West of Scotland Championship 2012
6-7 October 2012, Alexandra Park
At a beautifully sunny though chilly weekend in Glasgow, Alasdair Adam won the West of Scotland Championship - which despite the name is a handicap event - with an unbroken record of five wins, and achieved a welcome reversal in his recent handicap trajectory by going from 20 to 18 at the end of the tournament. John Surgenor showed that it wasn't just the high-bisquers who could get good results by coming a close second with six wins from seven games and getting his handicap down from 2.5 to 2, and James Hopgood (-2) was also unbeaten, though in only three games since he played on Saturday only.
The tournament had been provisionally scheduled for Kelvingrove, but was moved to Alexandra Park because the Kelvingrove greens (under preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth Games) were closed for autumn maintenance. The move prompted two withdrawals, but the event was still as well attended as in any previous year, with 19 players in total and 18 on each day - Malcolm Smith coming in on Sunday to balance the departure of James. There had been some doubt during the week about having four lawns because of a large puddle in the hollow on the lower left one, but it dried up enough to be playable all weekend. Conditions were heavy on Saturday and in Sunday morning's frost, but eased as the sunshine took effect.
Saturday saw 26 games completed, with one game pegged down for the night as the daylight faded. Robert Lay (12) was undefeated at the end of the day, along with Alasdair and James, while John had lost only to Robert (-14otp with 3.5 of Robert's bisques standing); Hamish Duguid (9) and Fergus McInnes (3) had lost only to John, David Houston (16) had lost only to Jamieson Walker (8), and there were several players - Brian Cosford (18), Alistair Malcolm (18) and Elizabeth Medway (11) - who had finished only two games and won one of them.
The resumption of the pegged-down game on Sunday morning brought a narrow win for Hamish over Alistair, by 25 points to 24. The important game between Robert and Alasdair was low-scoring (13-8) but maintained Alasdair's winning run, while John squeezed past David by two points to stay in contention. After lunch Alasdair played Fergus, who put up a threat by hitting in on the fourth turn and going to penult, but then missed the few shots he got in the rest of the game, letting Alasdair win +16 with two bisques to spare. John had two more wins - the second following another triple peel on the opponent - but under the "Egyptian" scoring system he didn't gain many points for them and so couldn't challenge Alasdair's lead.
As usual the Glasgow Club put the effort in to ensure a successful weekend; particular mention should be made of the lawn setting work of Joe Lennon, Richard Sparrow and Bill Spalding, and the excellent cakes baked by Eleanor Spalding and served on Sunday afternoon.
Fergus McInnes
Results
("Egyptian" system)
1. Alasdair Adam 123 points, 5/5 wins: beat Joe Lennon +13, Jamieson Walker +20, Janice Duguid +12, Robert Lay +5T (13-8), Fergus McInnes +16
2. John Surgenor 119, 6/7: beat Hamish Duguid +3, Fergus McInnes +20, Joe Lennon +6, David Houston +2, Martin Stephenson +25, Jola Jurasinska +8tpo
3. James Hopgood 114, 3/3: beat Richard Sparrow +2, Alan Wilson +3, Jamieson Walker +11
4=. Robert Lay 107, 4/6: beat Janice Duguid +20, Martin Stephenson +15, John Surgenor +14otp, Alan Wilson +22
4=. Hamish Duguid 107, 4/6: beat Bill Spalding +26, Martin Stephenson +26, Alistair Malcolm +1T (25-24), Alan Wilson +20
6=. Jamieson Walker 105, 3/5: beat David Houston +11, Jola Jurasinska +4, Brian Cosford +4
6=. David Houston 105, 3/5: beat Richard Sparrow +4T (16-12), Martin Stephenson +26, Alistair Malcolm +13T (21-8)
6=. Malcolm Smith 105, 2/3: beat Elizabeth Medway +7T (21-14), Fergus McInnes +17
9. Joe Lennon 102, 3/6: beat Richard Sparrow +12, Martin Stephenson +20, Hamish Duguid +16
10. Janice Duguid 101, 2/4: beat Jola Jurasinska +1, Elizabeth Medway +20
11. Fergus McInnes 100, 3/6: beat Bill Spalding +12, Elizabeth Medway +10, Brian Cosford +5
12. Alistair Malcolm 94, 2/5: beat Joe Lennon +19, Martin Stephenson +15
13. Jola Jurasinska 93, 2/6: beat Alan Wilson +14, Bill Spalding +26
14=. Bill Spalding 92, 2/6: beat Malcolm Smith +10, Alan Wilson +24
14=. Richard Sparrow 92, 1/4: beat Robert Lay +1T (21-20)
16. Brian Cosford 91, 1/4: beat Bill Spalding +15
17. Elizabeth Medway 90, 1/4: beat Brian Cosford +7T (17-10)
18. Alan Wilson 85, 2/7: beat Alistair Malcolm +3, Martin Stephenson +18
19. Martin Stephenson 75, 1/8: beat Jola Jurasinska +8