Scottish Open 2012
21-22 July 2012, Meadows
A full complement of 14 players contested this year's Scottish Open. As in the previous two years they included some from Australia - this year's contingent being Miranda Chapman and Alison Sharpe, the second- and third-ranked women in the world. Unusually, there were no English players (unless you count Bryan Sykes, who is listed in the rankings as English but lives part of the time in Scotland and is arguably Swiss): some of the "regulars" from south of the border didn't enter, and Dave Nick was a little too late with his entry and was placed second on the waiting list. Fiachra Carroll, the first on the waiting list, did get in, when Campbell Morrison withdrew, and so with his compatriot Danny Johnston playing there were two from Ireland, or three if you include Jane Morrison (Irish but living in Scotland). The rest of the entry comprised New Zealander Paddy Chapman - at no.4 in the world, the highest-ranked player ever to take part in this event - and seven of the top eight resident Scots.
Saturday started with the six first-round games, which mostly went according to seeding - the one upset being Fergus McInnes's +4 win over Danny, achieved despite the failure of a straight triple peel attempt. The no.2 seed James Hopgood had a close call in his game with Martin Stephenson, which was the only game of the tournament to go to the three-hour time limit without a peg-out, James winning 23-19.
Three of the four second-round matches were completed quite quickly in straight games, with wins for Paddy over Brian Murdoch (with a sextuple peel in the first game), for Alison over Fergus, and for Miranda over Jane (with a pair of triples). The match between James and Bill Spalding took much longer, with Bill winning the first game but James equalising and then taking the decider with a TP. So it came about that the first semi-final was over by early evening - Paddy beating Alison with a TP and a TPO - while the second one was only beginning. Miranda won the first game of this after James did a TPO but played the peg-out a little too hard and so pegged out his own ball as well as hers; the two-ball endgame provided some entertainment for the few (Paddy, Brian, Fergus and Alan Wilson) who stayed on into Saturday evening to watch. The rest of the match was held over till Sunday morning, when James again came back from one game down (with another TPO and a TP) to reach the final.
By agreement between the players, with the manager's approval, the final was played to super-advanced rules. Paddy took the first game +26TP. The second was a little more interactive: James got in and opted to go to 4-back, and Paddy did a TPO and won by 13 points. So Paddy was Scottish Champion, and got to hold the Moffat Mallet for a few minutes (it's not allowed out of Scotland), while James exchanged the plate (which he'd won last year) for the runner-up's cup (which he'd previously held in 2010).
Alongside the knockout matches, the consolation event for the Edinburgh Plate was going on - a flexible Swiss, with results from the main event carried over. The leading contenders by late on Sunday afternoon were Danny Johnston and John Surgenor (a veteran of Scottish croquet and nine times winner of the Scottish Open in its previous format) - each on 4 wins from 6 games, and in play against Bill Spalding and Brian Murdoch respectively. A playoff might have been called for if they had both won their games, but John said he didn't want to play another game, and so when Danny beat Bill he was awarded the Plate. As it turned out, John lost to Brian, and so Danny was the clear winner anyway.
The event was made more pleasant by dry and reasonably warm weather throughout the weekend (with a breeze on Sunday which brought a scattering twigs down on the west lawn) - a welcome change from most of Edinburgh's summer so far. Sunday was also enhanced by Charlotte Townsend's afternoon tea.
Fergus McInnes
Results
Winner: Paddy Chapman
Runner-up: James Hopgood
Plate winner: Danny Johnston
First round:
Paddy Chapman beat Alan Wilson +25tp
Brian Murdoch beat Bryan Sykes +15
Fergus McInnes beat Danny Johnston +4
Alison Sharpe beat John Surgenor +23
Bill Spalding beat Fiachra Carroll +22
James Hopgood beat Martin Stephenson +4T (23-19)
Second round:
Paddy Chapman beat Brian Murdoch +25sxp, +17
Alison Sharpe beat Fergus McInnes +15, +26
Miranda Chapman beat Jane Morrison +17tp, +26tp
James Hopgood beat Bill Spalding -20, +15, +17tp
Semi-finals:
Paddy Chapman beat Alison Sharpe +26tp, +13tpo
James Hopgood beat Miranda Chapman -6otp, +11tpo, +26tp
Final:
Paddy Chapman beat James Hopgood +26tp, +13tpo
Plate games:
John Surgenor beat Alan Wilson +23
Fiachra Carroll beat Danny Johnston +9
Bryan Sykes beat Martin Stephenson +7
Jane Morrison beat Alan Wilson +17
John Surgenor beat Fiachra Carroll +21
Brian Murdoch beat Fergus McInnes +15
Jane Morrison beat Fiachra Carroll +16
Danny Johnston beat Alan Wilson +26
John Surgenor beat Bryan Sykes +19
Danny Johnston beat Martin Stephenson +15
Alan Wilson beat Fiachra Carroll +20
Brian Murdoch beat Bill Spalding +14
Danny Johnston beat John Surgenor +15
Jane Morrison beat Bryan Sykes +12
Fergus McInnes beat Alan Wilson +8
Martin Stephenson beat Fiachra Carroll +23
Danny Johnston beat Alison Sharpe +25
John Surgenor beat Jane Morrison +12
Bryan Sykes beat Bill Spalding +4
Martin Stephenson beat Brian Murdoch +5
Alison Sharpe beat Miranda Chapman +2
Fergus McInnes beat Fiachra Carroll +4
Danny Johnston beat Bill Spalding +18
Brian Murdoch beat John Surgenor +16
Martin Stephenson beat Alan Wilson +11
Final standings (knockout finalists asterisked):
*Paddy Chapman 7/7
Danny Johnston 5/7
Alison Sharpe 4/7
Brian Murdoch 4/7
John Surgenor 4/7
*James Hopgood 5/9
Miranda Chapman 3/6
Fergus McInnes 3/6
Martin Stephenson 3/6
Jane Morrison 3/6
Bryan Sykes 2/5
Bill Spalding 2/7
Fiachra Carroll 1/7
Alan Wilson 1/7