After an 11-round round-robin, Chris Clarke was undefeated on 10/10, Oscar and Chris Plank had won 8 (with Chris getting a handicap reduction to 6), and completing the top 4 was Pat Lester, 4th on countback on 5 wins.
The top 4 are currently playing a knockout for the top 4 places, with the final Chris Clarke v Oscar Baird-Gosling

3rd/4th playoff will be Pat Lester v Chris Plank

5th to 8th were: Margaret Snelling, who started the block slowly, but has won 4/5 so far today, losing only the first game, 7-6 to Barbara Ward, Ian MacDougall, who came 8th on countback with 4 wins from James Corrigan (6th, with 4 wins), and Barbara Ward (7th, also with 4 wins).

In the 5th-8th knockout, Margaret beat Ian, to earn a playoff against James, who beat Barbara.
5th/6th playoff: Margaret Snelling v James Corrigan
7th/8th playoff: Barbara Ward v Ian Snelling

At the tail of the initial block were Colleen Reynolds - who won 4 games, but missed out on the higher placings due to having the worst net points among those tied on 4 wins, Kathryn Cherry who won 2/10, and birthday boy George Smith who also had a handicap increase from 3 to 4. George's handicap change is quite significant, as it means rather than an effective handicap of 2, he plays off his new handicap of 4 - a difference of two bisques depending on when this weekend you play him!

The 9th-11th playoff is as follows: 10th in block (Kathryn) plays 11th in block (George). Winner plays Colleen for 9th/10th. Loser gets the wooden spoon of 11th position.

The final will start in about 10 minutes, on lawn 1 at Fendalton Park CC. But before that, a few words on the event...

We've had two days of great weather, Fendalton have provided delicious catering of their usual high standard. Several supporters came along with the players - Barbara's entourage consists of two players, Chris Plank also has two supporters, including the lovely Chris Binns, Oscar's parents are here and doing a great job, and James' partner, who is also a croquet player at Khandallah croquet club is just about coping with her nerves as James plays. Pat is also well supported, and of course the local lad Chris has fendalton barracking for him.

The final: Chris Clarke v Oscar Baird-Gosling

Ok, so Oscar has 8 extra turns (handicap 3, effective handicap 2) against Chris (handicap 0, effective handicap -6).

In case anyone's reading, and hasn't spotted, despite the grand plan of effective handicaps, it's the two lowest-bisqued players competing for the Gold Star (first) and the Silver Star (second). Chris already has a gold star to his name, this is 22 year old Oscar's second such event, the first in this format (national event).

Oscar won the toss, but failed to use an extra turn to get that first ball in front. First error with extra turns. They have not been used at all well in this tournament - although very much the case it has been that people have been intimidated playing Chris, and playing with extra turns. I think I could have got most of these players past Chris just by banning them from using extra turns to clear balls - madness!

The first extra turn is down - Oscar tried to clear Chris from in front of hoop 1. Not even sure he could see the whole of Chris's ball.

Chris wins hoop 1 to take a 1-0 lead

Up at hoop 2, Oscar is off on the east boundary, but near hoop2 with his other ball - wastes extra turn number 2 clearing but still having Chris's balls in the vicinity. Had a good effort at a longish jump at hoop 2 (Oscar won his semi final with a majestic jump at hoop 11), but... Chris leads 2-0

Oscar first to hoop 3. He's angled, and isn't taking an extra turn. The other balls play up - then he runs a lovely angled hoop Chris leads Oscar 2-1

Chris rushes red down to 4 feet short of hoop 4 with yellow as it was stuck behind red up at 3. Oscar plays blue down - almost ends up in the jaws! Takes an extra turn to go into the front of the jaws. Not sure that was wise!

Chris jumps red over blue to win hoop 4 Chris leads 3-1, Oscar has 5 extra turns left. Still well in this if he can settle down in this game.

Blue is fortunately clear of the hoop, but some accidental blocking on partner by black means Chris again has prime position at hoop 5. Oscar plays black from a hampered position to in front of yellow - unlucky! - ends up in contact. Chris's stop shot on yellow has black cannon blue off to the south boundary. Big clearance attempt from Oscar misses to the north boundary. Chris runs hoop 5 up to hoop 6 to lead 4-1

black plays up, yellow plays to the hoop, blue takes position... and takes an extra turn (he has 4 left!) to put blue into the jaws of 6

Red clears black - yellow can jump this....

Oscar plays black back up, takes his 5th extra turn - this could be quite clever, as it would guarantee hoop 6 and get him near hoop 7... unlucky - bounces off the side of hoop 6 to not get near 7, but he'll definitely win hoop 6

Chris plays yellow to the half-way point between 6 and 7 on the north boundary - and he's short!!

