3 September - Julia Green triumphs at climax of the 10+ Evening Series
Russell Robinson reports:
As the four finalists for the 10+ Evening Series lined up for the play-offs this afternoon, it seemed probable that the trophy would be lifted by one of two players who have enjoyed very successful seasons, coming through the ranks from their initial handicaps of 10 at the start of the competition in May.
Would John Rumford (7) retain his crown, having won the inaugural Series last year, or would he be usurped by Patricia Mulcahy (6) ?
However, it was clear from the first game that Julia Green (12) had other ideas, as after conceding a 1-3 deficit early on to Mulcahy, with some excellent hoop running and clearances, she recovered to win the next five hoops, before closing out the game with a 7-4 win.
Meanwhile, Doug Tonks (12), who having only learnt to play the sport in April, and therefore having done remarkably well to make the play-offs, was not quite on his usual form against Rumford, who won their game comfortably.
Green continued her good form into the second game, defeating Tonks, while the pivotal moment in the Mulcahy/Rumford game was at hoop 7 when the latter peeled his opponent's ball through in a failed clearance attempt, which enabled Mulcahy to open up a 5-3 lead at the following hoop and eventually win 7-4.
That set up the intriguing possibility of a three-way tie on two wins, with it even being possible that all three would also have the same “net hoops”, thus leaving manager, Russell Robinson, working out contingency plans for a “penalty shoot-out”!
In the final pair of games, Tonks played very well to take four hoops off Mulcahy, which was enough to ensure that the winner of the competition would come from the Green/Rumford game.
Unbeknown to her, Green actually had done enough on the “net hoops” calculation when she took a 5-3 lead, but the contest went all the way to the 13th hoop, when Green played what was probably the 'stroke of the competition' to clear Rumford’s ball from the jaws with power from corner 1, leaving her own ball inches in front of the hoop.
However, Rumford was able to deal with that and a few strokes later, with both Julia’s balls in front of the hoop, he won the game with an angled hoop shot from the boundary.
That was enough only to secure joint secondplace for Rumford, and there will have a new name on the 10+ Evening Series trophy.
– congratulations, Julia Green!
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