Events Calendar > January 2010 > Saturday 16 > The NZ Open Championship
Association Croquet ResultsDay 1 doubles Draw
ResultsDay 1 - 16th Jan 2010New Zealand Open Championship DoublesRound 1Block 1Lines (UK) & Wright (Wellington) 26 TP L bt Reid & Bullen (Wellington) 1 Block 2Jenny & Chris Clarke (Christchurch)26 TPO C bt McClure (Nelson) & McIntosh (Auckland) 17 Block 3Liz & Bruce Fleming (AU) 26 bt Mayard-husson & Tahurangi (Wellington) 15 Block 4Westerby (Hamilton) Garrison (Wellington) 26 TP G bt Alison & John Wall 0 Round 2Block 1Line & Wright 26 TP L bt Bulloch & Lammin 0 Block 2Crashley & Stuart 21 bt Jenny & Chris Clarke 20 OTP C Block 3Chapman & Bryant 26 TP B bt Marion & John McInnes 0 Block 4Westerby & Garrison 26 TP W bt Wickham & Leifting 0 Round 3Block 1Roberts & Nuske 26 bt Lines & Wright 11 Block 2Lowe & Jackson 26 TP L bt McClure & McIntosh 1 Block 3Liz & Bruce Fleming 26 TP B bt Chapman & Bryant 5 Block 4Westerby & Garrison 26 TP W bt Keeman & Coutts 0 Day 2 - 17th Jan 2010New Zealand Open Championship DoublesRound 4Block 1Skinley & Drew 26 TP D bt Roberts & Nuske 0 Block 2Jenny & Chris Clarke 26 TP C bt Ritchie & Filbee 3 Block 3Robert & Greg Fletcher 26 TP G bt Liz & Bruce Fleming 0 Block 4Westerby & Garrison 26 TP G bt Sue & Len Lea 0 Round 5Block 1Roberts & Nuske 26 TP N bt Bulloch & Lammin Block 2Stephens & Dixon 26 TP D bt Crashley & Stuart 1 Block 3Robert & Greg 26 OTP C bt Chapman & Bryant 13 Block 4Mulliner & Murphy 26 SXP S M bt Westerby & Garrison 5 The following are into the Knock Out Jenny & Chris Clarke V Roberts & Nuske Westerby & Garrison 26 TP G bt Robert & Greg Fletcher 0 Managers ConsolationStephens & Dixon 26 TP S bt Mayard–Husson & Tahurangi Day 3 - 18th Jan 2010New Zealand Open Championship DoublesSemi FinalsWesterby &Garrison 26 TP W bt Skinley & Drew 3 FinalAaron Westerby & Toby Garrison bt Jenny Clarke & Chris Clarke 26/16, 26/9 Managers ConsolationStephens & Dixon 26 TP S bt Mayard–Husson & Tahurangi Winners Stephens & Dixon Qualifying Singles19th & 20th January 2010 Round 1Block AMike McClure (Nelson) 26 bt Phillip Drew (Wellington) 20 Block BToby Garrison (Wellingotn) 26 bt James Abernethy (Marton) 10 Block CLiz Fleming (Aust) 26 bt Graeme McIntyre (Marton) 2 Block DPaddy Chapman (Aust) 26 bt Pauline Reid (Wellington) 0 Block EAaron Westerby (Hamilton) 26 TP bt John McInnes (Wellington) 1 Block FRobert Fletcher (Aust) 26 bt Len Lea (Wellington) 24 Block GBruce Fleming (Aust) 26 bt John Christie (Morrinsville ) 5 Block HPaul Skinley (Wellington) 26 TP bt Brian Bullen (Wellington) 0 Round 2Block AStephen Mulliner 26 STP bt John Lammin 5 Block BChris Clarke 26 TP bt James Abernethy 2 Block CIan Lines 26 TP bt Hamish McIntosh 1 Block DPaddy Chapman 26 TP bt Shaun Nuske 2 Block EAaron Westerby 26 TP bt Ambrose Liefting 0 Block FRobert Fletcher 26 TP bt Mike Crashley 9 Block GJarrod Coutts 26 TP bt John Christie 1 Block HPaul Skinley 26 TP bt Paul Stuart 0 Round 3Block AStephen Mulliner 26 TP bt Phillip Drew 0 Block BChris Clarke 26 TP bt Greg Fletcher 9 Block CIan Lines 26 TP bt Liz Fleming 10 Block DPaddy Chapman 26 TP bt Sue Lea 9 Block EAaron Westerby 26 bt Duncan Dixon 8 Block FRobert Fletcher 26 TP bt Jared Keeman 2 Block GBruce Fleming 26 bt Jarrod Coutts 8 Block HPaul Skinley 26 TP bt Anthony Ritchie 9 Round 4Block AStephen Mulliner 26 bt Alison Wall 12 Block BJean McIntyre 26 bt James Abernethy 2 Block CIan Lines 26 bt Jane Mcintyre 0 Block DPaddy Chapman 26 TP Steve Harden 3 Block EAaron Westerby 26 TP bt Harps Tahurangi 0 Block FRobert Fletcher 26 TP bt Peter Filbee 10 Block GBruce Fleming 26 TP bt Dennis Bulloch 0 Block HRobert Lowe 26 bt Anthony Ritchie 1 Round 5Block AStephen Mulliner 26 TP bt Pam Fisher 0 Block BChris Clarke 26TP bt Len Hotter 1 Block CIan Lines 26 bt David Wickham 5 Block DShaun Nuske 26 bt Sue Lea 23 Block EAaron Westerby 26 bt Greg Bryant 12 Block FRobert Fletcher 26 bt Tony Stephens 11 Block GDennis Bulloch 26 bt John Christie 7 Block HPaul Skinley 26 TP bt Robert Lowe 22 Round 6Block AStephen Mulliner 26 TP Mike McClure 0 Block BChris Clarke 26 TP bt Jean McIntyre 0 Block CJenny Clarke 26 TP bt David Wickham 0 Round 7Block AStephen Mulliner 26 bt Graeme Roberts 5 Block BChris Clarke 26 TP bt Toby Garrison 10 Block CJane Mcintyre 26 bt Liz Fleming 10 Open Knock-out Draw