Oscar runs hoop 6, Chris leads 4-2

Chris takes good position with red. ...Oscar seems to have set himself up to rush blue across with black... plays the rush - just a bit far - really good effort though

Chris off to the penalty spot with yellow on the east boundary - plays back up - into the front of red!

Oscar plays back with blue - overshoots - takes an extra turn to get into the front of the jaws (only 2 left!)

Chris uses red to promote yellow up to next to hoop 7 - trying to hide it behind that blue ball so Oscar can't clear him...

Yup - massive success - Oscar tries to clear yellow, and unfortunately only succeeds in knocking his partner ball clear of the hoop!

OK, had a wee distraction putting some of the other games into croquetscores, and we rejoin the action, still with Chris leading 4-2, but now Oscar only has 1 extra turn left. Blue has played in from corner 3, and come up a bit short and northish - yellow has control of this. Red plays into good position, and after 2-3 extra turns, Chris is still strong favourite for this hoop.

Lots of these players are used to being the best player (lowest handicap) in their areas, so are really, really not used to using extra turns. Last year, without effective handicaps, Sean Pearless was almost unbeatable playing off a handicap of 12. He went on to win the Gold Star from NZ Open champion Duncan Dixon, but only after a loss of concentration on Duncan's part led to a wrong-ball error when Sean had got himself into good position at 6-4.

Back to the action and Chris has won hoop7 Chris Clarke leads 7-5

oops... Chris Clarke leads 5-2 - not sure where that came from - apologies!!

Oscar takes position, so does Chris, so does Oscar. Chris shoots down with red from hoop 7 - perfect clearance - gets black blocked from yellow by the blue ball. Oscar takes hopeful position... Chris runs hoop 8 Chris leads 6-2

We can't see that last extra turn, so assume that has disappeared also

Chris takes good position with red, Oscar takes better position with black, but Chris clears with yellow from hoop 8!

Blue misses a big shot, and Chris has an easy hoop for the gold star...

Chris runs hoop 9, wins the first national handicap golf croquet tournament, taking the CNZ Gold Star **Chris Clarke beat Oscar Baird-Gosling 7-2

Oscar has had a really impressive tournament, and is now only 21 points off a well-deserved handicap reduction to 2. He'll be a handicap 1 sometime next season if he has the time and inclination to play a bit.
Oscar has won the CNZ Silver Star - very well deserved

Some tips from National Handicap Champion Chris Clarke for playing handicap golf croquet

1. Get your ball to the hoop first - every time you run a hoop, think about taking an extra turn immediately to get down to the next one. And if you're not in front of it, think about taking another extra turn to get in front of it. This includes at hoop 1!

2. Look to take extra turns to be first to your hoop at odd-numbered hoops - because, e.g. you can run hoop 1 up to hoop 2, hoop 3 down to hoop 4, etc.

3. Consider taking extra turns to get into the jaws of hoops - but be careful you don't run the hoop! - so it's safer to do this if you're coming in from an angle. But don't take them if your opponent can jump hoops and is in good position to do this. (ok, we've reverted to me writing some of this as Chris is telling Oscar he should have taken an extra turn with his first ball as he won the toss)

4. Only ever use an extra turn to clear your opponent if (1) your partner ball is in front of the hoop, or (2) you can get sufficiently close to play a 20-yard stop-clearance to stay in front - the latter being generally out of the ability range of most players

5. Be prepared to let your opponent win a hoop - particularly those even-numbered hoops - keep your extra turns for you to win hoops. If you just use them to knock your opponent away what will happen? - your opponent will just come back in front of the hoop - wasted extra turn

if you really need a golden role for using extra turns, don't use them to clear the opponent - it's a good starter. If you want to use them, check point 4 and only ever use them to clear if you can satisfy one of the reasons in point 4 above. Otherwise keep them in your pocket and wait for a better opportunity!

Final results

First: Chris Clarke (Canterbury)
Second: Oscar Baird-Gosling (South Canterbury)
Third: Pat Lester (Counties Manukau)
Fourth: Chris Plank (Auckland)
Fifth: Margaret Snelling (Manawatu-Wanganui)
Sixth: James Corrigan (Wellington)
Seventh: Barbara Ward (Otago)
Eight: Ian MacDougall (Nelson)
Ninth: Colleen Reynolds (Hawkes Bay)
Tenth: George Smith (Northland)
Eleventh: Kathryn Cherry (Southland)