This year's US Open was not as well attended as most of the recent past events but the quality of play was exceptional.  Are there more tournaments to pick from, is the economy down, maybe folks are saving their vacation time for the WCF Worlds in Florida during May, is the US Open nearing its end?

So much the better, all players that wanted to play in the Championship open flight were allowed to join in since the number of entries did not fill it up.  Still with a cross over game from the opposing block, each player received 9 games in block play and was guaranteed a 10th game either in the playoff rounds or in the plate event.  Everyone played as much as was possible except for one player who went packing early after being eliminated.  (I played the most possible games - 16 in total.)

There were three flights of play and each was filled with excitement and lots of good croquet.  The courts play exceptionally well and the Mission Hills croquet club is the finest in terms of providing an inviting place for making long-term friendships and honorable sportsmanship.  It truly is a special place to host an event.  Stan must be proud to work with such a great team at Mission Hills.  This was the 21st annual US Open.

Jerry Stark demonstrated excellent play and superior tactics during block play pulling off 2 sextuple peel-outs and numerous triple peels.  Doug Grimsley, however, accumulated more net points by trouncing the competition with triple peelouts and won his block.  Ben Rothman represented his block well with an almost perfect record and with more more net points he won his block.  Paul Bennett with an equal number of wins came out 2nd in the block against Ben; Jerry came out of his block 2nd against Doug again with an equal number of wins.  Paul and Jerry went down to the repassage ladder and Ben and Doug dooked it out in a best of three round.

Other notable marks were made by Matt Baird, last years's finalist, and Bob Van Tassell, also known as Sandy Bob, whom both made successful triple peel-outs in tournament play.  Congratulations!

The second round of play found two Arizona competitors against each other while two Texan competitors played each other. In the third round, Paul beat Johnny Mitchell to earn a spot against Ben Rothman, his partner both in this year's Solomon Trophy matchup against Great Britain and in the British Open tournament.  Paul was victorious in this match with a failed sextuple peelout attempt.

The finals were well attended by folks from around the area including a couple of new players from Barstow, David Collins from Los Angeles and fellow Arizonan Jacques Fournier.

In the finals the following day, the crowd was just starting to drink vodka bloody marys when the best of three match was nearly over in the second game with Grimsley up 9 and taking the last 17 with a triple peel; when all of a sudden, at rover, the wheels came off and Paul was handed four balls out in the middle of the court.  Paul quickly made a trip around the court to take 9 hoops and set a diagonal spread leave.  Doug, thankfully for the crowd, missed Paul's leave and Paul finished with a triple peel-out of his own to tie the match.

As lunch began, Paul was running a clean 4 ball break around to 4-back to take the early lead in the third game.  Doug did not miss the leave and with a full stomach ran around with his first ball and pegging out Paul's front ball by peeling it through its last three wickets and staking it out of the game.  The game was not over for Doug or Paul since they now had to advance their last ball through to the peg.  It usually comes down to who can be patient or who can hit and do something fantastic with the hit-in.  Doug played it great and is now the US Open champion.


In the A flight class event, Bob Riddell defeated Marty Ormsby in the finals and Judy Dahlstrom won the B flight.

I promise to record the other winners and standings whenever Stan or Rory send me the official results.

A special thanks goes to Jim Butts, the president of the Mission Hills croquet club and all the members and players from  Mission Hills.

I regret not seeing Ellery this year and hope his health and spirit return to him as much as he has given to our love of croquet.

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Scope:  Three (3) flights.  Open (Championship level), A and B flights

             Time limit 2 hours games.