Knockout 21 January 2010Round 1Chris Clarke (Canterbury)26 TP/0 26TP/0 bt Harps Tahurangi(Wellington) Round 2Chris Clarke 26/10 26/23 bt Dennis Bulloch Knockout 22 January 2010Completion of round 2Ian Lines 26/0 26TP/9 bt Jared Keeman Quarter-finalRobert Fletcher 26TP/0 26 TPO/14 bt Ian Lines Semi finalStephen Mulliner 26 TPO/16, 26 OTP/21, 26 TP/0 bt Robert Fletcher FinalPaddy Chapman 26TP/0, 0/26SXP, 26TP/2, 26TP/0 bt Stephen Mulliner Heenan Plate20 January 2010Liz Fleming 26 bt Pauline Reid 21 21 January 2010Peter Filbee (S Taranaki) 26 bt John Lammin (Nelson) 4 22 January 2010Peter Filbee (S Tasranaki) 26 TP bt Ambrose Liefting (Northland) 1 Heenan Plate KnockoutAnthony Ritchie 26 bt Jenny Clarke 9 Heenan Plate Quarter FinalsBob Jackson 26 bt Anthony Ritchie 5 Heenan Plate Semi FinalsPhillip Drew 26 bt Dennis Bulloch 16 Heenan Plate FinalBob Jackson 26 bt Dennis Bulloch 23 Winner: Bob Jackson Commentary - 21 January 2010 by Jenny ClarkeToday we started the knockout, with several highly-ranked players taking 2nd, 3rd or 4th placings in their blocks to ensure some exciting match-ups in the first round. The weather driving in from Marton looked threatening, with roadside puddles, and spitting rain. Thus, we started with slow lawns, with a significant scattering of white clover flowers. Paul and Graeme and their team had produced some solid hoops, but nothing overly scary. I'll give a general summary of the matches, working down from the top. Chris Clarke beat Harps Tahurangi +26TP, +26TP. Young Australian Shaun Nuske had some chances against Dennis Bulloch, but Dennis prevailed in straight games. Michael Wright v Toby Garrison was an interesting matchup with Mac selection imminent. There were a few errors in the match, however Michael prevailed in two straight games, winning the first +26TP and the second +4. Aaron Westerby made quick work of his match with local Jean McIntyre winning +26TP +26TP Bob Jackson has really struggled in this tournament - significantly so with the slow lawns. In the first Greg Bryant pegged Bob out with the both other clips on the tops of hoops, and prevailed after some cautious Bob play. The second saw Bob get to 4back but without the balls in the lawn, and Greg prevailed to win 2-0. One of the weaker matchups saw Australian Tim Murphy play Mike McClure of Nelson. Mike was ranked 6th in his block, but started with a big win over Phillip Drew and went on to qualify third in the block. There was a bit of interplay, but a win to Tim in straight games. NZ junior Jarrod Coutts drew NZ number 1 Paddy Chapman. Paddy got the first ball around, Coutts hit the lift (we think), then proceeded to get to 4back and peg. Unfortunately for the young gun Paddy hit his last lift and finished well. The second game saw some chances for Jarrod, though his main event participation ended at hoop 5. In the second half of the draw another big match-up saw Ian Lines (#3 seed, England) playing Wellington's Phillip Drew. In the first game Ian took the first break to 4back, then broke down at 6 and penult on a TP. Drew did a double peel on Ian and pegged him out. Shortly after Phillip endured on of the least lucky shots he has ever seen: he had laid up in corner 1 (wired from Ian's ball by the peg) and a couple of yards from there, while still on hoop 1. Ian was near hoop 3, only able to see the inlawn ball. Probably assuming the corner wasn't sufficiently guarded, Ian shot at the open ball. Ian's reaction immediately showed that it was an awful shot - however he somehow swung around the peg to hit the ball in corner 1 - 2 yards from his target! Ian finished from there. 