Glasgow Open 2013
20-21 April 2013, Alexandra Park
It was a typical Glasgow Open weekend, very cold, dry on Saturday, wet on Sunday morning, and half a dozen entered the 20th championship at Alexandra Park’s croquet lawns in Dennistoun. Five rounds were to be played, three on Saturday and two on Sunday, as the forecast for the second day was dreadful (they changed their minds later and we finished at 3.30 in sunshine).
A random draw was made for position in the pre-planned block (see David Appleton’s article in the SCA Handbook), and this set the event in motion. In the first round, John Surgenor beat Joe Lennon +16. Bill Spalding beat Robert Lay +12 after Robert had strived to peg Bill out following Bill’s missed rover-peel finish – this effort was all very well, apart from the closeness to the time limit and the leaving of one of Robert’s balls alongside Bill’s remaining peg ball... Alan Wilson struggled to a 21-12 timed win over Hamish Duguid.
In the second round, John beat Hamish +21, Bill beat Joe +19 and Robert played better than Alan over the piece to hang onto an 18-handicap-points 16-14 win. In the third round to close off Saturday, John beat Alan +20, Joe beat Robert +25, going to handicap 8 as a result, and Bill had the struggle this time, to see off Hamish 19-13.
Sunday saw some more enterprising play, surprisingly because the rain made the lawns even slower but players seemed to adapt better. The draw put John and Bill together, and John made efforts to complete his triple, with the peelee jawsed in 4-back after hoop 3, but no sensible chance until the straight double to finish. However this went awry as the balls were all too much in a straight line after penult, and John had to play the peelee first after rover. The rush towards the peg shot back through rover but stopped four yards from the peg with one of Bill’s balls directly in line about a foot away. The other was also along too straight a line to attempt a roll, as the peelee would not be close enough to the peg to give any chance of a combination finish. However a few minutes later the win was secured. Hamish beat Robert +11 and Joe beat Alan +9. Alan had been getting his first ball round easily all day but was finding the second ball impossible – in this game he peeled 4-back after hoop 3, jawsed penult after hoop 6, but mis-hit a croquet stroke after 1-back and Joe never let him in again.
In the final round, Joe beat Hamish +16; John had several attempts at the triple (in bits, many bits) against Robert, all coming to naught, but managed to finish +24. This left an intriguing last hour of the game between last year’s finalists, Bill and Alan, in which Bill pegged Alan out and neither player realised how time was passing (neither did the spectators). So when the pips went, Bill was in play and had to score four points to win (box/4-back played peg/2-back). But the approach to 4-back from distance left an angled hoop which clanged – 22-21 to Alan. In several turns, each player might well have made a different choice had the looming finish time been realised – in fact, the 3-ball ending may not even have started!
So John won the Cup for the first time in eight years, and the ninth time in all. One more handicap point and John would be 1.5; had Alan lost to Bill he would have been 4. Thanks to Joe for doing the lawn setting both days and to other Glasgow Club members for their help and support too.
Bruce Rannie
Results
John Surgenor beat Joe Lennon +16
Bill Spalding beat Robert Lay +12
Alan Wilson beat Hamish Duguid +9T (21-12)
John Surgenor beat Hamish Duguid +21
Bill Spalding beat Joe Lennon +19
Robert Lay beat Alan Wilson +2T (16-14)
John Surgenor beat Alan Wilson +20
Joe Lennon beat Robert Lay +25
Bill Spalding beat Hamish Duguid +6T (19-13)
John Surgenor beat Bill Spalding +26
Joe Lennon beat Alan Wilson +9
Hamish Duguid beat Robert Lay +11
John Surgenor beat Robert Lay +24
Joe Lennon beat Hamish Duguid +16
Alan Wilson beat Bill Spalding +1T (22-21)