Maui Croquet Club News in 2005

CROQUET NEWS: Maui Croquet Club Championship Won by Leo Nikora

	Past Champions
	2004	Leo Nikora
	2003	Leo Nikora
	2002	Leo Nikora
	2001	Paul Billings
	2000	Leo Nikora
	1999	Leo Nikora
	1998	Leo Nikora

15-23 October 2005
The Lodge at Koele, Lanai City, Hawaii, USA
Waipuilani Park, Kihei, Hawaii, USA
story by Leo Nikora
photo by Beverley Nikora


Larry Icalla, Leo Nikora, Dick Karr Paul Billings, Dave Kron, Tim Wheeler Bruno Amby.

The 2005 Maui Croquet Club Championship was won by Leo Nikora. Bruno Amby came in second, and Paul Billings finished third. In the closest competition in the club's history, there was a three-way tie for first place that was broken by net points.

The club's championship tournament was a double round robin; each member played the other six members twice. Play took place over eight days at two venues -- the club's 3/4-sized court at Waipuilani Park on the island of Maui, and The Lodge at Koele's two championship courts on the island of Lanai. Two-hour games were played according to Advanced International Rules. Sunshiny balls and hoops from The Croquet Store were used. The tournament was sanctioned by the United States Croquet Association, with Leo Nikora as tournament director.

Nikora, Amby, and Billings each finished with 10 wins, and each beat the other two once. Even the total net points were close with only a 30-point spread; Nikora with +174, Amby with +151, and Billings with +144. Truly a tight finish.

Amby's second place finish was the surprise of the tournament. Even though his handicap is a 3, he upset scratch players Nikora and Billings in level play.

Kron had the only other upset win, beating Wheeler. He also scored at least a point in all his games -- even against the scratch players.

Karr played for the first time on a championship court, and liked it a lot. He's thinking about entering a tournament at the Puget Sound Croquet Club near his winter home in Washington, USA.

A member's dinner was held at the Blue Ginger restaurant on Lanai. Dick Karr's wife Nadine, Tim Wheeler's wife Martha Vanderlin, Bruno Amby's wife Patty, and Leo Nikora's wife Beverley, also attended.

For pictures from the tournament, see the Maui Croquet Club Gallery of Events.

Finish

Rank	Player	Wins	Net	Gross	Pegs Out	Peels Out
1st	Leo Nikora	10	+174	263	7	3
2nd	Bruno Amby	10	+151	253	7
3rd	Paul Billings	10	+144	235	4
4th	Larry Icalla	6	+17	173	1
5th	Tim Wheeler	3	-130	102
6th	Dave Kron	2	-171	77
7th	Dick Karr	1	-185	76

Results

Player (handicap)	Nikora	Billings	Amby	Icalla	Wheeler	Karr	Kron
Leo Nikora (0)	10 +174	21-15	26-11	22-9 15-10	26tp-2 26-10	26-0 26-4	26-2 26-2
Paul Billings (0)	11-10	10 +144	14-11	21-4 14-13	26-7 26-0	26-1 26-0	25-2 23-7
Bruno Amby (3)	13-13	15-8	10 +151	26-10 26-7	26-10 21-5	26-1 26-3	26-1 26-4
Larry Icalla (4)				6 +17	14-9 22-4	26-3 18-13	21-1 19-2
Tim Wheeler (5)					3 -130	15-7 17-11	14-12
Dick Karr (10)						1 -185	20-10
Dave Kron (10)					15-9	19-13	2 -171

Bruno Amby over Leo Nikora 13-13
Nikora lead most of the way. Late in the game, Amby made several very long cross-court hit-ins, and closed the score to 12-13. With seconds remaining, Nikora in a defensive manuver from near hoop #1 attempted to croquet the enemy ball for hoop #3 into corner three, but the ball ran hoop #3 backwards at a forty five degree angle, and rolled to a stop three inches in front of the hoop! Amby ran hoop #3, and time expired with the score 13-13. To break the time, a shoot-out to the peg was held from the yard line, and Amby won by rolling six inches closer to the peg than Nikora.

Leo Nikora over Larry Icalla 15-10
Icalla took an early lead of 10-3. Late in the game, Nikora did an all-round run, and set a contact-lift leave to take the lead 15-10. Icalla took the lift to contact, but could not run a hoop. After a few more turns, Leo hit in, and time expired.