Walker Cup 2009
8 August 2009, 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