14 April - Cheltenham Open runner-up Goldring heads good weekend for Phyllis Court top 5
Congratulations to National Veterans Champion Roger Goldring who was an impressive runner-up in the Cheltenham A-Level Series tournament on Sunday, capping a splendid weekend for Phyllis Court's top five players all in good form at both Surbiton CC and Cheltenham CC
Surbiton Open (Championship Series) - Charlie von Schmieder and Raouf Allim both exceeded their pre-tournament seedings with seven victories each in the block stage games on Saturday and Sunday morning.
Chris Roberts played to his 'par' with four game wins, but pleasingly, all three of the Phyllis Court players took the 'scalp' of an England international player.
von Schmieder got off to a great start with a win over Tobi Savage (probably the best 'jump shot' player in the World), Allim also got an early win over England's Harry Fisher and Roberts completed the hat-trick with a fine win over an out of form Lionel Tibble on Sunday morning.
With his weekend job done, von Schmieder didn't take part in the placing games on Sunday afternoon but Allim added to his wins tally to finish 11th in the 24 player event, ahead of Roberts in 14th.
Thank you to Croquet Club Treasurer Colin Morgan for his who spectating support on a bitterly cold weekend that kept others away.
Cheltenham (A-Level Series)
Roger Goldring, won his block on Saturday to qualify for Sundays 'best of three' knock-out, but the unfortunate Ian Norris just missed the cut when he tied on game wins but lost-out on net hoops.
Norris made amends and was unbeaten on Sunday as he cruised to win the plate event and 9th place overall in a huge filed of 32.
In the main event knock-out, Goldring dismissed the scare of a first game loss to local player David Magee win 5-7, 7-6,7-4, and then got passed another home player Louise Bradforth in a straight games semi-final 7-4, 7-5.
He then faced 'England's most improved player of 2018' Stuart M Smith in a topsy-turvy final which went the way of Smith 2-7, 7-4, 7-3, but Goldring was happy with his weekend in the knowledge that he has improved his national ranking and collected six points in the National A-Level Series title race.