Handicap Tournament 24-25 September

L-R Tony Elliott, John Bee, Geoff Johnson, Peter Aspinall, Bryan Harral, Jonathan Lambton, Geoff Strutt, George Collin (seated), Julie Horsley,
Andre Machell

Report by manager Geoff Strutt

Jonathan Lambton of Watford won the Wrest Park September Handicap with an Egyptian rating of 61, having won all but one of his matches [4 out of 5].  He was closely followed by Tony Elliott with a rating of 60 [also 4 out of 5].  Geoff Strutt came third in this event; but in the knockout succeeded by beating Tony Elliott +1 in the final.  The knockout draw was embedded within the Egyptian - with all games counting in the main event.

The handicaps ranged from -½ to 14.  32 matches were played with no time limits and the manager only resorted to Wharrad turns for two of them.  However, even these two completed within 5 turns of the imposition.

On the first day, Geoff Strutt managed to produce an air shot when attempting the peg out at a distance of about 2 inches.  Is this a record?

On day two, David Marsh [-½] came back from the dead against Bryan Harral [0] to lose by just 1 point.  Our visitors said that the lawns are now ‘excellent’.

John Bevington adds: George Woolhouse was unable to play on Sunday and David Marsh kindly stood in. I can vouch for the dramatic final stages of his game against Bryan Harral (which included an 8 hoop two-ball break by David) as I was sharing the lawn and became so engrossed I played a wrong ball, thus wasting one of very few opportunities against Tony Elliott.

© Wrest Park Croquet Club  

Jonathan Lambton with déjeuner sur l’herbe

Geoff Johnson, Jonathan Lambton
and Julie Horsley

George Collin making hay
while the sun shines.

Wins

Rating

Jonathan Lambton (10)

4/5

61

Tony Elliott (7)

4/5

60

Geoff Strutt (9)

4/5

58

Peter Aspinall (11)

4/6

54

Geoff Johnson (3½)

3/5

54

Bryan Harral (0)

3/6

50

Andre Machell (10)

2/5

49

John Bevington (1)

2/5

46

George Woolhouse (3) & David Marsh (-½)

2/5

46

George Collin (½)

1/5

44

John Bee (5)

1/5

40

Julie Horsley (14)

1/5

38

Knock-out - First round

Peter Aspinall best George Woolhouse +2

Geoff Johnson beat George Collin +13

Geoff Strutt beat John Bee +18

Second round

Tony Elliott beat Julie Horsley +5

Peter Aspinall beat Jonathan Lambton +11

Geoff Strutt beat Geoff Johnson +20

John Bevington beat Andre Machell +14

Semi final

Tony Elliott beat Peter Aspinall +7

Geoff Strutt beat John Bevington +22

Final

Geoff Strutt beat Tony Elliott +1

Club

Croquet

Wrest Park