'm a bit hazy on game 2 as I was miles from the court and otherwise engaged, however it went something like: Phillip to 4back, Ian hit lift, Phillip missed, Ian finished. (someone's bound to correct any inaccuracies there :-) ) Ian then spent some time waiting for his second round opponent: the winner of Hamish McIntosh v Jared Keeman. Hamish was recently playing off a handicap of 24, however it was not surprising given his performance this week to see him race around to 4back and then to the peg (and eventually to penult and peg). Jared had to dig deep to recover in the match and hit a 9 yarder when Hamish's vertical spread ended up a bit rough. Jared got himself around to 4back and peg and opted for a vertical spread with Hamish's penult ball behind penult and the peg ball by rover. Hamish shot from where the balls lay at the boundary balls from rover, but surprisingly missed (he hit 100% of shots, many very long, against David Wickham yesterday!). Jared finished. Game 2 Hamish again made the early running, and in not too much time it was penult and penult (Hamish) against 3 and 4back, with Keeman looking a little worried. Hamish eventually got one ball to the peg, but Keeman hit in to take the innings back and commenced a break with his backward ball. Just as he was approaching hoop 5 the heavens opened... It absolutely hammered and, and the lawns all flooded. Lawn 3 the worst (rats). Everyone ran for cover (many getting stranded in distant shelters - which did a good job of protecting them). I had just finished game 2 and stopped for lunch (phew), Chris Clarke was facing a couple of big shots for a delayed TPO so was unimpressed. Keeman had a hoop approach to 5 from a little south and about 18 inches to the east which was concerning him. It rained for about 30 minutes, and took at least an hour to drain (apart from lawn 3, which remained soggy), and the brave Heenan Plate competitors led the way back onto the courts. Keeman completed his break and this time pegged out Hamish's peg ball. The ending lasted for ages, with Jared being very cautious, and Hamish responding well by threatening him lurking around the boundaries. Eventually Keeman got through 4back, survived the lift, and laid up in corner 4 on rover a few turns later. Hamish had meanwhile taken a position in the middle of the north boundary. Taking advantage of his excellent shooting, Hamish shot at penult, and looked a little disappointed to only run it by about 2 feet. He then shot at Jared in corner 4, but missed to give Jared an easy finish and his first foray into the second round of a NZ Open. Both players acquitted themselves very well in the end-game. Graeme Roberts v Duncan Dixon. I believe Chris reported the 7 hour game between these gentlemen in last year's NZ Youth Squad v NZ Evergreens. This year game 1 took just over 4 hours. Nothing of exceptional note was known to have occurred, though Graeme pegged out. Their timing was excellent as it rained between games. Game 2: started about 3pm. Roberts got to 4back. Dixon TPOd Roberts. It's now 6.30 and I'm home anticipating dinner - they might still be playing! When we left Dixon was on 3back and peg, and Roberts on about hoop 5. The tournament might end up struggling for time if James can't get these two finished tonight. Robert Fletcher (Aust) made