The inaugural Canterbury Golf Croquet Open was played in stunning weather at St Martins Croquet Club on Sunday 28^th March. The 15-player field had a good mixture of young and more experienced players was well suited to a flexible Swiss event, which saw players matched up against opponents with similar win records, and very little waiting between games.

The hoops were very well set and provided a good challenge to all players. All present were treated to generous catering in a mainly outdoor setting as St Martins did a great job of hosting the event the day after a sudden shift to COVID level 2 was announced for the region.

Relatively new players Carolyn Smith and Mark Walker from Akaroa acquitted themselves very well in a field packed with minus players and cheerfully stepped up against a wide range of opponents.

Reece McCorkindale, who entered the event off a 7 handicap, gave Duncan Dixon a scare (5-7), and Cashmere star Josh Winter (6-7), before ending the event with a win against top seed for the upcoming NZ Golf Croquet invitation, Levi Franks (7-6).  This earned Reece the manager’s prizes for the most index points gained, and the most games played (9), as well as a handicap reduction to 3.

In total 51 games were played, with several players choosing to stop after playing 5 games, having had an 11 hour playing day in the Doubles event the previous day. The younger players all managed to complete between 7 and 9 games, as did Canterbury Croquet Association president Owen Evans. The number of close results shows how effective the event format is at providing many well balanced matches.

Pre-event favourites Logan McCorkindale, Duncan Dixon and Josh Winter shared honours with all players having at least one loss leading to Logan and Duncan tying on 7/8 wins, and the tournament coming to a tie-breaker of “quality of opponents”. Duncan won out by the narrowest of margins – his opponents had played 50 games and had 23 wins, while Logan’s opponents had 23/51.

 Congratulations to all players and many thanks to St Martins CC for hosting an excellent event, and congrats to Duncan who added another title to his impressive collection.

Full results are at https://croquetscores.com/2021/gc/cca-open/singles-flexible-swiss

The Agnes Dick (AC Handicap Doubles) was played 1^st and 2^nd March 2021 at Elmwood Park Croquet Club.

Congratulations to the winners Cheryl Hopley and Steve Costigan and the runners up Jenny Hollobon and Diana Howes.

This event in recent years has been held at the popular club Elmwood but in past years it was held at all the eastern clubs simultaneously with often over 80 entrants. It has always been popular and often a senior partners a junior and over the days the junior gets coaching and an experience of tournament play. Monetary prizes have also been welcomed in recent years.

It was great to see another recent beginner winning the event and also being the senior partner!

Many thanks to Pam Hurst and John Yarrall who stepped in at the last minute for Margaret Lane who now says she is 99.9% after a weekend in hospital. It was great to see Margaret who came to watch her protégée play and to watch the Final.

Thanks to all 17 who played and to Jenny Tait and her Elmwood Club for accommodating us.

Manager (Philippa Porter)

The inaugural CCA GC Open Doubles competition was held at St Martin’s Croquet Club on Saturday 27^th Feb 2021. There were eight pairs entered with the individual handicaps ranging from -5 to +11 and the combined handicaps ranging from -7 to +21! We had both the current NZ National GC Champion and the current U21 GC World Champion playing which was great to see.

Block play was organised with the lowest handicap players at the top of the block and the highest handicap players at the bottom of the block and follows a set pattern, starting with the highest handicap players playing the lowest handicap players and then, as the day progresses, players play opponents with closer handicaps until the last games when players play the opponent ranked closest to them. This means, that (in theory), the lowest handicap players start with their easiest game and end on their hardest game and the highest handicap players start with their hardest game and end with their easiest game. However, nothing every quite goes to plan and everyone won at least one game and well done to Lyn Ringrose and Hans Van Den Bos from St Martin’s who had to wait until their very last game of the day for their well-deserved win. Open events such as this are a great way of improving your play as you get to play some of the best players in NZ which is a very good way of improving your game. If you lose, you only lose one index point and if you win you can pick up nineteen index points. Combine that with good company and tasty food and you wonder why there were only eight pairs entered. Hopefully, we will have more pairs entered next year.

