VICTORIAN MEN’S AND WOMEN’S GOLF OPEN SINGLES TOURNAMENT
This event was held at Cairnlea over the weekend of the 2nd & 3rd of August.
11 Women and 24 men competed in the 2 events in very pleasant weather- brisk mornings with clear sunny days and no wind.
The courts looked wonderful thanks as always to the volunteers who assist in their maintenance. It should be noted 3 of the competitors Richard Hingst, Felix Gelman White and Owen Dickinson assisted for most of Friday organizing lawn set up and hoop setting along with assistance from Kevin Beard, Lester Hughes and Bruce Macgregor. This effort and care by croquet players is what makes our croquet community special. Groundsmen all around Victoria should be recognized for the amount of work they put in for others!!
The women competed in a Round Robin event. The winner was Elaine Coverdale from Essendon remaining undefeated in all 10 rounds. Runner up was Janine Sisson from Mornington in a closely fought battle with Helen Gammon (Ivanhoe Park) and Mary Cockett (Drysdale) both on 8 wins, 2 losses, 11 hoops in total separated 2nd to 4th place. This year we had 5 players who have never previously competed in this event which was wonderful- all equipped themselves admirably and all performed beyond their expectations, so we hope to have them return next year along with some other new faces.
The Men’s tournament was held in 4 blocks with the top 2 from each block going through to the final. Again, we had a number of players in the Men’s event who were playing this tournament for the 1st time and all equipped themselves admirably.
Des Davis (Wodonga), Glenn Crook (Lilydale) and Graham Smith (Kyneton) all reached the final 8 play off in this event for their 1st time.
The final result for the Men’s final was Felix Gelman White (Williamstown) defeating Andy Barbero (Wangaratta) runner up and Richard Hingst (Williamstown) in 3rd place defeating Glenn Crook (Lilydale) in 4th place.
The final games were entertaining to watch with great skill, tactics and ball placement on show throughout. A number of family and friends visited throughout the 2 days to spectate the event and commented on the expertise shown by players.
Felix who was the eventual winner for the Men’s final is a well-known young player within the Australian croquet community and will be representing Victoria in the Australian Gold Medal which will take place on 3rd to 5th Sept in Hunter Valley NSW.
We wish the Vic team and Felix in particular all the best for the upcoming Interstate Golf croquet events in September.
