CROQUET NEWS:  United States Open Won by Paul Bennett

	Place	Player, State	Rank
	1st	Paul Bennett, AZ	#64
	2nd	Britt Ruby, TX	#232
	3rd	Matt Baird, OK	=229
	4th	Paul Billings , HI	#270
	5th	Rory Kelley, AZ	#249
		Tony LeMoignan, JE	#40
	7th	Brian Cumming, ON	#100
		Jim Butts, CA	#168
		Leo Nikora , HI	#262
		Erv Peterson, CA	#268
	11th	Johnny Mitchell, TX	#256
		David Collins, CA	#582
	13th	Russell Brown, NY	#378
		Ron Hendry, LA	#542
		Aviv Katz, CA	#547
		Rich Schiller, CA	#653
	17th	Mike Orgill, CA	#367
		Rob Coleman, CA	#698
		Wally Clark, OR
		Bob Imoff, BC

6-10 December 2006
Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, CA, USA
by Leo Nikora in Maui Croquet Club News, Kihei, Hawaii, USA

Paul Bennett receives the United States Open trophy from tournament director Stan Patmor.

Paul Bennett of Arizona beat Britt Ruby of Texas in the finals of the United States Open. Matt Baird of Oklahoma came in third, and Paul Billings of Hawaii finished fourth.

Twenty people from the United States, Canada, and Jersey, played on six double-banked courts at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. The players' world rankings (as of 30 October 2006) ranged from #40 to #698. The courts were in excellent condition, even though they had been reseeded just a few month prior. The weather was excellent; being cold only on the first morning.

Two blocks of ten played a full round-robin. The winners of each block entered medalist play, and the next four finishers of each block advanced to knockout play. The winner of medalist play advanced to the finals of knockout play, and the loser advanced to the semi finals of knockout play.

Association Rules were followed. Games were two hours long. Wilhoit balls were used. Stan Patmor directed the tournament, and Rory Kelley managed the tournament.

A wonderful champagne brunch was held beside the court during the finals of the event. Ellery McClatchy hosted a marvelous dinner at his home. Stan Patmor put on a barbeque at the Casa Larrea Inn in Palm Desert, CA, where many of the players were staying.

Pictures are posted in the Maui Croquet Club Gallery.

Knockout

The second through fifth finishers of the two blocks (Block A and Block B) were seeded into an eight-player single-elimination knockout, with matches being one two-hour game. The winner played the loser of the medalist in the one two-hour game semi-final match. The winner of the semi-final match played the winner of the medalist in the best-of-three two-hour games final match.

	(1st) Paul Bennett, AZ [#64]				Bennett 24-9 26tp-3
(2nd) Brian Cumming, ON [#100]	Ruby 18-14	Ruby 26-10	Ruby 22-13	Ruby 16-15
(5th) Britt Ruby, TX [#232]
(4th) Leo Nikora , HI [#262]	Kelley 22-11
(3rd) Rory Kelley, AZ [#249]
(3rd) Jim Butts, CA [#168]	LeMoignan 20-9	Billings 26-9
(4th) Tony LeMoignan, JE [#40]
(5th) Erv Peterson, CA [#266]	Billings 12-9
(2nd) Paul Billings , HI [#270]
	(2nd) Matt Baird, OK [=229]

Medalist

The winners of the two blocks (Block A and Block B) played a best-of-three two-hour games medalist match. The winner advanced to the final match of knockout play, and the loser advanced to the semi-final match of knockout play.

Paul Bennett, AZ [#64]	Bennett 26tp-0 26tp-2
Matt Baird, OK [=229]

Blocks

There were two ten-player blocks: Block A and Block B. Each block played a full round-robin, with matches being one two-hour game. The top five players advanced to knockout play.

Block A	Bennett	Cumming	Butts	Mitchell	Nikora	Peterson	Hendry	Katz	Schiller	Coleman
Paul Bennett AZ [#64]	1st 8, +142		26-0	26tp-6	26-6	26-9	26-9	26-3	26dp-3	26tp-4
Brian Cumming ON [#100]	26-9	2nd 8, +128	26qdp-9	26tp-1	26tp-7		20-19	26-10	26tp-0	26-11
Jim Butts CA [#168]			3rd 6 wins	20-16	22-10	26-3	16-12		21-2	20-2
Johnny Mitchell TX [#256]				6th 5, +0	26-10		26-4	22-20	26-7	19-14
Leo Nikora HI [#262]					4th 5, +18	26-2	26-12	26-8	19-7	26-9
Erv Peterson CA [#268]		26-18		26-10		5th 5, +17		26-8	26-3	26-5
Ron Hendry LA [#542]						22-17	7th 3 wins	22-10	26-9
Aviv Katz CA [#547]			15-14					8th 2, -87		13-10
Rich Schiller CA [#653]								10-8	9th 2, -134	10-7
Rob Coleman CA [#698]							15-13			10th 1 win

Block B	LeMoignan	Baird	Ruby	Kelley	Billings	Orgill	Brown	Collins	Clark	Imoff
Tony LeMoignan JE [#40]	4th 7, +64		26-3	26tp-11		23-9	26-8	19-18	26tp-0	26tp-8
Matt Baird OK [=229]	26-1	1st 7, +99	23-13		13-12	23-13		26-0	26-1	26-2
Britt Ruby TX [#232]			5th 5 wins			15-11	26tp-1	26tp-23	26-2	26-6
Rory Kelley AZ [#249]		26-5	26-4	3rd 7, +69		26-13	26-15	22-21	26-4	22-18
Paul Billings HI [#270]	26-0		26tp-12	22-12	2nd 7, +74		17-15	11-10	12-2	26-9
Mike Orgill CA [#367]					10-5	7th 3, -26			22-9	15-12
Russell Brown NY [#378]		21-20					8th 3, -37	18-13	26-3
David Collins CA [#582]						17-11		6th 3, +1	26-9	26-11
Wally Clark OR									10th 0 wins
Bob Imoff BC							19-9		10-7	9th 2 wins