2016 Midwest Regional Champion Matt Griffith
PARKVILLE, MO -- The ending to the first-ever USCA Regionals to be held in Kansas City lived up to expectations. Cheryl Bromley and Matt Griffith faced off in a final that went the distance earlier today as Griffith took a 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 win at his Kactus Creek Croquet Club in Parkville, Missouri. The match featured great play by both players with lots of long clears and good hoop battles throughout.
Coming in as the #11 US-ranked GC player, Bromley probably had the most consistent event of all the championship players as she went 4-1 in block play to take the top seed in the semifinal. There she beat #23 Gil Flowers 7-6, 7-6 to advance to the finals. She finished with a 7-3 record overall.
First Flight Singles winner Joe Steiner (R). Click to Zoom.On the other hand, #8 US-ranked GC player Griffith started slow with two losses on Friday in the block before warming up on Saturday to win three games and claim the #3 seed in the knockout with a 3-2 record. He cruised past me in the semifinal 7-1, 7-2 to move to the title match. He also finished the event 7-3 overall.
All of the championship flight games were played at the single-court Kactus Creek Croquet Club. All of the players felt the hoops were challenging, with Michael Albert saying that he thought they were more difficult than the super hoops. I've never played the super hoops, but in general, I've always felt the hoops at Kactus Creek were the toughest I've run across.
All of the the First Flight and Second Flight action took place at The National Golf Club of Kansas City on two courts set up on a driving range tee box. The speed was definitely slow, but the big challenge for both flights was the oppressive heat as a good bank of trees blocked any potential breeze.
As we are still waiting for scores to post, unofficially, Joe Steiner beat Ron Millican for the First Flight singles title and Josh Reed beat Bryce Millican for the Second Flight singles title.
Josh Reed (R). Click to Zoom.With the midwest region stretching from Texas to Michigan, trying a USCA regional in Kansas City certainly has some appeal as a central location. In addition, Kactus Creek and the National are near KCI airport as another bonus for players traveling in. And, we did see players from Wisconsin, Oklahoma and North Carolina.
Add to that the shift to golf croquet and the 2016 Midwest Regional looks like an aggressive step forward for the normally tentative USCA. Golf croquet certainly allows for new players to be tournament ready on more rapid timeline than bonus shot croquet variants, so quicker growth could come for the regional in this format and location. And for a first-year attempt, it looks promising as 20 players did participate. That's certainly not record-breaking, but it's a solid first-year event for an area that has few serious GC players. If the National Golf Club of KC does proceed with further development of croquet and lawns, it could be the start of nice growth period for croquet in the Midwest.
Written by Dylan Goodwin as a Championship Flight participant.