Players:

Open Blue Block:                        Open Black Block

Mike Orgill                             Art Bagby

Jerry Stark                             Matt Baird

Ron Coleman                             Johnny Mitchell

Doug Grimsley                           Robert Kays              ( all American players )

Len Lyon                                Jim Butts

Britt Ruby                              Paul Bennett

Cameron Guernsey                        Aviv Katz

Ron Hendry                              Robert Van Tassell

Rory Kelley                             Ben Rothman

A  Flight:                              B Flight

Richard Engebretson                     Cindy Bagby

Elaine Fong                             David Cartwright

Sheri Foroughi                          Judy Dahlstrom

Jane McDonnell                          Jean Engebretson

Marty Ormsby                            Toni Kemp

Stephanie Paduano

Bob Riddle

Mary Rodeberg

Marvin Salles

Richard Tucker

SCORES:   US Open 2008

 Open Blue Block

      Day 1

Grimsley bt Orgill +17tp
Stark bt Hendry +10
VanTassell bt Coleman +22(ot)
Guernsey bt Lyon +8(ot)
Ruby bt Kelley +15
Orgill bt Coleman +3(ot)
Grimsley bt Bennett +26tp
Kelley bt Lyon +6(ot)
Ruby bt Hendry +3tp
Stark bt Coleman +15
Orgill bt Guernsey +1(ot)
Grimsley bt Hendry +26tp
Stark bt Lyon +26sxp
Butts bt Ruby +10(ot)
Kelley bt Guernsey +20

 Open Black Block

Bennett bt A.Bagby +19tp
Rothman bt Mitchell +25tp
Katz bt Kays +12(ot)
Butts bt Baird +5(ot)
A.Bagby bt VanTassell +1(ot)
Baird bt Kays +1(ot)
Butts bt Mitchell +11
Katz bt A.Bagby +10(ot)
Rothman bt VanTassell +1(ot)
Baird Bt Katz +6(ot)
Bennett bt Mitchell +23tp
Rothman bt Kays +15

   DAY 2

   Blue Block

Orgill bt Lyon +21
Kelley bt Coleman +13
Grimsley bt Guernsey +26tp
Stark bt Ruby +25tp
Orgill bt Hendry 3(ot)
Grimsley bt Coleman +23
Lyon bt Kays +11
Ruby bt Coleman +9(ot)
Stark bt Guernsey +26sxp
Mitchell bt Hendry +11tp
Grimsley bt Kelley +26tp
Stark bt Orgill +10tp
Ruby bt Lyon +23
Guernsey bt Katz +8(ot)
Kelley bt Hendry +10

     Black Block

A.Bagby bt Kays +15
Baird bt VanTassell +5(ot)
Bennett bt Katz +10(ot)
Rothman bt Butts +26tp
Mitchell bt A.Bagby +4(ot)
Bennett bt VanTassell +7tp
Rothman bt Katz +26tp
Bennett bt Baird +21
VanTassell bt Butts +24
Rothman bt A.Bagby +26tp
Mitchell bt Baird +25
Butts bt Kays +1(ot)

     DAY 3

    Blue Block

Grimsley bt Lyon +24tp
Hendry bt Guernsey +6(ot)
Kelley bt Baird +26tp
A.Bagby bt Orgill +3(ot)
Stark bt Kelley +18
Hendry bt Coleman +15
Ruby bt Guernsey +9(ot)
Kelley bt Orgill +26
Rothman bt Stark +17
Coleman bt Lyon + 14(ot)

Grimsley bt Ruby +26
Guernsey bt Coleman +17
Lyon bt Hendry +3(ot)
Ruby bt Orgill +26tp
Stark bt Grimsley +26tp

   Black Block

Mitchell bt Katz +25
Bennett bt Kays +21
VanTassell bt Mitchell +12tp
Rothman bt Baird +26tp
Butts bt Katz +23tp
Baird bt A.Bagby +26tp
VanTassell bt Kays +3(ot)
Bennett bt Butts +26tp
Butts bt A.Bagby +25tp
Mitchell bt Kays +26tp
Bennett bt Rothman +2
VanTassell bt Katz +4(ot)

BLOCK PLAY  A FLIGHT

   Day 1 ( No game finished on time nor went to 26 )

Riddell bt Rodeberg +1
Ormsby bt Foroughi +1
R.Engebretson bt McDonnell +15
Paduano bt Tucker +2
Riddell bt Fong +5
Ormsby bt Salles +10
Rodeberg bt Paduano +1
R.Engebretson bt Foroughi +3
McDonnell bt Salles +12
Tucker bt Fong +3

    Day 2 (all games went to time none went to 26)

Riddell bt Paduano +8
R.Engebretson bt Ormsby +2
Foroughi bt McDonnell +3
Tucker bt Rodeberg +10
Rodeberg bt Fong +2
Salles bt Foroughi +2
Riddell bt Tucker +6
Ormsby bt McDonnell +3
Paduano bt Fong +14
R.Engebretson bt Salles +10

    DAY 3 (all games went to time none went to 26)

Riddell bt Foroughi +8
Ormsby bt Rodeberg +8
McDonnell bt Paduano +7
R.Engebretson bt Tucker +1
Riddell bt Salles +15
Ormsby bt Fong +7
Foroughi bt Paduano +3
R.Engebretson bt Rodeberg +7
McDonnell bt Fong +7
Salles bt Tucker +9

   B Flight Block Play

     Day 1

C.Bagby bt Cartwright +4
J.Engebretson bt Kemp +6
Dahlstrom bt C.Bagby +1
Cartwright bt J.Engebretson +4
Dahlstrom bt Kemp +11

   DAY 2

Kemp bt Cartwright +10
Dahlstrom bt J.Engebretson +9
C.Bagby bt Kemp +2
Dahlstrom bt Cartwright +7
C.Bagby bt J.Engebretson +1

    Day 3

C.Bagby bt Cartwright +5
Kemp bt J.Engebretson +5
Dahlstrom bt Kemp +7
J.Engebretson bt Cartwright +3
C.Bagby bt Dahlstrom +5

REPASSAGE & FINALS US Open 2008

Open Flight:

Mitchell bt Stark +25
Ruby bt Butts +4(ot)
Kelley bt VanTassell +13(ot)
Bennett bt Orgill +21

Mitchell bt Ruby +25tp
Bennett bt Kelley +8(ot)
Bennett bt Mitchell +17

( Block winners best 2 out of 3 )

Rothman bt Grimsley +10tp
Grimsley bt Rothman +17tp
Grimsley bt Rothman +12

Bennett bt Rothman +8

(Finals)

Grimsley bt Bennett +10tpo
Bennett bt Grimsley +3tp
Grimsley bt Bennett +9tpo

( Grimsley wins Open/Championship flight. )

Open flight PLATE:

A.Bagby bt Coleman +6(ot) Bagby withdraws does not advance.
Kays bt Lyon +1(ot)
Guernsey bt Katz +12(ot)
Kelley bt Coleman +25tp
Ruby bt VanTassell +11(ot)
Butts bt Guernsey +26tp
Hendry bt Orgill +19
Butts bt Kelley +26tp
Ruby bt Hendry +26tp
Butts bt Ruby +9tp

( Jim Butts wins Open/Championship Flight PLATE ).

 A  Flight Repassage & Finals  US Open 2008

Ormsby advance with bye
Foroughi bt Rodeberg +2
McDonnell bt Tucker +7
Paduano bt Salles +4
Ormsby bt Foroughi +1
Paduano bt McDonnell +2
Ormsby bt Paduano +3

( Top two in block in single game playoff )
Riddell bt R.Engebretson +11

 FINALS
Riddell bt Ormsby +4

( All games went to time and none to 26 )

 B Flight Repassage & Finals

C.Bagby bt Cartwright +2
Kemp bt J.Engebretson +3
C.Bagby bt Kemp +4
C.Bagby bt Dahlstrom +4

  Cindy Bagby wins  B Flight

 B Flight Plate

J.Engebretson bt Cartwright +1
J.Engebretson bt Kemp +1

  Jean Engbretson wins B Plate.

 ( All games went to time and none went to 26.)

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