Roger is the GC All England Handicap Champion!

The GC All England Handicap Final was played over a sunny weekend of 11/12th September at Sidmouth Croquet Cub, contested by players from around the UK who had qualified from their regional events.

Players' individual handicaps ranged from -1 to 7 giving a very broad spectrum of competitors and allowances of extra strokes. The format was an " All Play All" arrangement, with seven games on Saturday and six on Sunday.

HWCC member Roger Goldring (-1) got off to a good start on Day 1 with five wins out of his seven.  He continued in good form on Day 2 with four straight wins.  For players in contention for overall victory, a pivotal match arose in Round 12 when Roger was due to play Andy Loakes from Camerton & Peasedown.  At this point, Andy needed to win this game to draw level with Roger, which would make things very interesting at the top of the table. It was a closely  fought battle, culminating in the 13th hoop won by Andy.  This meant that Roger, Dom Aarvold and now Andy Loakes all sat on 9 wins, with Charlie Martin on 8 going into the final round....

Two interesting games ensued, but the on-form Roger proved too strong for Charlie as he went 5/2 up, finally taking the game 7/4.  A late surge for Andy in his last two games meant a very close final result with Roger, both players having 10 wins.  But a better overall hoop difference gave Roger first place.

As the lowest handicap in the tournament, Roger had at times needed to work very hard with up to eight free strokes against him, so now enjoys a well-deserved title of the GC All England Handicap Winner 2021.

Congratulations, Roger!
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Report by courtesy of Louise Smith, Sidmouth CC

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