Edinburgh Tournament 2012
13-18 August 2012, Fettes College
The Edinburgh Tournament got off to an unusually depleted start on the morning of Monday 13 August 2012, with only four games in play - which had the benefit that none of them had to be double-banked. This held true throughout the day, though the number of games increased to five later on. The scarcity of players was due to a very low entry of 11 players in the handicap singles event and the fact that two of these were not available on Monday morning. The lawns were more populated on later days of the week as the other events in the tournament came into play, but only Wednesday's doubles, with 12 pairs, made full use of the space available.
Court 1, the infamous "swamp" by the sight screens, was not in use this year because the ground was too wet, but courts 2 to 5 were set out in their traditional places, and a new court 6 was laid out on the south side of the cricket field, in front of the pavilion; this arrangement seemed to work well.
By the end of Monday three of the four semi-finalists in the handicap knockout had been decided: James Hopgood and Brian Murdoch in the top half of the draw, and Alan Wilson in the bottom half (awaiting an opponent who could be Brian Cosford, Hamish Duguid or Fergus McInnes). It was notable that all 12 of the day's handicap games were won by the lower-handicapped players. Hamish achieved a handicap reduction to 10 at the end of the day.
Tuesday's games were mostly in the class events. In Event 1 (Open Singles), the two minus players James Hopgood and Campbell Morrison won all their games, and each performed a triple peel - Campbell in his second game of the day, against Brian Murdoch, and James in his third, against Alan Wilson. James did have a close call in his second game, which he won +4 after pegging out Fergus McInnes's forward ball. Brian finished the day one index point away from a handicap reduction to 0.5 after a good win (+24) over Fergus. Three games were played in Event 2 (4+ Advanced), and all went to the lower-handicapped players as expected - Allan Hawke beating Hamish and Janice Duguid, and Robert Inder beating Janice. In Event 4 (14+ Handicap), each of the six contestants won at least one game and lost at least one, leaving the field entirely open. Andrew Macmillan was just in the lead, with two wins and one loss. Event 3 (8+) was not played this year for lack of entries.
On Wednesday the first two rounds of doubles were played as planned - in continuing dry and warm weather, after a foggy start to the day - but then things began to go askew. Firstly, some of the players who were due to have a third doubles game in the evening asked for a postponement, and the games (an X semi-final and a Y semi-final) were accordingly rearranged for Saturday morning, with the X and Y finals to follow on Saturday afternoon. Secondly, heavy and persistent rain came on, making conditions more difficult for the other semi-finals. Thirdly, once George Geis and Marjorie Elliott had eked out a 14-13 win over Fergus McInnes and Lyn Gilpin in the Y semi-final, George revealed that he was not available to play in the final on Saturday - which meant that the other semi-final would have to be rescheduled again in order to play the final earlier in the week. In the main event (X), Saturday's semi-final would pit Robert Inder and Vivien Wightman against David Arnot and Malcolm Smith, with the winners playing the holders Bob Darling and Allan Hawke, who had won their semi-final against Rod Williams and Charlotte Townsend without using any of their four bisques (though they did go to time).
The postponed Y doubles semi-final was played on Thursday morning. Hamish and Janice Duguid established a strong lead over Martin and Alison, and Martin's heroic catch-up attempt after time was called (requiring three peels to equalise or four to win outright) came to an end when he failed hoop 4: result +12 on time to the Duguids. Hamish and Janice went on to win the Y final against Marjorie Elliott and George Geis in the afternoon (+18, with a peg-out this time).
Also decided on Thursday afternoon was the Open, in which James Hopgood completed his unbeaten record with a quick +26TP over Campbell Morrison, after limbering up in the morning with a win over Norman Hicks in which he did three peels of a sextuple and then two peels of a straight triple. Events 2 and 4 still had multiple outcomes possible. In Event 6 (the unrestricted handicap singles) Fergus McInnes won a close game against Brian Cosford to become the fourth semi-finalist.
Friday started off with some heavy rain early in the morning, and as play commenced there were puddles on at least two of the courts - though one of those affected was not in use until later in the day. Fortunately the rain eased off and stopped during the morning session, and the weather reverted to being dry with sunny intervals for the rest of the day. In the handicap singles knockout (Event 6X), James Hopgood and Fergus McInnes won their semi-finals against Brian Murdoch and Alan Wilson in the morning, and after lunch Fergus beat James in the final by the same margin, +26, by which James had won the deciding game of the Open the previous day - though without the triple peel. The deciding game of Event 4, in contrast, was won by the narrowest of margins, Andrew Macmillan defeating Jola Jurasinska by one point on time. And in the evening Allan Hawke completed his clean sweep of Event 2 by beating Robert Inder (+2 on time) to retain the Ian H. Wright Trophy.
With so many events already won, the tournament finished on Saturday, as it started on Monday, with an unusually sparse set of games and no double banking. In the morning Robert and Vivien won their doubles semi-final against David and Malcolm (on time, 20-16), and in the Swiss consolation section of Event 6 Brian Cosford had a +26 against Alan Wilson. In the afternoon it was 20-16 in the doubles again, but with Robert and Vivien on the losing side, and so Bob and Allan retained the doubles trophies, while Brian beat Hamish Duguid in the final of Event 6 Swiss.
Jean Forshall presided at the closing formalities, and Ian Wright presented the trophies. The Lauder Bowl (for the player getting furthest without winning an event) went to Jola Jurasinska, who had come second in the 14+ event and won some games in both the other events she entered.
Handicap reductions were announced for Hamish Duguid (from 11 to 10, occurring on Monday), Brian Cosford (from 20 to 18, on Saturday) and Fergus McInnes (from 3 to 2.5, on Saturday) - though the last of these was not strictly within the tournament since it was achieved by playing and winning a game in the Edinburgh Club Open (normally played at Lauriston) on Saturday afternoon. In addition to these changes under the automatic system, a handicap reduction for Bob Darling, from 10 to 7, was proposed by the handicappers after observing his play in the doubles.
As manager and reporter, I must apologise for the fact that this report didn't get written until February 2013. (I was away in Canada immediately after the tournament and then distracted by various other things after I returned.) So it is based largely on the nightly email reports sent out during the tournament week, as my memory for events six months ago is not very sharp!
Fergus McInnes
Results
Event 1 (Open Singles): James Hopgood
Event 2 (4+ Singles, Advanced): Allan Hawke
Event 3 (8+ Singles, Advanced with Bisques): not played
Event 4 (14+ Handicap Singles): Andrew Macmillan
Event 5 (Handicap Doubles), X: Bob Darling and Allan Hawke
Event 5 Y: Hamish Duguid and Janice Duguid
Event 6 (Handicap Singles), X: Fergus McInnes
Event 6 Swiss: Brian Cosford
Lauder Bowl (player getting furthest without winning an event): Jola Jurasinska