Jan 04-09 / Pat Apple Bisque Tournament (Association) / Rancho Mirage, CA
Ben Rothman - croquetpro@gmail.com
Jan 18–23 / Palm Beach CC Invitational / West Palm Beach, FL
Archie Peck - (561-835-1726 or 561-818-6039) archiepeck@aol.com
January 19-23 / Desert Classic / Rancho Mirage, CA
Jim Butts - (760-328-9482) jbutts@dc.rr.com.
Jan 27-31 / The Beach Club Invitational 2010 / Palm Beach & West Palm Beach, FL
Dwight Mayer - (561-845-8820) marshamontoya@msn.com
Jan 28–31 / Croquet at Koele / The Four Season Resort Lanai, The Lodge at Koele
Leo Nikora - (808-879-0087) leo@maui.net / www.mauicroquetclub.org/koele/
Feb 04–06 / Grand Haven Club Championship / Palm Coast, FL
Richard Burns - (386-446-9478) rburns3007@aol.com
Feb 04–07 / SCCC Winter Singles Invitational / Venice, FL
Jackie Jones - (941-484-3206 or 941-416-1009) crokpeople@aol.com
Feb 08–13 / Peyton Ballenger Invitational / Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Joan Murphy - (561-627-7426) jasmurf0101@yahoo.com
Feb 17–21 / Int'l Polo Club Palm Beach 3rd Annual Open Tournament / Wellington, FL
Don Jacobson (561-254-0999) donjay16@aol.com
Feb 18–21 / SCCC Club Singles/Doubles Championship / Venice, FL
Jackie Jones - (941-484-3206 or 941-416-1009) crokpeople@aol.com
Will be played on February 26-28 and March 19-21, 2010
Feb 18–21 / Green Gables Winter Tournament / Palm Beach, FL
Carol Neves (732-546-0170) carol4croquet@gmail.com
Feb 24–28 / Ocean Reef Anglers Club (ORAC) Invitational / ORAC, Key Largo, FL
Mike Todorovich - (305-684-9500) miketodo@aol.com or michael@arm-ins.com
Feb 25–28 / Audubon Croquet Invitational / Naples, FL
John Richardson - (239-653-9705 or 416-648-6249) john_richardson@munulife.com
The Arizona Croquet Club website has a great article with photos on the recent U.S. Open competition. Definitely worth checking out.
The Croquet World website has a nice write-up on the introduction of a new flag for the European Croquet Federation.
According to the USCA Calendar, the Nine-Wicket National tournament will once again be held in Shawnee, Kansas (Kansas City metro area) and the dates have been moved up one week. It's still listed as tentative, but that's a giant "woohoo" for me personally as I won't have to give up my KU football tickets for the weekend.
Another Solomon Trophy Follow-up article was posted on the MyDesert.com website. The website is the online presence for the The Desert Sun newspaper of Palm Springs, California. The posting also includes a couple of photos.
Ben Rothman took the 2009 U.S. Open by defeating Doug Grimsley 26-14otp, 1-26tp, 26-0tp. More details are to be posted in the CroquetWorld forum. Photos are available from Arthur Bagby.
The Croquet Australia website has posted their line-up for the MacRobertson Shield competion:
Kevin Beard
Martin Clarke
Ian Dumergue
Robert Fletcher
Stephen Forster
Peter Landrebe (Captain)
Reserves:
Trevor Bassett
Greg Fletcher
The USCA Nine-Wicket site just posted a rundown by Eric Sawyer on the 2009 Seward Family Fall Classic. The cutthroat event in Sacramento, California was held October 10 and had 73 players. That rivals their summer event which boasts 100 players. That again presents the case that nine-wicket play in the U.S. is under-estimated in this 2005 WCF Report as it is only based on members associated with the USCA. It reports 115 nine-wicket U.S. players. The "off the USCA map" cutthroat club that I play with has had participation that probably averages around 40 players each season this decade and a high of 80 players. That does not include MCA play that goes on right here in the same KC metro area.
Tournament Director Matt Griffith's report on the 2009 Nine-Wicket National Championship has also been posted on the nine-wicket site.
Here is the November list for hottest croquet keywords that hit CroquetNetwork.com in November:
01. Justin Berbig
02. U.S National Championship
03. West Indies Croquet
04. Shane Botwin
05. Stephen Mulliner
06. Ben Rothman
07. Croquet Network
08. Egyptian Croquet Federation
09. Sue Leitinger
10. Stephanie Paduano
11. Rich Schiller
12. Ben Morehead
13. Karen Comeau
14. Jenny Clarke
15. Chris Clarke
U.S. SCORES HISTORIC SOLOMON TROPHY WIN -- I suppose it doesn't quite compare with the Miracle on Ice from the 1980 Winter Olympics, but the 11-9 U.S. win over Great Britain for the Solomon Trophy certainly represents a huge step forward for U.S. croquet. Great Britain came into the year's event with a perfect 17-0 record versus the Americans. However, based on world rankings, it appeared to be a close match on paper and it certainly was. If I am deciphering the Nottingham board reports properly, the home field advantage gave the Americans the final edge. Congratulations to the U.S. team for a great win.
Full results from croquetrecords.com
U.S. TAKES PRESIDENT'S CUP 2-1 -- In a prelude to Solomon Trophy play, the U.S. players took on members of the British team for the President's Cup. Last played in 2002, the competition is American rules croquet and featured the following matches:
US -- Danny Huneycutt beat Ian Burridge
US -- Ben Rothman and Ron Hendry beat Jeff Dawson and Tony Le Moignan
GB -- Samir Patel and Robin Brown beat Jeff Soo and Jim Butts
MOHAMMAD KAMAL WINS US GOLF CROQUET CHAMPIONSHIP -- After three days of competition at the National Croquet Center in Florida, Mohammad Kamal took the U.S. Golf Croquet title in a best of five finals against Sherif Abdelwalhab 7-2, 7-1, 7-4. The event featured the top level American GC players but only had a field of seven players. I certainly would think this event would fit much better sometime during the lighter summer schedule. I suppose heat is the consideration there, but it seems like a lot of events are jammed into the busy fall schedule competing against holidays, football and other croquet events. Early June or late August seems like it would be worth the risk.
Final GC Placings:
1. Mohammad Kamal
2. Sherif Abdelwahab
3. Len Canavan
3. David McCoy
5. Mike Gibbons
6. Cheryl Bromley
7. William Bromley
Semi-Final Results:
Mohammad Kamal defeated David McCoy 7-6, 7-5
Sherif Abdelwahab defeated Len Canavan 7-3, 7-4
Here is the historic report that Samir Patel posted to the Nottingham e-mail list:
US win 11-9
Jeff completed his delayed TP to take the winning point in the pouring rain.
Unclear whether Tony and Doug will bother with the dead game.