Scottish Open 2013
27-28 July 2013, Meadows
Only eight players competed in this year's Scottish Open - the smallest number since 2003. This meant that the usual preliminary round of single games was not needed and it was best-of-three from the start. With the top Scottish-resident players (James Hopgood and Campbell Morrison) not taking part, the first two seeds came from south of the Border: Dave Nick from Cumbria, and Sam Murray from Surbiton. Next in the ranking were John Surgenor from Glasgow and Brian Murdoch from Edinburgh, and four more players from central Scotland made up the rest of the entry.
The first round went according to rankings, with just one slight upset when Brian lost his first game to Bill Spalding. The match between Brian and Bill was by far the longest, with all three games going to time, and Dave, who was to play the winner, fitted in an extra game (in the Swiss) against Fergus McInnes while waiting for the result - having finished his own first match quite quickly against Bob Darling, with his 100th ranking triple in the first game.
Both semi-finals also went to three games, and the deciding game in each was held over to Sunday morning. The top seeds came through and met in the final. Sam took the first game +17, Dave levelled the match with a +17tp, and so there was something to entertain the spectators on Sunday afternoon: a deciding game which turned out to be very close, with a two-ball ending in which Sam made three hoops to equalise, and survived wiring lifts at penult and rover, but Dave eventually hit in and finished (+2) to get his name on the Moffat Mallet for the second time.
Meanwhile there were games in the consolation Swiss for those knocked out of the main event, and here it was John Surgenor who had most success, beating Alan Wilson and Bill Spalding to achieve a record of 5/7 for the weekend as a whole and receive the Edinburgh Plate.
The weather was sunny for much of Saturday and at the end of Sunday, but in between there was some heavy rain. The courts never became unplayable, but they did slow down noticeably.
Thanks are due to the Meadows Club for hosting the event, and in particular to Jamieson Walker for providing lunches and to Rachel Frith and her assistants for an excellent Sunday afternoon tea.
Fergus McInnes
Results
Quarter-finals:
Dave Nick beat Bob Darling +18tp, +13
Brian Murdoch beat Bill Spalding -2T (19-21), +2T (17-15), +7T (21-14)
John Surgenor beat Fergus McInnes +17, +8
Sam Murray beat Alan Wilson +18, +23
Semi-finals:
Dave Nick beat Brian Murdoch +16, -20, +19
Sam Murray beat John Surgenor +16, -5, +26
Final:
Dave Nick beat Sam Murray -17, +17tp, +2
Swiss:
Alan Wilson beat Bob Darling +21
Dave Nick beat Fergus McInnes +26tp
Fergus McInnes beat Bob Darling +21
Bill Spalding beat Alan Wilson +26
Alan Wilson beat Fergus McInnes +12
Bill Spalding beat Bob Darling +18
John Surgenor beat Alan Wilson +11
Fergus McInnes beat Bill Spalding +16
Brian Murdoch beat Bob Darling +17
John Surgenor beat Bill Spalding +24
Fergus McInnes beat Alan Wilson +5
Players' statistics:
Dave Nick 7/9
John Surgenor 5/7
Sam Murray 5/8
Brian Murdoch 4/7
Bill Spalding 3/7
Fergus McInnes 3/7
Alan Wilson 2/7
Bob Darling 0/6
Photographs
Saturday before the rain arrived: Alan Wilson in play, Sam Murray and Bill Spalding sitting out.
Dave Nick playing a hampered shot after penult in the final, refereed by Alan Wilson.
Sam's rush to 4-back in the two-ball ending.
Dave's shot at Sam's ball in front of rover.
Dave Nick (right) with the Moffat Mallet.
John Surgenor (left) with the Edinburgh Plate.