Edmund Fordyce and Chris Spittal were the hot favourites and ended the day unbeaten although five teams all scored three hoops against them. Their last game against the second seeded Duncan Dixon and Claire Horncastle was close and ended with a (failed) jump shot at hoop 13.

First place went to Edmund Fordyce and Chris Spittal and runners up were Jonathan Hart and Marguaritte Rogers from St James Park. The full results can be found at croquetscores.com/2021/gc/cca-open/doubles

Thanks to Bruce McClay for giving up a Saturday to referee the event, Claire Horncastle for managing it and St Martin’s CC for organising the lawns and catering and generously allowing us to use their grounds for the second time this month.

The CCA Handicap singles tournament was held in warm conditions at Fendalton Park Croquet Club on February 21^st.

Eleven players representing five clubs competed. A late withdrawal meant double banking wasn’t required, using all of Fendalton’s five lawns. This made for a relaxed tournament with time between games for re-hydrating and socialising; and an early finish before the late afternoon heat.

The finalists were Carolyn Smith and Mark Walker from the Akaroa club. This was a repeat of the grade singles held on Waitangi weekend. However this time Carolyn came out on top beating Mark 7-4. Third place was Ian Hobbs from Kaiapoi overcoming fellow club member Adrienne Lamb 7-4.

Full results are on Croquet Scores at https://croquetscores.com/2021/gc/cca-handicap-singles

Cheryl Morrall (Tournament manager)

The final of the Arthur Ross AC Canterbury Final was held today at Cashmere Croquet Club on Sunday 14 February 2021. It was disappointing to only have three Clubs represented this year. However, the games provided great viewing for those supporting the players. 

The day started with Dormer Gardner (Barrington) playing Steve Costigan (United) in weather a little cooler than recent days. With time against the players Steve held on for the first win 16 – 11. Next to play was Myles Duggan  (Cashmere) v Dormer, this proved an even closer game with the score 12 – 9 to the youngster. 

The final game of the day provided a few nerves – Steve got away to a flyer with a few good breaks and Myles was in catch-up mode. As the game progressed Myles found a bit of success and started the chase. After 2.5 hours the game came down to both players shooting for the peg. Myles unfortunately missed on a reasonably long attempt with both balls. leaving Steve to place both balls in close range and then success. Result 26 – 24 to Steve. Results are on Croquet Scores at https://croquetscores.com/2021/ac/cnz-arthur-ross-canterbury-final

Congratulations to all players and to Steve who will represent Canterbury at the CNZ Arthur Ross AC Final in Pukekohe on March 12-14th. 

Myles Duggan and Steve Costigan (unfortunately Dormer had left)

The grades were held over two venues on Monday 8th February- Cashmere and St Martins Croquet Clubs.

A total of 30 players representing 8 Canterbury and 2 South Canterbury Croquet Clubs, an increase of 10 players on last year. 

The tournament was played in very warm weather and on fast lawns – appreciated by some whilst others would have preferred lower temperatures and lawns that required a little more than a tap for the ball to reach one side to the other.  

Thanks to both Clubs and all the helpers on the day

Full results are on Croquet Scores at https://croquetscores.com/2021/gc/cca-grades-primary and https://croquetscores.com/2021/gc/cca-grades

Primary Grade: 
Winner: Mark Walker – Akaroa 
Runner-up: Carolyn Smith – Akaroa
Third: Dave Bilton – Ashbury, Timaru

Intermediate:
Winner: Terry Green – Rangiora
Runner-up: Sylvia MacFarlane – Cashmere

Senior
Winner: Gay Jones – Cashmere
Runner-up: Ken Lomax – Cashmere 

Premier
Winner: Levi Franks – Cashmere
Runner-up: Josh Winter – Cashmere

The Singles were played at the United Croquet Club in Hagley Park from the 26^th to the 31^st January 2021. Entries were fewer than normal, and the sixteen entrants started as two blocks of eight playing three games on Tuesday and Wednesday and one game on Thursday. The top four players from each block qualified for the knockout with the remaining eight players having a round robin giving them a further seven games.

