Paul Durkin (Long Eaton) Wins National B Level Golf Croquet Final
Would it happen or would the recent wet weather rule it out? The almost incessant wet weather in the north west during the last few weeks caused havoc with cancellations in various Croquet events throughout September. The normally splendid lawns in sunny Southport became a haven for ducks as Don Williamson and his fantastic team of helpers battled to remove gallons of water, the hire of Surface Water Removal machines proved back breaking, but they succeeded and enabled the national B Level Golf Croquet final to go ahead.
Not to be defeated, the Weather Gods took their revenge by providing further downpours on the first day causing three lawns to become unplayable. Not to be defeated, the Southport club brought into play their emergency lawns in a neighbouring compound. Yes, it was squelchy, but enabled a good standard of play as sixteen players battled it out over the weekend of 7th/8th October, many brave souls wearing Shorts – well October in Southport can be quite warm!
After thirteen rounds of Golf Croquet, the leader board showed three players leading the pack with nine wins each and followed by another three players with eight wins. So with two rounds to go, it was still all to play for, with the manager Don Williamson calculating the possible permutations. However, as the results came in, the situation clarified and as players went into the final round, Paul Durkin (Long Eaton) had 11 wins and David Boyd (Chester) 10 wins. Then Paul loses to Stephen Leonard (Kingston Maurward) and David beats Brian McCausland (Nailsee). There was a nail biting wait as scoresheets were perused and hoops aggregated until the result was finally announced as David Boyd Runner Up and Paul Durkin the national 2017 B Level Golf Croquet champion.
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