CROQUET NEWS:  2005 United States Open Won by Jerry Stark

	Place	Open Flight Player	World
	1st	Jerry Stark, CA	#36
	2nd	Rich Lamm, CO	#102
	3rd	Tony LeMoignan, Jer	#122
	4th	Rory Kelly, AZ	#148
	5th	Paul Bennett, AZ	#115
	6th	Jerry Guest, Eng	#118
	7th	Jim Butts, CA Leo Nikora, HI	#279 #308
	9th	Johnny Mitchell, TX Martyn Selman, CA Mike Orgill, CA Arthur Bagby, AL	#394 #397 #472 #552
	13th	Charlie Smith, CA David Collins, CA Tim Wheeler, HI Len Lyon, CA	#387 #501 #582 #669
	17th	Jim Bast, TX Ren Kraft, AZ Gordon Smale, CO Elaine Fong, CA	#125 #244 #727 #800

7-11 December 2005
Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, California, USA
by Leo Nikora

Jerry Stark wining the 2005 United States Open.

The 2005 United States Open was won by Jerry Stark of Middletown, California; it was the first time he has won the US Open, after finishing in the top four many times in the past ten years. Rich Lamm of Denver, Colorado, placed second; he finished third last year, and was the first player to win in consecutive years (2002 and 2003). Rory Kelley of Phoenix, Arizona, placed third. Defending US Open champion Paul Bennett of Phoenix, Arizona, placed fourth; he also won the US Open Plate.

Thirty four players from the United States of America, England, and Jersey played on six courts at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, USA. Players were divided into an Open Flight of twenty players, and a B Flight of 14 players.

B Flight was won by Rick Schiller of California. Aviv Katz of California placed second. Bob Kays of Texas was third. And, Robert Coleman of California finished fourth.

Stan Patmore directed the tournament with help from Rory Kelley and Ren Kraft. Wilhoit Extreme balls were used, and Association (International) Advanced Rules were followed. All games were two hours long.

	TPs	Open Flight Player
	5	Rich Lamm, CO
	3	Jerry Stark, CA Tony LeMoignan, Jer Johnny Mitchell, TX
	1	Rory Kelly, AZ Leo Nikora, HI Ren Kraft, AZ

See Maui Croquet Club Gallery for more pictures.

Open Flight

The US Open champion was determined by single-elimination Knockout Play. The final was best of three games.

Open Knockout				Rich Lamm (1st)	Stark 26-3 26-1
Jerry Guest (2nd)	Guest 22-10	Kelley 23-22	LeMoignan 26tp-23	Stark 26-8
Martyn Selman (5th)
Leo Nikora (4th)	Kelley 26-1
Rory Kelley (3rd)
Johnny Mitchell (4th)	Bennett 26-10	LeMoignan 23-22
Paul Bennett (3rd)
Tony LeMoignan (2nd)	LeMoignan +13
Mike Orgill (5th)
			Jerry Stark (2nd)

Seeding in the Knockout Play was determined by Block Play. The winners of each of two blocks of twenty two players advanced to Medalist Play. First place of Medalist Play advanced to the final of Knockout Play, and second place to the semifinal.

Losers from Knockout Play, and players not advancing out of Block Play, played in a single-elimination Plate.

Open Plate		Jerry Guest (5th)	Guest 26-0	Guest 26-10	Bennett 26-23
	Arthur Bagby (6th)	Bagby 20-3
Jim Bast (7th)	Lyon 7-6
Len Lyons (8th)
David Collins (9th)	Collins 15-9	Selman 17-4	Nikora 14-13
Gordon Smale (10th)
	Martin Selman (7th)
		Leo Nikora (7th)
		Paul Bennett (5th)	Bennett 26-0	Bennett 26-0
	Johnny Mitchell (7th)	Mitchell 26-2
Elaine Fong (10th)	Smith 26-4
Charlie Smith (8th)
Tim Wheeler (9th)	Wheeler 13-11	Butts 23-8	Butts 19-14
Ren Kraft (7th)
	Jim Butts (6th)
		Mike Orgill (7th)

The top five players in each block advanced out of Block Play.

Open Block A		Stark	Bennett	Guest	Bast	Nikora	Smith	Orgill	Bagby	Wheeler	Smale
#36	Jerry Stark	#1 (9)	26-3	26-9	26tp-0	26-11	26tp-0	26tp-11	26-9	26-0	23-12
#115	Paul Bennett		#3 (6, +110)		26tp-8		26-14	26-7	26tp-0	26-3	26-5
#118	Jerry Guest		26-0	#2 (7)	20-12		26-3	26-0	14-11	+22	26-4
#125	Jim Bast				#7 (4, -45)		19-10		13-12	20-2	14-11
#308	Leo Nikora		26-23	19-11	26tp-0	#4 (6, +63)	11-9			26-5	26-4
#387	Charlie Smith						#8 (2)			16-11	22-8
#472	Mike Orgill				12-4	22-10	13-4	#5 (6, +10)	11-3	26-3	16-7
#552	Arthur Bagby					23-12	22-3		#6 (4, +3)	26-0	14-12
#582	Tim Wheeler									#9 (1)	15-11
#727	Gordon Smale										#10 (0)