Scottish Masters 2012
26-27 May 2012, Meadows
Ten players contested the Scottish Masters Tournament in warm and sunny conditions which made a welcome contrast to the cold weather of April and early May. Only the drifting smoke of many barbecues diminished the blaze of the sun in a cloudless sky. The holder of the trophy for the past four years, James Hopgood, was not available to defend it this time, but the field included the two preceding winners Alan Wilson and Fergus McInnes and five-times winner John Surgenor. Alongside John in the Glasgow contingent were Bill Spalding, Joe Lennon and Robert Lay, while Campbell Morrison, Jane Morrison, Martin Stephenson and Robert Inder completed the roll of Meadow Club members. Handicaps ranged from Campbell's -0.5 to Joe Lennon's 9 and Robert Lay's 14, with all the rest in the 1 to 5 range.
A Swiss format was adopted, with 2.5-hour time limits, and the expectation of playing six or maybe seven rounds in the weekend. In fact the players were happy to continue into Saturday evening and the fourth round was nearly completed then, with only the game between Fergus and Joe being pegged down overnight; that was finished on Sunday morning and there was time for three more rounds.
Saturday's first three rounds left Campbell, Jane and John undefeated. In the fourth round Campbell beat Jane, and John lost to Bill; so Campbell had the overnight lead, with Jane, John and Bill close behind on 3/4. The major upset of the day was Fergus's loss on time (11-14) to Robert Lay, which combined with two other losses put Fergus's handicap up from 3.5 to 4 - its second increase in consecutive weekends. Several triple peels were attempted during the day, and one was achieved, by Campbell in his second-round game against Robert Inder.
On Sunday morning the completion of the pegged-down game brought Fergus his first win, leaving only Joe without one; he got it in the next round when he played Robert Lay, but Fergus reverted to losing, this time to Robert Inder and then to Bill. Campbell continued to see off all challengers, beating Bill in the fifth round and John in the sixth. Jane also was doing well, with wins over John and Martin.
The final round pitched Campbell against the strongest opponent he hadn't yet played, namely Martin, who though ranking next to Campbell on handicap had not been playing his best and had accumulated three losses in the first six rounds. It looked like being a quick +25tp win for Campbell, but he missed the peg-out from three or four yards, and Martin got to peg and hoop 6 in a three-ball endgame before Campbell's remaining ball hit the post. This left the middle lawn free, and the local players who had been watching the game and having afternoon tea then took it over for golf croquet while the rest of round seven was played out on the other two lawns.
The mostly B-class standard of the entries was reflected in the scores, with only one +26 (by Jane against Joe) and a scattering of wins by narrow margins on time. Robert Inder and Fergus had ambitious attempts at catching up after time was called in some of their games; Robert got the 2-back peel against Alan but failed the 3-back peel that he needed to equalise, Fergus got one peel and attempted the second out of the five that he needed against Robert, Robert had another valiant but unavailing effort in his last-round game against John, and in the game double-banked with that Fergus eventually succeeded in his fight-back against Alan by hitting a lift and running three hoops with three balls on the lawn and then scoring the decisive point in extra time. In fact Alan figured in all three of the weekend's +1T results, the other one being his loss to John on Saturday afternoon. Only Campbell avoided going to time throughout the tournament.
The final standings showed a clear ordering of the top four players, with Campbell, Jane, Bill and John having played one another and obtained a transitive set of results. Martin had also played these four, and they accounted for his four losses; Alan and Robert Inder were equal with him on 3/7, but their results were against weaker sets of opponents. Fergus's narrow victory over Alan put him on 2/7 ahead of Joe and Robert Lay on 1/7.
Campbell with his unbeaten record took possession of the trophy. As the only player to complete a triple peel, he also got the peeling prize, which was a jar of marmalade containing three types of peel (orange, lemon and grapefruit). But it's Robert Lay with his impressive hat (outdoing all those at the CAI match two weeks before) who is featured in the photograph below.
Fergus McInnes
Results
1 Alan Wilson beat Joe Lennon +21
2 Campbell Morrison beat Fergus McInnes +16
3 Robert Inder beat Robert Lay +23
4 Jane Morrison beat Bill Spalding +22
5 John Surgenor beat Martin Stephenson +9T (24-15)
6 Campbell Morrison beat Alan Wilson +16
7 Jane Morrison beat Robert Inder +5T (13-8)
8 John Surgenor beat Joe Lennon +25
9 Robert Lay beat Fergus McInnes +3T (14-11)
10 Bill Spalding beat Martin Stephenson +21
11 Campbell Morrison beat Robert Inder +23tp
12 John Surgenor beat Alan Wilson +1T (22-21)
13 Jane Morrison beat Robert Lay +22
14 Bill Spalding beat Joe Lennon +17
15 Martin Stephenson beat Fergus McInnes +8T (25-17)
16 Campbell Morrison beat Jane Morrison +17
17 Bill Spalding beat John Surgenor +5T (16-11)
18 Alan Wilson beat Robert Inder +1T (22-21)
19 Martin Stephenson beat Robert Lay +17
20 Fergus McInnes beat Joe Lennon +21
21 Campbell Morrison beat Bill Spalding +25
22 Jane Morrison beat John Surgenor +21
23 Martin Stephenson beat Alan Wilson +7
24 Robert Inder beat Fergus McInnes +10T (23-13)
25 Joe Lennon beat Robert Lay +7T (17-10)
26 Campbell Morrison beat John Surgenor +14
27 Bill Spalding beat Fergus McInnes +17
28 Jane Morrison beat Martin Stephenson +2T (21-19)
29 Alan Wilson beat Robert Lay +24
30 Robert Inder beat Joe Lennon +10T (22-12)
31 Campbell Morrison beat Martin Stephenson +9
32 Jane Morrison beat Joe Lennon +26
33 Bill Spalding beat Robert Lay +23
34 John Surgenor beat Robert Inder +5T (23-18)
35 Fergus McInnes beat Alan Wilson +1T (23-22)
Final standings:
Campbell Morrison 7/7
Jane Morrison 6/7
Bill Spalding 5/7
John Surgenor 4/7
Martin Stephenson 3/7
Alan Wilson 3/7
Robert Inder 3/7
Fergus McInnes 2/7
Joe Lennon 1/7
Robert Lay 1/7
Peeling prize: Campbell Morrison