazine
Enter your name & email address below:
Name:
Email:
Subscribe Unsubscribe