Other than MacRob, there's nothing better in the sport of croquet than the opening day of the AC Worlds knockout. For regular citizens, that means the World Championship is now entering into the playoff phase with 32 players. It's not clear yet as to whether or not today's round will be best of five or best of three, but it should be clear soon enough.
As for the actual matchups and bracket, I'm not sure that I'll ever force myself to read the WCF Sports Regs to fully understand the selection, but it always produces some interesting scenarios ...
ON THE DOWNSIDE
--Mark Avery and James Death end up in the same quadrant with a potential second round match up as the only two 9-0 players in the event? Well, I can't blame CBS on this one.
--Also, no chance for a Death/Bamford final. Boo.
--US Players Stephen Morgan and Ben Rothman battle in the same block and now have the potential to meet in the second round.
--Also, from the US, Simon Jenkins and David Maloof could meet in the second round.
--Wales sees the same treatment, with a potential second round battle between Ian Burridge and Chris Williams.
--Of course, potential second round matchups aren't as challenging as England landing two first round head to heads with Christian Carter against Stephen Mulliner and David Openshaw facing off against James Hopgood.
ON THE UPSIDE
--With Rothman and Reg Bamford on opposite sides of the bracket, it is possible to get a repeat of the 2009 final.
--The bottom half (or right half) is loaded with five US players. That should increase the odds of seeing a US player in the final four on Saturday.
--Conversely, England has seven players loaded into the top half (left half). Of course, that will automatically reduce to five in round two.
--England did get 11 into the knockout and the US followed with seven.
OTHER NOTES
-- Simon Jenkins (#150) and Sam Murray (#116) go into the playoff as the Cinderella options in the event.
-- I think the James Death (#9) vs Danny Huneycutt (#52) matchup is one of the more intriguing contests of the first round, with Huneycutt knowing the venue and Death still undefeated in the event. Death is 4-1 career against Huneycutt.
--Eugene Chang has a photo gallery available for the event: https://goo.gl/photos/DJXrKcNW9t9tJZev9
--Commentaries will likely be available here: croquetscores.com/2016/ac/wcf-world-championship/commentaries
--CroquetScores.com has the official bracket where live scores will be updated: croquetscores.com/2016/ac/wcf-world-championship/main-ko
--Here is another look, with world ranking included:
