CROQUET NEWS:  2001 North American Open Won by Ed Cunningham

21-25 May 2001
Stern Grove and Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California, USA
by Leo Nikora

The 2001 North American Open was played on two courts at Stern Grove, and two courts at Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco, CA on 21-25 May 2001.  For pictures, see the Maui Croquet Club Gallery of Places.

Ed Cunningham of Ireland (7th ranked player in the world) beat Trevor Bassett of Australia (9th ranked) to win the championship.  Martin Clarke (#22) and Tony Hall (#97) of Australia made the all-unamerican semifinals.  Charlie Smith (#148) beat Rory Kelley (#135) to win the  plate, after early leader Richard Powell withdrew.
 
Top Ten Players
Rank Player Country
#7 Ed Cunningham Ireland
#9 Trevor Bassett Australia
#22 Martin Clarke Australia
#23 Mik Mehas California
#28 Jacques Fournier Arizona
#97 Tony Hall Australia
#134 Bill Martin Tennesee
#135 Rory Kelley Arizona
#148 Charlie Smith California
#190 Bob Cherry Georgia
#201 Jim Audas California

Three days of Block A and Block B play were followed by two days of Knockout and Plate play.  All scores below.  Some details available.

Knockout
Player Country/State Rank Semifinal Final Champion
Martin Clarke Australia #22 Clarke
+17, +7		 Cunningham
+24tp, -26, +26tp		 Cunningham
+3qnp, +25, +9tpo
Bob Cherry Georgia #190
Ed Cunningham Ireland #7 Cunningham
+26tp, +25
Jacques Fournier Arizona #28
Tony Hall Australia #97 Hall
+25, +3		 Bassett
-26tp, +19tp, +24tp
Rich Lamm Colorado #204
Trevor Bassett Australia #9 Bassett
+17, +9tpo
Bill Martin Tennesee #134

Plate

Egyptian format (play as many 2-hour games as you want with whomever you want).  Top two finishers play 2/3 to determine winner of plate.
Player Country/State Rank Finish Index Kelly Smith Audas Nel Peterson Rosenberry Mitchell Nikora Powell Uhlman
Rory Kelley Arizona #135 2nd 115 2/3 +1t +17
Charlie Smith California #148 2nd 115 2/3 +5t +2t
Jim Audas California #201 7th 91 1/3 +6t
Louis Nel Canada #205 9th 86 1/3 +17
Erv Peterson California #225 5th 100 1/2 +14
Ken Rosenberry Pennsylvania #260 4th 114 +11 +11 3/4 +6t
Johnny Mitchell Texas #306 5th 100 1/2 +9tp
Leo Nikora Hawaii #611 10th 64 0/5
Richard Powell Alabama 1st 128 +14t +16 +3t +23 4/4
Carl Uhlman Washington 8th 87 +5 2/3
(scores below main diagonal are upsets)
All players are given a starting index of 100.  After each game, each player's index is recomputed with the winner getting the positive increment, and the loser given the negative increment.
 
Difference in Index Won by Higher Index Player Won by Lower Index Player
0 + and - 10
1-10 + and - 9 + and - 11
11-20 + and - 8 + and - 12
21-30 + and - 7 + and - 13
31-40 + and - 6 + and - 14
41-50 + and - 5 + and - 15
51-60 + and - 4 + and - 16
61-70 + and - 3 + and - 17
71-80 + and - 2 + and - 18

Block A
Player Country/State Rank Finish Bassett Clarke Fournier Smith Lamm Nel Peterson Rosenberry Lastinger Powell Net Gross
Trevor Bassett Australia #9 2 8/9 +16 +26 +8tpo +6 +26tp +8 +20 +15 99 208
Martin Clarke Australia #22 1 +26 9/9 +26 +26tp +25 +17tp +25 +9 +20 +6 180 234
Jacques Fournier Arizona #28 3 7/9 +26 +9 +26tp +26 +7tp +6sxp +26 104 192
Charlie Smith California #148 7 3/9 +7t +17 +1 +12t -112 81
Rich Lamm Colorado #204 4 +13 5/9 +6 +3 +21tp +23 10 178
Louis Nel Canada #205 8 2/9 +24 +23 -43 138
Erv Peterson California #225 6 +26 +3t 4/9 +11 +1t -41 142
Kenster Rosenberry Pennsylvania #260 5 +25 +15 4/9 +26tp +16 26 178
Ron Lastinger California 10 +2t 1/9 -162 62
Richard Powell Alabama 9 +14 +24 2/9 -61 128
(scores below main diagonal are upsets)

Block B
Player Country Rank Finish Cunningham Mehas Hall Martin Kelly Cherry Audas Mitchell Nikora Uhlman Net Gross
Ed Cunningham Ireland #7 2 6/8 +4 +4 +25 +17 +25tp +25tp 71 179
Mik Mehas California #23  withdrew (+17tp) (+24tp)
Tony Hall Australia #97 1 +20tp 7/8 +23tp +20 +5 +4 +26tp +19 101 188
Bill Martin Tennesee #134 3 +16 5/8 +6t +9 +4 +1t +9t 21 158
Rory Kelley Arizona #135 5 +2t 5/8 +11 +16 +16 +13 17 164
Bob Cherry Georgia #190 4 +9tp +12 +14 5/8 +9t +20 18 151
Jim Audas California #201 8 1/8 +3t -82 99
Johnny Mitchell Texas #306 7 +25 +9 3/8 +12 -8 145
Leo Nikora Hawaii #611 9 0/8 -109 81
Carl Uhlman Washington 6 +16 +1t +17 +17 +2t 4/8 -29 127
(scores below main diagonal are upsets)