Meadows
On the 8th of August, the 8 contenders for the Walker Cup assembled in the sunshine at the Meadows. The Walker Cup is restricted to handicaps of 10 and over, and the entrants' handicaps spanned almost the entire range, from 11 (Robert Inder, last year's winner and also the novice tournament manager) up to 20.
The event had originally been planned as a knockout tournament, with
three rounds of 18-point games with time limits of 2 hours 15 or
thereabouts. However, some players felt they would prefer to avoid
the "one loss and it's all over" and asked whether the event could be
run with more rounds. The tournament manager canvassed the opinions
of the competitors, and found that although everyone was happy to play
under any arrangement, there was definite support for more, shorter
rounds. As a result of these preferences, and because the manager had
some notes on organising Swiss tournaments, the event was played with
four rounds of 18 point games, all clips starting on
hoop 5, with time limits of 1.5 hours and 10 minutes extra for the two
games on the double banked lawn.
The Meadows Club's trusty pack of cards was duly deployed to get the
initial draw, and play was under way shortly before 10.
At the end of the second round, Robert Inder and Brian Cosford both
had two wins, and met to play a tight defensive game in which there
was at least one ball on or near a boundary at almost all times. When time
was called, Robert had managed to inch ahead by 12 points to 10, and
so went into the fourth round with three wins, while Brian, Ruth Munro
and Hamish Duguid each had two. The fourth round saw Robert produce
two good breaks against Hamish, pegging out with almost 15 minutes to
go, while Brian and Ruth fought a grim battle in which Ruth finally
won by a single hoop.
The weather held throughout the day, with the sun shining almost
continously until play finished a bit before 6PM. At this point,
late entrant Ruth Munro was the runner up, with three wins
from four games, and Robert Inder was the clear winner with four wins.
Despite the tight time limits, five games were pegged
out, though in future the event might benefit from being played
with full bisques (to, say, a base of 10).
Robert Inder
Results
Robert Inder beat Jola Jurasinska, Ruth Munro, Brian Cosford and Hamish Duguid
Ruth Munro beat Janice Duguid, Hamish Duguid and Brian Cosford
Hamish Duguid beat Jola Jurasinska and Joan Marshall
Brian Cosford beat George Geis and Janice Duguid
Janice Duguid beat George Geis and Joan Marshall
Jola Jurasinska beat George Geis and Joan Marshall
Joan Marshall beat George Geis