quick work of Robert Lowe, winning +26TP, +26TP. Bruce Fleming took on David Wickham in the next match down the list. David hasn't been seen in action for 5 years since an excellent performance in the NZ Open (3 TPs, and nearly beat the eventual winner, Dennis Bulloch). Shoulder injuries and the presence of a female thumb kept him out the game for some years, but it is good to hear that he will be seen at lot more on the croquet lawns in the future - lovely chap! I was a looong way from lawn 7 (the quickest lawn at Wanganui, though just a swamp after the rains), but David said he had needed just a break to the peg in game 1 (but unfortunately lost concentration at penult), and broke down on a TP in game 2. So Bruce won in 2, however David's quick, fluent style show that he has a good future ahead of him. Another big match which brought out the nerves was Tony Stephens vs Jenny Clarke. It started poorly: with a corner 2 opening Tony took an angled shot down from B baulk to join 4 yards from partner. Jenny missed the northerly ball. Tony missed the gentle shot up at the 4 yarder. Jenny put a ball off. Errors continued to accumulate and eventually Tony got two peels of a straight TP before having a poor leave with Jenny on 1 and 4. Jenny missed, Tony missed joining up at hoop4. Jenny hit and went to 4back with a NSL. Tony hit the long lift with his rover ball but missed the pegout. Jenny got to hoop 3 before Tony hit the peg. Game 2 started promisingly. Jenny hit down from corner 3 against a duffer in 3rd turn and had a tight leave. Tony hit down from corner 3 and went to 4back with a spread. Jenny hit the long lift and failed to pick up a break. Tony missed and Jenny hit and went to 4back. A couple of turns later Jenny made 3back hampered after getting one peel and missed into baulk. Tony embarked on a standard TP, but after 2 peels misapproached 1back after a poor rush on a poor pioneer, and Jenny finished in two turns. Then we stopped for lunch and the lawn went under water. After waiting for a couple of hours we went back onto the swamp and the third game was a power-hitting contest on very sluggish lawns. Jenny got to 2back with some excellent rushes, ending meekly in the jaws of 2back. Tony went to 4back, having peeled red to 3back. Another long lift was hit. Double banking with us, only briefly, was Stephen Mulliner playing Australian Steve Harden. Mulliner made quick work of the first with a TP. He laid up for a sextuple in game 2 having failed hoop1 and then hoop2. He played some excellent strokes early in the peeling turn, and got the turn down to a straight TP. However after 4back he had to hit the ball nearer penult. He then took off back to his escape ball at 4back and instead of obtaining a dolly run on peelee to penult, he opted to try to cannon it over to penult, going over to the ball that he was cannoning in the same shot. The peelee finished 2 feet northwest of penult. The striker's ball hit the croqueted ball in the middle and finished 1 yard north-east of 4back. He then dribbled off his 6 yarder and made a contact leave for penult and peg. Harden didn't look particularly strong when in play, and Mulliner eventually finished to take the match 2-0. The final round 1 game was Greg Fletcher v Anthony Ritchie. I don't know any details of this game, except that Anthony won in 2, having played rather well (possibly with a TP in one of the games). Round 2 started as players were available. The first match on was Chris Clarke v Dennis Bulloch. Chris was somewhat distracted by happenings on lawn 3, and failed hoop 1 with Dennis having already got to hoop 6. Dennis took that ball to 4back, and Chris hit his lift and did one peel of a TPO before the rain came. He then aborted the delayed