CROQUET NEWS:  Meadowood Classic Won by Paul Billings

18-22 July 2006
Meadowood Resort, St. Helena, California, USA
by Jerry Stark in Croquet World Online
charts by Leo Nikora

	Place	Player, State [USA Rank]
	1st	Paul Billings, HI [#40]
	2nd	Dick Brackett, FL
	3rd	Jim Butts, CA [#26]
	4th	Erv Peterson, CA [#37]
	5th	Johnny Mitchell, TX [#35]
	6th	Charlie Smith, CA [#45]
	7th	Mike Orgill, CA [#42]
	8th	Ron Hendry, LA [#54]
	9th	Bruno Amby, HI [#46]
	10th	Bob Chilton, TX
	11th	Dave Collins, CA [#48]
	12th	Tim Wheeler, HI [#81]

The 20th Annual Meadowood Croquet Classic was played under scorching skies from July 18-22 at Meadowood Napa Valley and the Ink Grade Croquet club. There were 19 entrants, down a bit from last year, but the numbers worked in favor of the players since they all got more games. Play was Association Croquet singles in two flights, Championship and the “Killer B” flights. The Championship flight was played in one block of 12 with 8 advancing to a one day single elimination ladder on Saturday. The “Killer B” flight was one block of 7 played Tuesday through Thursday then we had a random draw for the two games each player would play on Friday, then all advanced to a one day single elimination ladder on Saturday.

The Championship flight block was won by Jim Butts going 10-1, the “Killer B” Flight block was won by Aviv Katz going 7-1. So it seemed that being from Palm Springs and playing in Palm Springs type heat worked well for Jim and Aviv. The temperatures were about 15 degrees above normal for St. Helena, Monday (the practice day) and Tuesday were 102, Wednesday cooled off to balmy 91, Thursday jumped to 97, Friday came along with another jump to 102 and the Saturday ladders were played under a nice 108 breezless and cloudless sky.

The “Killer B” flight was won by Meadowood & Mission Hills member Marilyn O’Neil, with Sonoma Cutrer member Rob Coleman placing second. The Championship flight was won by first-time winner from the Maui Croquet Club Paul Billings, with National Croquet Center member Dick Brackett placing second.

A good time was had by all even with the heat, the Wednesday evening steak dinner at Smith Madrone winery was great and Ellery McClatchy hosted another great dinner at his Ink Grade compound on Thursday evening.

Jim Butts, CA (1st)	Hendry +1	Billings +2t	Billings +1t
Ron Hendry, LA (8th)
Paul Billings, HI (5th)	Billings +19t
Johnny Mitchell, TX (4th)
Dick Brackett, FL (3rd)	Brackett +15t	Brackett +4t
Charlie Smith, CA (6th)
Mike Orgill, CA (7th)	Peterson +16
Erv Peterson, CA (2nd)

Player, State [USA Rank]

Butts

Peterson

Mitchell

Billings

Orgill

Brackett

Smith

Amby

Collins

Hendry

Chilton

Wheeler

Jim Butts, CA [#26]

1st (10)

+17

+5t

+25TP

+26

+17TP

+6t

+2t

+2t

+1t

+26TP

Erv Peterson, CA [#37]

2nd (9)

+9t

+23

+13

+21

+12

+15

+2t

+8t

+23

Johnny Mitchell, TX [#35]

4th (7, +46)

+14t

+5t

+18t

+25TP

+21

+9

+5t

Paul Billings, HI [#40]

+1t

+12t

5th (7, +27)

+5t

+26

+18t

+4t

+4t

Mike Orgill, CA [#42]

+5t

7th (6, -1)

+9t

+7t

+10t

+3t

+24

Dick Brackett, FL

+25

+1t

3rd (8)

+5t

+7t

+15

+10t

+16

+21

Charlie Smith, CA [#45]

+1t

+1t

6th (6, +12)

+1t

+21

+17

+26

Bruno Amby, HI [#46]

9th (4)

+10t

+24

+16

+19

Dave Collins, CA [#48]

11th (1)

+25

Ron Hendry, LA [#54]

+14

+19

+16

8th (5)

+25

+1t

Bob Chilton, TX

+6t

+1t

10th (3)

+22

Tim Wheeler, HI [#81]

12th (0)