Meadows West
Nine players entered the 2008 Meadows Open, which the manager decided to play as an incomplete American block of seven rounds (more on this later). With 2½ hour time limits this would give everybody six games each, plus one round sitting out, which helped accommodate the various leave requests he had received. So far, so good, and the manager was particularly pleased to find that the format meant that there was always somebody available to do the sandwich run.
David Appleton had a good win against James Hopgood beating him +1 after James had left
two balls on the lawn with David on 4-back and himself on the peg. James pulled off
a quadruple peel against Brian Murdoch, having broken down at 3-back. Peeling 3-back
after 4, and 4-back before 1-back, he finished with a straight double peel, though not
without many mishaps and recoveries on the way. The only other successful peeling
break came from Campbell Morrison with a triple against Tony Whateley, though there were
many attempts. The two shots of the tournament though came from Joe Lennon, who
shot with red at blue and black, which presented a double roughly three yards south and
a little west of 4-back. He missed both of them, but instead ran 4-back, red's
hoop, by a few inches. He turned round and fired at blue and black through
the hoop, this time successfully.
Going into the last round, James was in the pavilion with four wins. Jane and
Campbell were also on four wins and Brian and David on three each. With David
due to play Jane and Brian playing Campbell, the tournament was wide open, with the
possibility of five players finishing with four wins each - a possibility that filled
the manager with dread as he had decided to resolve tie-breaks of three or more players
using matchpoints, a process described by the CA in their tournament regulations.
(Whether the process is recommended or not is unclear, though the manager has now formed
his own opinion.) Jane quickly went to 4-back and penult with David still on 1
and 1. However David then raised his game and finished +7. This meant
that in the double-banked game, if Campbell could beat Brian he would be the only player
on 5 wins. Brian quickly went to 4 back with his first ball, setting a diagonal
spread leave. Campbell hit with the lift shot and went to 4-back. Brian
missed the long lift shot and Campbell went to the peg, deciding not to attempt a
triple. Brian missed the lift shot and Campbell set off to finish, but broke down
at penultimate, letting Brian in. Following a fortuitous rush peel at 4-back while
making 3, Brian embarked on a triple. Though the peelee bounced off the wire at
penultimate during the death roll to 2-back, he still got good position on his pioneer
but failed the hoop. Campbell hit the five yard lift shot to finish, leaving
Campbell the clear winner on five wins and Jane, David and James all on four each.
Assisted by Fergus, the manager then retired to calculate matchpoints and emerged to
announce David Appleton the runner up. (Fortunately this was also the intuitive
result as David had beaten both of the other two players on four wins in his matches
against them.)
Campbell Morrison
(Manager)
Results
Winner (Muffin Dish): Campbell Morrison
Runner-up (Biscuit Plate): David Appleton
Campbell Morrison, 5 wins (beat FMcI +16, TW +20 tp, JL +12, DA +20, BM +9)
David Appleton, 4 wins (beat BM +1(t), JH +1, FMcI +16, JS +7)
Jane Shorten, 4 wins (beat CM +5, AW +15, JH +22, FMcI +16)
James Hopgood, 4 wins (beat JL +2(t), BM +9 qp, AW +24, TW +17)
Brian Murdoch, 3 wins (beat JL +26, AW +11(t), JS +7)
Fergus McInnes, 3 wins (beat TW +17, JL +18, AW +24)
Alan Wilson, 2 wins (beat TW +4, JL +10)
Tony Whateley, 2 wins (beat DA +17, JL +1(t))
Joe Lennon, 0 wins