Hoops drama lasts over seven hours

HANDICAP SINGLES: Top-three placegetters in Barry Memorial Croquet Club’s handicap golf croquet singles were (from left) third-placed Chris Newton, winner Ross Thomson and runner-up Rob Hayes. Pictures supplied

CROQUET

Eight of Barry Memorial Croquet Club’s top players battled for over seven hours in the heat to determine the club’s handicap golf croquet singles champion for the year.

The players, whose handicaps ranged from 1 to 8, played a round robin. It was won by Ross Thomson, who won all seven of his games.

In the first round, Thomson beat Christine McCullough 7-6, Charles Ostler beat Rob Hayes 7-4, Chris Newton beat John Wilson 7-5 and, in a good long game between newcomers playing in their first official tournament, Murray Woods beat Peter Richardson 7-5.

The upset of the tournament came in the second round, where Richardson beat second seed Ostler 7-4.

In the third round, Richardson went close to pulling off another upset but lost to top seed Hayes 7-6.

In the fourth round, Woods made McCullough work hard for her win but she finally prevailed, 7-6. Thomson was taking out the top seeds one by one, defeating Hayes 7-6 in a game that lasted 90 minutes.

In the sixth round, Woods — gaining experience with each game — played the game of his life so far to beat Ostler 7-5.

With his seven wins, Thomson was declared the winner. Second was Hayes with five wins, and third was Newton with four wins.

Woods and Richardson should be pleased with their performances in their first singles tournament, and they will have gained a lot of confidence.

Six players with handicaps of nine or more competed in the club’s second-tier handicap singles tournament the following week.

Maurice Allan proved too strong for the opposition, winning all five of his games although in the first round he had to work hard to overcome Richard Jackson 7-6.

Other first-round winners were George Ebbett, 7-4 against his wife Glenis, and Ina Elzen, 7-4 against Geoff Harkess. Glenis Ebbett showed she had learned a lot from her game against her husband by beating Jackson 7-4 in the second round and continuing her winning form by beating Elzen 7-5 in the third.

Harkess finished with a flurry, hitting his straps to beat Glenis Ebbett 7-5 in the fourth round and George Ebbett 7-6 in the fifth and final round.

Although Allan finished clearly ahead with five wins, the others finished a lot closer together. George Ebbett was second with three wins and then Jackson, Glenis Ebbett and Harkess all finished with two wins. Jackson took third place because he had a superior hoop differential.

Both tournaments were sponsored by Jenny Virtue of Bronwyn Kay Real Estate.

Team entries close on Tuesday for the club’s annual Tuesday night mercantile golf croquet competition. Entries need to be emailed to barry4fun.gis@gmail.com by 5pm on Tuesday, February 9. This competition is for non-croquet club members.