Just one week after celebrating it's 20th anniversary
with founders Pat Apple and Nancy Deupree, the Mission
Hills Country Club in beautiful Palm Springs,
California, hosted its annual Invitational tournament.
Club President, Jim Butts, and his wife Phyllis worked
tirelessly to make this one of the best invitationals in
recent memory. The brilliant sunny days and temperatures
in the 70s and 80s attracted snow birds from British
Columbia, Idaho, Minnesota and New Hampshire to round
out a very competitive yet fun-loving crew.
	The second flight of waterford doubles was
characterized by useful instruction and last second
heroics. In a few games, weaker players were ready to
accept their games as lost until their partners
encouraged them to “go ahead and try to hit that ball on
the boundary.” Which they promptly did on several
occasions. With such immaculate courts, anything is
possible including the dramatic ending of one such game
featuring the healthy and vibrant return of Nancy
Feldman with doubles partner Toni Kemp versus Cindy
Bagby and John Adams. With only seconds remaining, a two
point deficit and serious deadness on the board, Toni
made a point to stay nearby to help partner, in position
at 2-back, rather than set up for a last chance at
liveness. Nancy not only made her difficult wicket shot,
but hit Toni's ball on the boundary and made an amazing
roll; sending partner to 4-back while getting a rush on
a ball near wicket 5 towards her current wicket, 3-back.
Nancy ran around to the rover wicket, taking the lead by
two, and grooming the court. Cindy was now faced with a
60 foot shot at a ball near corner one. Cindy casually
mentioned “I've only got one chance” and managed to hit
the ball while keeping it in! In order to prove the shot
was not a fluke, Cindy performed a very nice full-roll
around her wicket, number 5, from 50 feet away only to
miss the 6 foot wicket shot. Donna Dixon proved to be
the highlight of this doubles competition winning all
four games to earn the title after winning no doubles
games the previous year. Karen Comeau proved her 14
handicap unfitting of her skill in her second place
performance while the spotlight shined on American Rules
rookie Caren Sawyer. Under the kind tutilage of David
Collins and Mohammad Kamal in Pasadena, Caren has
developed into a wonderful shot maker as evidenced by
capturing the third place trophy in doubles.
	The first flight of waterford doubles had some amazing
match-ups with the top four seeds all at a -1 handicap.
The strong play lead to more than a few wins by 15 or
more points, and left a few players in the two-on-one
situation after a break taken dangerously too far. The
final round boasted a nationals caliber pairing with two
teams, each with a combined handicap of -2. The results
of that “showcase” game determined the overall victor as
Jim Butts and Bill Hixon prevailed in a very well
executed game over Paul Bennett and Rick Sheely 26 to 6.
The 20 net points allowed Jim Butts to capture the
doubles title over the previously perfect Paul Bennett.
Aviv Katz was honored to take the third place trophy
thanks to consistent play and a 13 point victory over
fourth place finisher Barbara Mitchell in the third round.
	Second flight singles featured the arrival of a mostly
association rules player, Marvin Salles, abolishing his
13 handicap with a first place finish in the block and
convincing playoff wins to remain atop the flight and
win the crown. Mission Hills was proud to welcome the
aforementioned Caren Sawyer and her husband Eric to
their first American rules tournament in which Eric beat
out the lowest handicapped player in the flight to get
to the semi-finals and eventually capture fourth place;
not bad for a first timer. The true underdog story
chronicled Jean Engebretson who was the 6 seed in the
playoff ladder and scored a few key upsets to become a
finalist. Jean's supportive husband, sharp shooter Dick
Engebretson, finished in third place.
	With handicaps ranging from 3.5 to 7 the competitive
first flight singles action was rampant with upsets
including the top seeded player in the flight going
winless in block play. Mission Hills' own Marty Ormsby,
a 6 handicap when the tournament began, captured her
block with a victory over undefeated Rich Schiller. With
only 8 out of the 15 players making the playoff, there
were no easy playoff games. Local favorite Phyllis Butts
snuck into the ladder as the 8 seed but took off from
there. Nursing a knee injury, Phyllis overcame mediocre
block play and took out number one seed Marty Ormsby on
her way to the final match and a second place finish.
Despite being outnumbered, the Texans took control of
the loser's bracket in Alamo fashion. Representing the
Lone Star state was doubles champion Donna Dixon who was
defeated by Lee Hamel. Lee eventually captured 3rd place
shoring up a place for Texas in the singles ceremony as
well.
	Championship flight was a veritable who's who of West
Coast croquet with 3 former U.S. team representatives
and more than half of the field at a handicap of 1 or
less. Block play went nearly to seed as the top four
ranked players in each block made it to the 8 person
playoff with a lurker “Sandy” Bob Van Tassell narrowly
missing the last playoff spot. The sand-bagger was
playing up as his 4.5 handicap does not encompass his
skill on the lawn. “Sandy” Bob scored victories against
the other low seeds in the block as well as an
impressive 26-7 victory over the precocious Ben Rothman
that featured nearly flawless play and impressively
aggressive tactics from this new tactician. Mr. Van
Tassell only missed the playoffs because of a
head-to-head tie-breaker despite a 76 net point
advantage over eventual 8 seed, Mike Orgill. This may be
the last cut that Mr. Van Tassell misses for a long
while. Friday morning began with 3 upsets in the first
round of the playoffs. Whether it was the full moon or
the drinks from the tournament dinner the night before,
no one knows. Only top seeded Paul Bennet held his own
against Mike Orgill, while two of the -1 handicaps were
sent to the loser's bracket along with -2.5, Ben
Rothman. Tennessee player Bill Martin took the honor of
hitting in last turns after Rothman had just ran a break
to the peg to get the lead by one. The self titled
“Croquet Pro” sent his two balls off court in a croquet
out leaving the danger ball a 24 yard shot from wicket
five to two balls in corner 3. Martin roqueted the
slightly closer ball into the other and managed to keep
both balls in bounds! After tying the game, the man in
white knickers made the most of the deadness to win by
one point in the third rotation of last turns. Rick
Sheely later defeated Wild Bill on his way to third
place. Rick's shrewd strategy and his ability to stop a
rolling ball with the snap of his fingers led him to
both semi-finals. The good Dr. Sheely's only losses of
the tournament were against the finalists. Young Ben
made his way through the loser's bracket with four wins
in a row to reach the finals against Paul Bennett. In
the first of a possible two final games, a Chernobyl
opening was slowly played out until Ben attacked into
corner 3 from corner 4. Ben got the break going on that
turn, but later missed an angled wicket shot at hoop 5.
When Ben attempted to position his partner ball, Paul
hit in and masterfully kept Ben dead for the majority of
the game. Paul won the championship after a few
desperate 25 foot hoop shots that went awry for young
Ben. In the end Paul managed to go completely undefeated
through the entire tournament in singles. Paul's only
loss was in the previously mentioned nationals calibre
doubles game. Paul graciously accepted his trophies and
honored many of the people responsible for such an
excellent tournament including the generous Ellery
McClatchy. Unbeknownst to Paul, a motion was made at the
club's 20th anniversary celebration to rename the
Mission Hills Invite as the Ellery McClatchy
Invitational in the future. See you there next year!

