Kelvingrove
Ten players gathered on a cold and bright Glasgow Saturday morning, with handicaps
ranging from scratch to 16, to contest the 2006 Glasgow Open. Manager John Surgenor
played a Swiss format.
Round One saw Jane (3) beat John (0.5) in fairly short order, while the rest battled
the cold and slow conditions, taking all of the agreed time. Bruce Rannie (0) beat
Joe Lennon 22-18 in his first time-result for more than two years.
Round Two saw Jane beat Bruce +17, continuing her impressive consistent
progress, hitting across the court at 4B/4B to take her second ball round, and down
the court after a Bruce lay-up to finish easily. John beat Martin Stephenson
+4 in the turn after time, after Martin had held sway for the previous 2 hours 29
minutes. Su Stenhouse beat Malcolm O'Connell +4 on time to gain bragging rights
for the evening.
Round Three saw Jane take a little longer to beat Campbell Morrison +7 and lead the
competition overnight 3 from 3. John beat Robert Lay +17 but could not prevent
a fall in handicap to 1 ready for Sunday. Bruce rubbed salt into Martin's
wounds by completing a standard TP as the rain began, after claiming his swing had gone
and he had no idea how to get it back. There were four on 2-1 chasing Jane
on 3-0 after the three rounds, and only Tony Whateley was winless.
Sunday was bright but cool to begin with but got warmer, and the lawns were not as damp
after the overnight rain dried up. As in 2005, John and Bruce needed to win all
day, and Jane needed to hang on.
Round Four threw the trophy wide open as John beat Malcolm O'Connell (4) with a
clinical TP, Bruce beat Tony Whateley +22, while Jane struggled against Martin and
a sore head, to bring all three to 3-1.
Round Five continued with all three contenders winning, Jane beating Su Stenhouse +15,
Bruce beating Robert +23 and John beating Campbell +8.
The final Round pitted Bruce against John, and Jane against Malcolm - if Jane won, she
took the trophy, while the victor from Bruce and John would win the cup should Jane
trip up. In the event, Bruce beat John +24 quickly, with some scrambling, and
one peel of a potential straight triple, so eyes were on Jane against Malcolm. Jane
went round first, followed quickly by Malcolm, but Jane then took the second ball round
without incident. Jane's final turn showed some excitement with long roquets, a
running of rover in the take-off croquet stroke from partner nearer 4B than the peg,
followed by return roquet on that ball to set up a ten-plus-yard pegout. Surprisingly
(after the previous strokes in the turn) that failed but one ball was in the box.
After a couple or so jousting turns in the 3-ball ending, Malcolm failed hoop one leaving
a position where trickle to the peg was the option, and then missed the long roquet, to
allow Jane to take the cup.
Bruce Rannie
Results
Jane Shorten beat John Surgenor +23, Bruce Rannie +17, Campbell Morrison +7, Su Stenhouse +15, Malcolm O'Connell +17
Bruce Rannie beat Joe Lennon +6t, Martin Stephenson +20tp, Tony Whateley +22, Robert Lay +23, John Surgenor +24
John Surgenor beat Martin Stephenson +4, Robert Lay +17, Malcolm O'Connell +26tp, Campbell Morrison +8
Campbell Morrison beat Su Stenhouse +3t, Robert Lay +4t, Joe Lennon +19, Martin Stephenson +7t
Martin Stephenson beat Jane Shorten +3t, Joe Lennon +3t, Malcolm O'Connell +3t
Su Stenhouse beat Malcolm O'Connell +4t, Tony Whateley +13, Robert Lay +1t
Malcolm O'Connell beat Joe Lennon +20, Tony Whateley +23
Robert Lay beat Tony Whateley +5t, Joe Lennon +1t
Joe Lennon beat Tony Whateley +21
