21st Lancashire Open Golf Croquet – 18/19th July at Pendle & Craven Croquet Club.
Quiz time – What do you call a mix of four International croquet players, four County Players, three members of the Junior development squad, their youth development director and four other Tournament Hackers?…why the 2020 Golf Croquet Lancashire Open, of course!
In a year when *all* tournament play has been either postponed or closed down, Pendle Croquet Club were delighted to host the Croquet Association leg of the Ascot Cup Qualifier.
With only three qualifiers being held this year (out of a schedule of eight), the entry field was the strongest yet with the Current English Captain, two Current English Team members and a Scottish international heading up the seedlings, throw in a fourteen year old, a 21 and a 22 year old from the youth development program and it was always going to be an interesting weekend, as well as a wonderful advert for this game – young & old, males & females, all mixing it up together in open contest.
Format for the Sixteen players: Two All-play-All Blocks of 8. Top four Qualified for Bo3 KO Quarter Final in main event. Losing QF into Bowl KO to contest 5-8 places.
None qualifiers played cross-block all-play-all Plate with KO option to resolve any ties.
The Final couldn’t have been any closer between the English Captain and one of his team mates. One game all, 6-6 in third, so ‘golden hoop’ for the title – J-P Moberly held his nerve over Richard Bilton to lift the ‘David Hopkins’ bon bon dish.
Bowl – Paul Rigge from Callum Johnson and the Plate event lifted by Scotland’s Lorna Dewar.
Thanks are due to Pendle Croquet Club members: Gill for handing over a bug free environment, Paul D for mowing, Paul R for court creation, Abdul A for managing and to Richard Bilton for ‘CroquetScore’ postings and every attending player for a creating a great atmosphere whilst ‘socially distancing’ during these ‘difficult’ times…. Stay Safe.”
More Photos: https://fdsconsultants.box.com/s/qjkc5ew00fzd0s4qi3bc7v8hh52toz7u
