The first day of semifinals action at the PFC Mallets Golf Croquet WTC concluded yesterday at the Northern Tasmanian Croquet Centre in St. Leonards, Tasmania, with Team USA leading New Zealand 5-2 and Egypt ahead of Australia by the same 5-2 score.
Today’s action should start around 4:00 p.m., U.S. Eastern time, with six matches remaining in each semifinal. Egypt and Team USA will each be looking for two more match wins to advance to the final.
The GCWTC has only been held three times before this year’s event, so both Team USA and Australia are bidding to become the first teams other than Egypt and New Zealand to appear in the final. Egypt won the inaugural event in 2012, while New Zealand claimed the event title in 2016 and 2020.
Yesterday’s action between New Zealand and Team USA started with a 1-1 split in the doubles matches. Edmund Fordyce then claimed a 7-6, 7-5 win over 2024 GC World Champion Blake Fields to push NZL out to a 2-1 lead in the featured livestream match. But Matthew Essick then claimed a 7-3, 5-7, 7-5 win over Felix Webby to even the test at 2-2.
From there, Team USA kicked into gear with Ben Rothman getting a 7-6, 7-6 win over Logan McCorkindale, which was followed by a 6-7, 7-6, 7-3 win for Tom Balding over Levi Franks. Essick pushed the test score to 5-2 by notching a 7-5, 7-4 win over McCorkindale in the last match of the day.
In the other semifinal, Egypt got rolling early in the doubles with Khaled Kamel and Yasser Sayed getting a 7-5, 7-6 win over Robert Fletcher and Greg Fletcher. The featured livestream match provided maximum entertainment value as Mohamed Nasr and Mohamed Taha battled Malcolm Fletcher and Ed Wilson hoop for hoop and claimed a hard-fought 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 win to give Egypt a 2-0 overall advantage.
As the test moved to singles play, Robert Fletcher got AUS on the board in the next round, scoring a 7-2, 7-2 win over Sayed. In the other match, though, Nasr took down Wilson 7-6, 7-5 to keep the two-win advantage at 3-1.
Up next, Greg Fletcher drew the Australians to 3-2 as he took a 7-4, 7-5 win over Taha. But the Egyptians finished strong, Kamel getting a 7-6, 7-4 win over Malcolm Fletcher and Taha taking a 6-7, 7-4, 7-5 win over Wilson to extend Egypt’s lead to 5-2 to close out the day’s action.
SCHEDULED LIVESTREAMS
AUS vs EGY: 4:00 p.m. - U.S. Eastern YouTube Livestream
USA vs NZL: 7:30 p.m. - US Eastern YouTube Livestream
Thursday, February 20, Schedule
AUSTRALIA vs EGYPT
R. Fletcher/G. Fletcher (AUS) vs M. Nasr/K. Kamel (EGY)
M. Fletcher (AUS) vs Y. Sayed (EGY)
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E. Wilson (AUS) vs Y. Sayed
R. Fletcher (AUS) vs M. Nasr (EGY)
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G. Fletcher (AUS) vs K. Kamel (EGY)
M. Fletcher (AUS) vs M. Taha (EGY)
USA vs NEW ZEALAND
B. Fields/B. Rothman (USA) vs F. Webby/L. Franks (NZL)
T. Balding (USA) vs E. Fordyce (NZL)
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M. Essick (USA) vs E. Fordyce (NZL)
B. Fields (USA) vs F. Webby (NZL)
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B. Rothman (USA) vs. L. Franks (NZL)
T. Balding (USA) vs L. McCorkindale (NZL)
For more information about the 2025 PFC Mallets GC World Team Championship, visit the official event website at www.gcworldteamstasmania2025.com.au.