Just one week after celebrating it's 20th anniversary
with founders Pat Apple and Nancy Deupree, the Mission
Hills Country Club in beautiful Palm Springs,
California, hosted its annual Invitational tournament.
Club President, Jim Butts, and his wife Phyllis worked
tirelessly to make this one of the best invitationals in
recent memory. The brilliant sunny days and temperatures
in the 70s and 80s attracted snow birds from British
Columbia, Idaho, Minnesota and New Hampshire to round
out a very competitive yet fun-loving crew.

Championship Singles:
1.Paul Bennett
2.Ben Rothman 
3.Rick Sheely
4.Bill Martin
5.Ron Hendry
  Jim Butts
7.Mike Orgill
  Bill Hixon
9.Bob Van Tassell
10.Aviv Katz
11.Janet Hamilton
   Len Lyon
13.Bill Hamilton
   Bill Roche

First Flight Singles:
1.Rich Schiller
2.Phyllis Butts
3.Lee Hamel
4.Donna Dixon
5.Marty Ormsby
  Mary Rodeberg
7.Becky Essick
  Cindy Bagby
9.Bob Kays
  Ruthie Windsor-Mann
11.John Adams
   Peter Bach
   Hope Harmon
14.Len Lyon
15.Biff Roche
16.Barbara Mitchell

Second Flight Singles:
1.Marvin Salles
2.Jean Engebretson
3.Dick Engebretson
4.Eric Sawyer
5.David Cartwright
  Karen Comeau
  Toni Kemp
8.Caren Sawyer

First Flight Waterford Doubles:
1.Jim Butts
2.Paul Bennett
3.Aviv Katz
4.Barbara Mitchell
5.Bill Hamilton
6.Mike Orgill
7.Ron Hendry
8.Bob Van Tassell
9.Rick Sheely
10.Bill Hixon
11.Jim Bonacci
12.Bill Martin

Second Flight Waterford Doubles:
1.Donna Dixon
2.Karen Comeau
3.Caren Sawyer
4.Nancy Feldman
5.David Cartwright
6.Cindy Bagby
7.Rich Schiller
8.Peter Bach
9.Eric Sawyer
10.Hope Harmon
11.Toni Kemp
12.Mary Rodeberg
13.Dick Engebretson
14.Frank Dixon
15.John Adams
16.Lee Hamel