This past year has been a most difficult one for the entire club and especially the families of Don Fournier Sr., and that loving sole Fran Gonzalo Cline. To lose two very special people so early in life can try ones spirit. The entire Arizona Croquet Club dedicated this tournament in their memory.
The Arizona club had a high level of participation in this years tournament. Rory Kelley, Donny Fournier, John Fournier, Patty Dole, Ren Kraft, Pat Roach, Ray Hamm and Paul Bennett played in this years open and all other club members helped out by hosting parties, preparing lunches, setting up courts, and helping with registration. And this effort showed. The players were happy with the level of play, the lunches, toast and tallys and the overall tournament atmosphere. And the Arizonans defended their turf. All players in the Finals of Championship Singles and Doubles were Arizona Club members.
John Fournier won the Championship Singles final against Paul Bennett. John finished third in his singles block with a record of 7-3 and went on to defeat Jeff Caldwell, Bill Martin, Britt Ruby, Ren Kraft, and Doug Grimsley in ladder playoff to win his spot in the finals match. John had previously beaten Doug Grimsley in block play, then had lost to Doug on Friday in ladder playoff after defeating Bill Martin. John was now down in the `cellar' of ladder playoff and would have to win all his games to earn another chance to play Doug on Saturday morning and get into the finals match against Paul (those in the `cellar' have only single elimination life).
Paul Bennett and Ren Kraft, having both won their respective blocks, defeated Bill Martin and Doug Grimsley in the first round of ladder playoff. At this point it was now known that at least one Arizonan would be in the finals match. Paul and Ren met and played for the holders position, both players holding records of 10-1 games. Paul advanced to the finals and sat around and watched many good games of croquet at Gainey and at Kraft lawns waiting to find out who he would eventually match up against. Ren went down the ladder to play Doug Grimsley, and then John Fournier. Ren ended up in 4th place just behind Doug Grimsley. It was great to have 3 Arizonans finish in the top four.
Arizona had great team play in doubles, and by Friday afternoon, the last four teams were all composed of Arizona club members. The finals would be all Arizona. I am not sure how far back we would have to go to find a case where Arizona had dominated the field of play. Ren Kraft and Pat Roach defeated Paul Bennett and Patty Dole on Friday afternoon to advance to the finals match. Don and John Fournier defeated Steve Johnston and Rory Kelley and the winners would meet Bennett and Dole on Saturday morning. Paul and Patty won the early match on Saturday to advance to the finals match. We commented about a practice match that the four of us had had a few weeks earlier where we pretended to be in the Arizona Open Finals. It truly was a dream of mine to have our club teams playing against one another in the `big tournament' as we so often do on weekends here in Arizona when few are watching us.
The doubles match started with an out game with Pat and Paul in and Ren and Patty out. Soon Pat was for 6 and Paul was for 4 when Patty managed to get in the game and hit Pat. Patty sent Paul the spent ball and a good break looked eminent. Paul having left his mallet at Kraft's court started the match with an old mallet and mis-rolled the hoop at 5. Paul retreated to the sidelines. But on the next rotation Paul, having asked permission from his partner, set up in front of five and then cleared on the next rotation after Ren and Pat neglected to take him out of position. Patty soon attacked and set another break which Paul took around to the peg. As rover, Paul and Patty managed to gain advantage of the game. With the score tied and time expired, Patty cleared penultimate to take the lead and win the finals match.
The singles match started out with an aggressive attack and first break by Paul to the peg. Having set the leave incorrectly, John regained control of the game and began to battle back. Once after becoming 3 ball dead with red for six and after Paul had moved red back to between 4 and 5, John cleared the hoop to get alive and put pressure back on Paul. Paul managed to attack with the rover ball several times and with 30 minutes remaining decided to set the back ball a three ball break to try and end the game, but John hit in and stole the break to run red around the court. Earlier in the week in block play, John had played a similar situation against Paul. John could peg out the rover ball, but if he did, he would not have the proper rotation to end the game on the next turn. John decided to go ahead and peg out Paul's rover ball this time to his advantage. John was then able to end the game on time and be up by 3 hoops. The finals were a great set of matches.
The First Flight schedule was much like the Championship schedule. They played in a large single block of 11 players which offered many games throughout the week. The interesting concept for the ladder playoff this year was that if the winner of the block was decided by number of wins, then the winner would immediately advance to the finals match, otherwise the top two finishers would playoff for the holder position. This did not happen in the singles block, but it did happen in the doubles block.
In First flight singles, Martha Ramey and Mike Jenner, each finishing 7-1, played to advance to the finals match. Mike took the advantage to advance directly to the finals match and sent Martha down the ladder to play Bill Hixon. Bill lost to Martha to finish in third place. Martha in the finals match defeated Mike to take the winners trophy back home.
In First flight doubles, Bill Hixon and Margot Leonard advanced directly to the finals match having been undefeated in block play. Joy Aden and Art Parsells played Bob Nevens and Ray Hamm for second place and Bob and Ray advanced to the finals match. Bill and Margot went on to complete their tournament undefeated in the finals of the Arizona Open.
The Arizona Open would like to thank all the players that came this year and the court owners for such a great set of venues. The field was just right with 33 players. We played at the Fournier, Kraft, Gainey and Venture Out lawns. Next year we look forward to hosting the 20th Arizona Open. We are thinking up new ideas to make it even better next year. Plan on your attendance to this great event. Send information to Paul Bennett by signing up at the club's website at http://www.azcroquet.org or by emailing PaulTBennett@netscape.net
| Order | Championship Singles | Chapionship Doubles |
| 1 | John Fournier | Paul Bennett Patty Dole |
| 2 | Paul Bennett | Ren Kraft Pat Roach |
| 3 | Doug Grimsley | Don Fournier John Fournier |
| 4 | Ren Kraft | Steve Johnston Rory Kelley |
| 5 | Britt Ruby | Joe Koenig Johnny Mitchell |
| 6 | Rory Kelley | Bill Aden Britt Ruby |
| 7 | Bill Martin | Charlie Smith Doug Grimsley |
| Pat Roach | Cameron Guernsey Don Taves | |
| 9 | Jeff Caldwell | Jeff Caldwell Jack Scott |
| Don Fournier | Bill Martin Maryholt Maxwell | |
| 11 | Joe Koenig | Arthur Bagby Jim Butts |
| Charlie Smith | ||
| 13 | Steve Johnston | |
| Cameron Guernsey | ||
| Jack Scott | ||
| Don Taves | ||
| Maryholt Maxwell | ||
| Bill Aden | ||
| Jim Butts | ||
| Johnny Mitchell | ||
| Arthur Bagby | ||
| Patty Dole |
| Order | First Flight Singles | First Flight Doubles |
| 1 | Martha Ramey | Bill Hixon |
| Margot Leonard | ||
| 2 | Mike Jenner | Bob Nevens |
| Ray Hamm | ||
| 3 | Bill Hixon | Joy Aden |
| Art Parsells | ||
| 4 | Art Parsells | Pam Johnston |
| Martha Ramey |