2017 May Handicap Tournament

Handicap Tournament 20-21 May

Keith Harker with (l-r) Jonathan Lambton, Jane Evans, David Gillett, Geoff Strutt, Nick Evans, Sophie McGlen, Tony Elliott, Eric Audsley, Richard Keighley.

Wrest Park’s May handicap tournament was won convincingly by Keith Harker from Meldreth, who won all his games. Although he has been a player for some time, this was in fact his first tournament. He began by beating John Bevington +10 with several bisques standing and never looked back.

Manager Eric Audsley found himself with an odd number of entries on Saturday morning, but this allowed Jane Evans to play on Sunday and even up the numbers. Play on Saturday was interrupted by some heavy showers which led to several players only managing two games, but it brightened up on Sunday and the event concluded in bright sunshine. Handicaps ranged from 0 to 20 and there were no time limits. All games were supposed to be full bisque base 6, but this rule sometimes appeared to be have been forgotten by those involved.

Of the others, Jonathan Lambton only conceded three points in his first two games, won the third narrowly and then faded, losing his last game to Sophie McGlen who had three wins out of four. There was a prize for the best performance by a low handicapper: this went to John Bevington who followed his loss to Keith with three wins before failing to take croquet in his last game against Tony Elliott.

The lawns were in good condition, although players were sometimes fooled into thinking they were faster than was actually the case. Our thanks to Tim Brewer who did the catering single-handed. An enjoyable weekend.

Keith Harker (10) 5/5

Sophie McGlen (12) 3/4

John Bevington (1) 3/5

Jonathan Lambton (9) 3/5

Geoff Strutt (9) 3/5

Geoff Johnson (3½) 2/4

Tony Elliott (6) 2/4

Nick Evans (1) 2/5

David Gillett (6) 2/5

John Hall (8) 2/5

Bryan Harral (0) 1/4

Richard Keighley (18) 1/4