The final of the All-England AC handicap competition was contested at Blewbury over the weekend of 21-22 September 2024. The weather forecast was ominous – thunderbolts and lightning (very, very frightening) – but in the end we had some rain that did not stop play at any point.
Eight players had made it through the first round and the area finals. Their handicap ranged from 2.5 to 22, so it promised to be an interesting weekend.
There were a mixed set of results from the games, being roughly equally split between a crushing win, a strong win, and a nail-biting finish. I have to say that watching one of the final close games between Diana Wilson and Margaret Murray was more stressful than actually playing in such a game (though the players may disagree).
The tournament was played as a five-round Swiss, which is fairly likely to result in an outright winner, but in the end there were three players on four out of five wins. Who beat whom was no help, so the tie was broken by the ‘quality of wins’ of each of the players. This reduced the field to two players, so that finally, who beat whom broke the tie. All of the player acquitted themselves well, but the eventual winner was Sean Doherty from Ealing. This is all the more creditable since Sean forgot to bring his mallet on Sunday and played with a mallet borrowed from Carol Jamieson.
Two players, our own Brian Jamieson and Colin Carver (Enfield) made 10 or more hoops in a turn, using bisques, in a game that they won, and so qualify for a Bronze merit award.
The photograph shows Sean holding the cup as winner, and David Graham (also from Ealing) is holding the salver that goes to the club of the winner.
