We had perfect fall weather here for this year's North American Amateur at Sonoma Croquet Club at the famed Sonoma Cutrer croquet lawns. Again we had two divisions, with the first flight a mix of new tournament players and recent enthusiasts of the Association "AC" form of the great game. This tourney is designed as an entry level tourney in the first flight with winners graduating to the Amateur championship flight the next year. The Amateur division flight is limited to players with <1700 DGrades and winner is guaranteed a spot in the North American Open the following May.

This year's field was dominated by a strong showing from the brand new Ashland, Oregon Croquet Club. Last year the club, in their initial year, sent two players to the tourney. This year they doubled that to four. Not only did they have a strong showing with Bill Brown, ended up the runner-up but Ken Grudger, in his first tournament and Dick Mastain, still going strong at a very young 90 years of age, tied for 3rd. Jeff Hill, a Sonoma Club member who finished 5th a year ago in this flight, was nearly perfect, finishing with a 9-1 record and sweeping the semi-finals and finals to take the First Flight trophy and earn his promotion to the Amateur Championship flight next year.

First Flight Results:

1. Jeff Hill 10-1
2. Bill Brown 8-3
3. Ken Grudger 3-5
3. Dick Mastain 3-5
5. Chris Layton 4-6
5. Dick Titus 4-6
7. Janet Quarters 2-8

In the Amateur Championship flight, Steve Mossbrook dominated the double round robin play, as he did last year with a near perfect 7-1 record and entered the semis as the top seed against 4th seeded Karl-Heinz Kempfer. Steve dismissed Karl-Heinz in the semis in two straight games and advanced to this year's Championship against Mike Orgill who outlasted Gary Anderson in the 3rd deciding game. It was truly an amazing finish as Gary had a 2 hoop lead on last turn with the balls spread to the four corners. Mike miraculously hit in. Then took off toward a ball bear hoop 3. He needed a long split to 1b and ended up with a 6 yard angled hoop shot from near the North boundary. This also was true. He got a long rush to 2b which ended up right behind the hoop only 2 yards from the South boundary. Mike's take-off rolled backwards through 2b giving him a perfect shot on the tying hoop. After making that Mike took off for a ball on the South boundary near corner 4 and amazingly it stopped between the ball and boundary and gave him a rush to 3b which he made for the win. Earlier in the double round robin against Gary, Mike had come from 8 hoops down on last turn to also beat Gary. Gary earned the nickname snakebit in this tourney due to these miraculous finishes by Mike and has vowed to work on his closing skills for nest year. The final was a closely contested final. After Mike won the first game and Steve the second, it came down to a closely played strategic struggle in the 3rd. Steve and Mike were tied going into last turns when Mike hit in and was able to run a hoop to win the championship by 1. Karl-Heinz, after winning the First Flight last year, and getting promoted to the Championship flight, beat Gary in the 3rd place game to have a very successful move up tourney! Notably, Bob Morford was the only player able to take a win off of Steve in the double round robin!!

1. Mike Orgill 9-5
2. Steve Mossbrook 10-3
3. Karl-Heinz Kempfer 4-7
4. Gary Anderson 5-7
5. Bob Morford 4-7

Jim Hanks
Tournament Director