West of Scotland Championship 2013
5-6 October 2013, Alexandra Park
John-Paul (JP) Moberly, playing in his first association croquet singles tournament, won this year's West of Scotland Championship with an unbroken series of six wins.
The tournament - the last of the season's SCA handicap weekends - attracted 17 players with handicaps ranging from -2 (James Hopgood) to 22 (Lyn Gilpin). James, playing on the first day only, won three of his four games; Lyn won her first game and thus avoided a handicap increase on losing the games that followed. But it was those with handicaps in the teens who fared best - JP coming down from 16 to 14, Jola Jurasinska likewise, and Alistair Malcolm earning a reduction from 18 to 16, while David Houston (14) was the other player in the top four.
The two upper lawns at Alexandra Park were in good condition though (as always) rather slow and spongy. The lower lawns were more challenging, with holes from recent hollow-tining as well as the slopes to add to the difficulty. All four were in full use on Saturday, but the double-banking on the lower lawns was reduced on Sunday with only 15 players present - Malcolm Smith being the other one-day participant along with James, as his arm was giving him pain after the effort of getting balls across the slow lawns on the first day. The weather was good for the time of year, with a little rain but also some warm sunshine on both days.
David and JP were the leaders after Saturday, with four and three wins respectively - though David's last one was by only one point on time, against Joe Lennon, who failed rover in the turn in which time was called and let David in to score the four hoops he needed to overtake. It was accordingly Houston v Moberly on Sunday morning, and the result was a decisive +25 to JP. Also undefeated overnight was Jola, but that was with only two games completed and one, against Roger Binks, pegged down - which she won when they resumed on Sunday morning, only to lose to David in her next game.
Jola's first win on Saturday had been another +1T, over Alistair Malcolm. Alistair then won his remaining games, and was in a close game against JP when the guillotine fell at 6pm on Sunday. Had he finished and won that game (in which he was six points behind when it was cut off), Alistair would have been the winner of the tournament, unless David had managed to overtake and peg out in his game against Brian Clark. But in fact both games remained uncompleted and hence didn't count, leaving JP the clear winner.
With handicap reductions come handicap increases for the less successful players, and on this occasion they affected Robert Lay (up from 14 to 16 after the first day) and Fergus McInnes (up from 2.5 to 3 at the end of the tournament). Roger safeguarded his handicap of 20, after losses in his first four games, by beating Fergus +22 on Sunday afternoon.
Thanks go to the Glasgow Club for hosting the tournament and setting out the lawns (a task made more difficult by the multitude of hollow-tining holes), and to the drivers - Jamieson Walker, Lyn Gilpin, Roger Binks, and Alistair's wife Susan - who transported players to and from Glasgow. And of course congratulations to JP on his victory, which I expect will be followed by many more!
Fergus McInnes
Results
("Egyptian" system)
1. John-Paul Moberly 6/6, rating 124: beat Alan Wilson +26, Derek Knight +24, Robert Lay +18, David Houston +25, Joe Lennon +21, Jamieson Walker +25
2. David Houston 5/6, 119: beat John Surgenor +26, James Hopgood +26, Fergus McInnes +26, Joe Lennon +1T (23-22), Jola Jurasinska +16
3. Alistair Malcolm 4/5, 115: beat Roger Binks +11T (22-11), Brian Clark +18, Derek Knight +18, John Surgenor +15
4. Jola Jurasinska 4/5, 111: beat Alistair Malcolm +1T (20-19), Brian Clark +5, Roger Binks +9T (22-13), Alan Wilson +26
5. James Hopgood 3/4, 110: beat Charles Henderson +19, Lyn Gilpin +10, Jamieson Walker +16
6. John Surgenor 4/6, 109: beat Alan Wilson +15, Derek Knight +4T (22-18), Fergus McInnes +16, Robert Lay +6
7. Brian Clark 3/5, 105: beat Roger Binks +3T (23-20), Alan Wilson +26, Fergus McInnes +14
8. Derek Knight 3/6, 100: beat Jamieson Walker +9, Joe Lennon +6, Robert Lay +7
9. Jamieson Walker 2/5, 97: beat Malcolm Smith +18, Charles Henderson +7T (25-18)
10. Charles Henderson 2/5, 95: beat Robert Lay +11T (21-10), Lyn Gilpin +10T (23-13)
11. Malcolm Smith 0/2, 90
12=. Fergus McInnes 2/6, 89: beat Malcolm Smith +6, Charles Henderson +12
12=. Joe Lennon 1/5, 89: beat Alan Wilson +18
14=. Alan Wilson 2/7, 88: beat Lyn Gilpin +7, Roger Binks +11
14=. Roger Binks 1/5, 88: beat Fergus McInnes +22
16. Robert Lay 1/5, 87: beat Lyn Gilpin +13T (23-10)
17. Lyn Gilpin 1/5, 84: beat Joe Lennon +3T (17-14)
Some of the players at the end of the tournament: John, Roger, Fergus, Alan, David, Jamieson, Robert, Brian, John-Paul, Jola, Alistair and Lyn.