Although BCC is currently underperforming at league level, two of our finest AC players have recently achieved landmark personal bests. Like Carlos Alcaraz, Joe King has only lost one match since March – to Hamptworth firefighter, Tim O’Donnell. The work he’s put into getting his new handicap, -1.5, takes him significantly nearer to the AC World Championship qualifying week in West Palm Beach in September. At the moment, he’s leading the order of merit for the 24 slots on offer. If he were to make the main draw the following week, he’d join Robin Brown whose world ranking puts him in automatically.
When Peter Allan took up croquet nine years ago, he applied the intelligence and work ethic that built him an impressive international career in rocket science to a game that rapidly became an obsession. It took him about two years to recognise his potential and another seven to realise his dream of scratch: he achieved it recently at the recent National Veterans Championship at Cheltenham after wins over minus handicappers, Sarah Hayes and Sandy Grieg. Peter’s magic mantra is ‘no trivial shots’. Two inches , two yards, 20 yards: each must be thought through and executed with the same precision. Currently, he’s ranked 119 in the UK. Double digits is the new goal.
Peter and Joe in celebratory mood