The event started on the Tuesday that Christchurch experienced its record temperature of 36.1^oC. This combined with bright sun, gusty winds, tight hoops and fast lawns once the lawns dried made conditions challenging. Wednesday was slightly cooler at 34 whilst the overcast skies and lighter wind made conditions ideal. Heavy rain on Thursday caused ponding on all lawns with the day’s play abandoned in the early afternoon after pegging down the games. Further rain overnight delayed the start for some players whilst water was removed from some lawns and all eight sets of games were double banked instead of just the Plate. The best of 3 quarter finals of the knockout and the first three rounds of the Plate block were completed on Friday. Saturday saw the completion of the best of 3 semi-finals, the Bowl and another three rounds of the Plate in somewhat windy conditions.

Felix Webby dominated Block A winning all seven of his games including a triple peel. Duncan Dixon was Runner-up with six wins and Harps Tahurangi third with five wins including a quadruple. Mike McClure played John Yarrall in the final round of the block requiring a win by two hoops to draw level. Mike’s win 22-21 was just not enough. In Block B, Logan McCorkindale also won all seven games with Josh Winter and Chris Shilling on five wins and Cole Wenmoth on four joining him and the qualifiers from Block A in the Quarter-Finals.

Felix Webby and Duncan Dixon won their quarter finals in straight games while Chris Shilling and Logan McCorkindale both lost their second game before winning the third. In the semis Felix and Duncan won a game each at 26 – 24 before Felix won their third 26 – 17. Logan ensured his place in the final winning in straight games. The final started with Logan winning the first game before Felix equalised in the second and went on to win his first national AC Open title in the third game

The Bowl was played as a single round robin with seventeen-year-old, Josh Winter, winning all three games and Harps Tahurangi runner-up.

The Plate was decided in the last round when sixteen-year-old, Levi Franks, beat his only potential rival for the trophy, Mike McClure. This meant that Nairn Smith, the only player to win against Levi in the Plate, pipped Mike for Runner-Up.

All results are at https://croquetscores.com/2021/ac/cnz-open

The 2021 NZ Open Championship Doubles were held at the United Croquet Club in Hagley Park, Christchurch from the 23^rd to the 25^th January. Rain leading up to the tournament meant the lawns were slowish to begin but with the hot, dry weather the speed increased, and the lawns presented their world-renowned conditions of fast lawns and immobile hoops set to 0.4 to 0.8mm setting wider than the largest ball.

So not all games went to the peg as the manager imposed time limits when necessary to keep the event on schedule. By the second day the players had adjusted and the breaks became longer but still the nearest thing to a triple peel was when Harps Tahurangi missed his pegout.

Unfortunately, there were only eight entries, so the Championship started with two blocks of four. The top two pairs from each block qualified for the knockout with both the semi-finals and finals being best-of-3. Aaron Westerby + Logan McCorkindale and Duncan Dixon + Cole Wenmoth won their respective blocks winning all three games. Felix Webby + Chris Shilling took Aaron and Logan to three games in the semifinal but Toby Garrison + Jarrod Coutts upset Duncan and Cole by a single point when time ran out in each of their two games. Aaron and Logan then took the title by beating Toby and Jarrod 26-6, 26-15.

Full results are at https://croquetscores.com/2021/ac/cnz-open

The Canterbury Croquet Association’s Grades Championship in Association Croquet was held on the weekend of 16^th and 17^th of January 2021 at the Barrington Park Croquet Club.  Unfortunately, there were only eight entries including three from South Canterbury and the only other blemish on the tournament was the drenching rain that fell for about forty minutes on Sunday morning.

The hospitality of Barrington Park Croquet Club members was much appreciated and the weather generally pleasant.  With so few entries, and a CCA requirement that an event has at least four entries, two grades were formed.  In the top grade covering players with handicaps of 4 to 5, Leo van Oosten (Holmes Park) won all three games in the round robin.  He ended as runner-up being defeated in the final by Geraldine Murphy (United).  This win moved her handicap to 3.5.

The other grade for players with handicaps of 6 to 12, was won by Steve Costigan (United) with Gail Benseman (Waireka) runner-up.  It was good to hear so many players discussing other opportunities for AC play and saying they will be back next year.

All results are on croquetscores.com at croquetscores.com/2021/ac/cca-hcp-4-to-5.