Federation Level Play Millenium Golf Croquet – Bury – 7th September 2021

Six competitors fought rush hour traffic & gathered in the sheltered hot spot (29^oC shade temp) of Coronation Park, Bury in the late ‘Indian Summer’, beautifully prepared courts were presented for what proved to be only five rounds of all-play-all 19point games, managed by visiting non-player David Cornes.

After all five rounds; All six achieved at least one win and the three top seeds all suffered a single loss, at the hands of each other, fun to sort for David; who beat who couldn’t separate them so Net Hoops were used to resolve the dilemma, in favour of… the 15 year old Jack Good.

Further Information from David Cornes:

JACK GOOD WINS GC LEVEL PLAY MILLENNIUM

Quality rather than quantity took part in the NW Fed Millennium level play GC tournament at Bury’s Coronation Park recently. The 6 players (from Bowdon, Bury, Pendle and Westmorland) had a COMBINED handicap of MINUS 3 so a close contest was predicted and so it proved to be.

The pleasing fact is that all 6 players won at least one match and there were 3 of them who won 4 out of the five 19-point games in the heat of the day. In the end it came down to hoop difference with Jack Good winning from Angharrad Walters (2nd) and Paul Rigge (3rd).

Paul Rigge (NW Fed Chair) presented young Jack with the trophy. Paul thanked Jean Hargreaves for her hospitality and catering skills, David Cornes for managing and refereeing the tournament and the Bury members responsible for such good playing conditions / surface – “the best this place has been for many years”.

Northwest Federation Millennium Advanced tournament – Coronation Park, Bury – 4/5 September 2021.

There were six players representing their clubs with handicaps ranging from 3 down to -2 playing  in an ‘all-play-all’ format.

Mark Lloyd was the only player to win all 3 of his games on the first day which included wins against Brian Storey and Paul Rigg +10 and +2 respectively.

Sunday however was a different day with Mark losing his first game to Liz Wilson by 12 whilst  Brian had won against David Barrett with the only T/P of the tournament and Paul winning his game. This meant that at lunch with one game each left to play Mark, Paul and Brian were all on three wins with Paul and Brian to play each other, Mark to face the legend that is Peter Wilson leaving Liz and David left to face each other.

Mark and Peter had a tortuous game with neither playing well. Meanwhile Brian seized his chance and beat Paul +17. But the damage for him had been done the previous day and Mark eventually pulled himself together and beat Peter +5 thus taking the title of overall winner. Liz had her second win of the day beating David thereby claiming the B class crown.

A special thanks must be given to the Bury club for hosting the competition, for the usual fantastic catering and an extra special thanks to Jean Hargreaves who managed the tournament superbly.

Results: