Scottish Croquet Association

Scottish Masters 2026

23-24 May, Meadows

Chris won the Scottish Masters beating Alastair in a tie-break after both had finished with 5 wins out of 6.

With a heatwave developing, the azaleas in bloom, and Edinburgh inundated with runners for the marathon, the Meadows hosted the Scottish Masters. There were 10 entrants, with handicaps ranging from -1½ to 10, including two from firth of Scotland - Dennis Bulloch of New Zealand and Robbie Dodds from England. Despite the challenging conditions of tight hoops and slow lawns, most games were completed within the 2hr 50min time limits.

On Day 1, most games went as expected, with Alastair the only competitor to finish the day unbeaten on 3/3. However, with 6 other competitors on 2 wins out of 3 going into Sunday it would be wide open should anyone be able to topple Alastair. That anyone was Robbie Dodds who played a near faultless game in the second round on Sunday to beat him 26-9. This meant that as the final round of games started, Alastair, Chris and Dennis were all on 4 out of 5 wins. With Alastair beating Dennis and Chris beating John in the final round, the title was to be decided by a tie-break.

The prescribed tie-break was a corner IV to hoop 4, one-ball, biggest break wins tie-break. Chris won the toss and decided to go first. He ran three hoops, failing at 1 back. The crowd were generally quiet throughout, worried that whooping, hollering or jeering, would give one or other competitor an advantage. Alastair was called back from seclusion in the changing room but failed at the first hoop. This gave Chris the title despite having been well beaten by Alastair on the Saturday.

Chris Martin

Results

Full results on Croquet Scores.