Jerry Stark won the inaugural Desert Classic Croquet 
Tournament at Mission Hills Croquet Club in Palm 
Desert, California. Jerry defeated Jim Bast in two 
games of a best of three finals with scores of 26tp - 0 
& 26 tpo - 21. This followed the Medalist round with 
Jerry and Rory Kelley paired up and Jerry winning 26tp -
 9 & 26 - 17. Bast defeated Kelley in the semifinals 
26 - 14 to advance into the finals.

Jerry rebounded rather well after two losses going into 
the play-off games (Marti Foroughi 19 - 18 and Ron 
Hendry 26 - 9). Rory Kelley, who was undefeated in 
block play, did hold onto third place. In the spirit of 
full disclosure, I am reminded to mention Jim Butts' 2 
STPs on the first day of play. Jim was another victim 
of Marti Foroughi.

Bob Haden defeated Bob Riddell in the first flight. It 
was Haden’s turn after Riddell had beat Haden last 
December in the U. S. Open on the same croquet lawn. 
Rich Schiller took the 3rd place trophy home.

Marti Ormsby got the best of Gardner Pond to win the 
second flight. Karl-Heinz Kempfer came in third. 

The 3 plate winners were Ron Hendry, Marilyn O’Neil and 
Sheri Foroughi.

Stark's 8 tp’s out of 13 games sets a high standard for 
future players in the Desert Classic.


Tournament Manager Jim Butts
Catering organized by Phyllis Butts
Tournament directors: Rory Kelley and Stan Patmor

The event was a clone of the U. S. Open, which is it’s 
self a clone of the World Championship tournament 
founded in 1986 by Brice Jones at the Sonoma Cutrer 
winery. In particular there are 3 days of round robin 
block play in blocks of 10 or fewer but always 3 games 
per day for the top flight and 2 games for the other 
flights. The results of block play determines where a 
player enters into the Repassage (elimination) round 
where a single life contest eventually delivers a 
tournament winner. In the Open (Championship) flight 
the 2 block winners compete in a best of 3 Medalist 
round with the winner advancing directly to the finals 
while the loser drops into the Repassage for the 
semifinal game. That winner then plays in a best of 3 
finals before a crowd of players and spectators.

We played 2 hour long Association Singles games on 6 
excellent courts with Willhoite Xtreme balls and Rodoni 
Hoops

AND THE FINAL STANDINGS ARE:

Championship flight
1. Jerry Stark
2. Jim Bast
3. Rory Kelley
4. George Cochran
5. Marti Foroughi
    Ron Hendry
7. Ken Shiplely
    Jim Butts
    Pierre Dunn
    Russell Uhler
11. Aviv Katz
    Gordon Milse
    Russell Brown
    Richard Tucker


Plate
1. Ron Hendry
2. George Cochran
3. Ken Shipley
    Jim Butts
5. Russell Uhler
    Marti Foroughi
    Pierre Dunn
8. Richard Tucker
    Aviv Katz
10. Russell Brown
    Gordon Milse


First Flight
1. Bob Haden
2. Bob Riddell
3. Rich Schiller
4. Marilyn O'Neil
    Phyllis Butts
6. Jane McDonnell
    Gordon Smale


Plate
1. Marilyn O'Neil
2. Jane McDonnell
3. Phyllis Butts
4. Gordon Smale


Second Flight
1. Marty Ormsby
2. Gardner Pond
3. Karl-Heinz Kempfer
4. Marly Rodeberg
    Sheri Foroughi
6. David Cartwright
    Toni Kemp

XXX