TPO and had a ball to 4back. Dennis missed the lift and Chris was on a standard TP and didn't get a rush out of hoop 5. He rolled a ball to 1back, going to the peelee behind 4back - finished 5 yards short and missed. Dennis stuck in penult with his penult ball. Chris took his penult ball to rover with a powerful leave (D's penult ball 6 inches NW of penult and laid up in corner 2 with a rush at it, and D's hoop 1 ball between hoop1 and corner 1. Dennis missed from penult to his hoop 1 ball, and Chris finished. Game 2 Dennis got the first break and missed a hampered 2 yarder after hoop 4. Chris failed hoop 2. Dennis took his hoop 1 ball to 4back with a leave having C's hoop 2 ball in the jaws of rover, his hoop1 ball 2 yards in front of hoop 6, and laid up on the east boundary level with hoop 4 and a rush to hoop 5. Chris lifted the ball at hoop 5 and hit the ball at hoop 6 from B Baulk and went to 4back with D's 4back ball 2 yards south of corner 2 and the other three balls in standard NSL position with him having a rush to corner 2. Dennis lifted his hoop 5 ball and took the long lift, hitting the in-lawn ball and made a leave. Chris missed a 17 yarder. Dennis picked up his break, but ended up having to send out his 2back pioneer from corner 3, going to his 1back ball, finished 8 yards short and missed (Toby Garrison also tried this shot and had a 6 yarder). Chris missed a 16 yarder. Dennis went to the peg giving C's 4back ball a short double (13yd). Chris hit and pegged out Dennis leaving his balls: peg ball in corner 4, hoop 1 ball 4 yards south of corner 2. Dennis took 2 yard slightly angled position at 4back. Chris hit partner with his peg ball. Rolled down the west boundary to level with hoop 5 and laid a rush to hoop 1. Michael and Paul started their match on lawn 4 - the slowest lawn earlier in the tournament. Aaron v Greg. When we left Greg had had a ball around and Aaron had missed the long lift so badly he was about 4 yards north of corner 4. Paddy was playing Tim Murphy. Game 1: Paddy went to 4back, Tim went to 1back and left Paddy facing a tea-lady shot through a lake. Eventually they returned to the game, it looked like Paddy might have opted for the jump, as he was near hoop4. Tim embarked on a TPO, but didn't complete it. Paddy then spent a long time on rover and peg, and there was a howl of disappointment when Tim failed 4back to lose game 1. Lines and Keeman had also started. I believe Lines's last words to us were "drat, he has just hit his lift". Robert Fletcher was watching the Dixon v Roberts second game wondering who, and when, he'd get an opponent. Bruce and Jenny were held over until tomorrow as Bruce had had a very long wait and the lawns were vastly different from when he finished his first match. Early start tomorrow. Sigh. Mulliner and Anthony Ritchie had started game 2 I believe with Stephen a game up. An incident of note: Chris pegged his front ball out in the second game against Dennis, leaving himself a 1-foot pegout. Since his back had been feeling bad all afternoon, he went and spoke to the manager and told the manager that he was only about 60% to play the following day, and asked the manager whether he would prefer to peg down the game, which would allow Chris to retire on the peg if he was unable to continue the following day, or peg out to complete the match and eliminate Dennis. The Heenan Plate.The Heenan plate got underway last night with a dozenish games, and continued today with initially 4 players at Wanganui and 14 at Marton's three-lawn venue. A large number of games were played, with initial waits as only one Wanganui lawn was available, as the manager chose not to double-bank plate games with the knockout of the New Zealand Open. Plenty of games were played, and most players seemed enthusiastic about the new format for this event. All to play for tomorrow as round 2 continues (and maybe Duncan and Graeme finish round 1). We need to make up a round before the final, but with the rain making the lawns very easy, that shouldn't be too much of a challenge. Regards to all, Commentary – 22 January 2010 by Jenny ClarkeToday started inauspiciously as visibility was limited to about 50 metres on the way in from Marton due to extremely heavy rain. Wanganui streets had a fair few puddles, and the lawns were a bit soggy, but no rain fell during the day, and we left at 4pm with blazing sunshine, and a few reddening faces as people hadn't prepared for the sun. We started the day with the following: Graeme Roberts had beaten Duncan Dixon late last evening to generate a round 2 matchup with Robert Fletcher. Quickest games first (sigh): Ian v Jared (game 2, Ian won the first no croquet yesterday): Aaron v Greg Michael v Paul (commentary courtesy of MGW) Game 1: Michael had an overnight lead, +17TP. Graeme Roberts v Robert Fletcher. Round 3: Stephen Mulliner v Bruce Fleming Aaron v Paddy Other news around the traps: Chris Clarke has withdrawn from the tournament with a back injury. Triple peels to NZ TransTasman players Sue Lea and Jane McIntyre. More wins for new star Hamish McIntosh. Hoops a bit easy today (not whinging about my match - Bruce played very well - however having a straight rover peel in the plate where it could be lined up with big gaps on both sides of the balls suggests the hoops could do with tightening for the late stages of the knockout). Heenan Plate: well over 200 games have been played already - well more than in previous incarnations of the Heenan Plate. While some people have been disappointed with the format not giving them a clear idea of upcoming opponents, or a reluctance to play players who have been eliminated from the knockout, in my opinion the best advertisement for the Flexible Swiss format for the Heenan plate occured this afternoon: Brilliant spirit! One round of the Heenan plate to play tomorrow then people on about 50% wins and better will make up the last 16 in the Plate knockout. Regards to all, Commentary – 23 January 2010 by Chris ClarkeAs no-one else has posted anything, I should report that Stephen played really well to beat Robert Fletcher. It was raining most of the day and many large croquet strokes were unplayable. Despite this, Stephen made only two errors when failing to pick up a 3-ball having been TPOed in the second (4th turn) by Robert. In the first he missed a 4 yarder at his hoop 4 pioneer having TPOed Robert and left him a 9 yarder for a laid 3 ball break which Robert missed. In the second, after hoop 3, he didn't/couldn't hit the rush hard enough to get off the south boundary and then failed to take off behind the ball in corner and then underapproached hoop 4. Robert refused to peg a ball out when 4-b vs 4 and Stephen subsequently hit from in front of 4 to corner 3 and finished with a very good pick-up. The other match was less aggressive and contained a few more errors with Paul winning the first (probably no errors) and then Paddy winning the next 3. The 4th might also have been error free. It has been raining again overnight in Marton. NZ Mac Team announced today (Sunday 24th). Chris Commentary on final by Chris ClarkeA high quality Final saw four games finished in 3.25 hours. Game 2 Game 3 Game 4 An error free performance from Paddy - many congratulations. Paddy is the first Kiwi to win the NZ Open since 2004. Interestingly, the previous two Kiwis to win are currently playing in the final of the plate - Dennis Bulloch vs Bob Jackson. Chris |
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