The WCF Golf Croquet World Team Championship concluded this past weekend in England with New Zealand claiming the Tier 1 title by virtue of a 7-5 win over Egypt. Full match scores here:
Read MoreWCF Golf Croquet WTC: Day Three
By Eric Sawyer | Today was not our day. A confluence of misfortunes bit us on the butt. We lost to Egypt, as expected. Except we got steam-rolled by The Force, 6-0. The only close match was Ben's spirited loss to world champion Ahmed Nasr in three games, with two games going to hoop 13.
Read MoreWCF Golf Croquet WTC: Day Two
By Eric Sawyer | I should have expected it. Those plucky Irishman. We ended up in a tie with them, 3-3.
Ben and Sherif were dominant in their doubles match. But Danny and David lost their second straight doubles match. We then split singles 2-2, with Ben and David winning their matches and Sherif and Danny losing their matches. Danny's loss was a bit of a surprise to me; David's win was huge!
Morning Coffee: GC December to Remember
Well, really it's a GC November-December to remember, but you get the idea. Somewhere in the background the U.S. Open came off, but most of the action has been centered around the GC World Team Championships which took up a big chunk of the calendar for the past two weeks with two divisions (16 total teams). Egypt took Division 1 and Wales just wrapped up the Division 2 event with a 4-3 win over Belgium. You can read more about that one below and I especially encourage you to read the CAI (Croquet Association of Ireland) report.
Morning Coffee: WCF Launches New Look Website
The World Croquet Federation launched their new website over the weekend. The best features include a rotating photo slideshow near the top of the hope page and a deeper list of new items alongside. Most importantly, the news items now generate unique URLs that can be direct linked. Now instead of posting full WCF statements, I'll be excerpting and linking.
Read MoreIreland Wins Carter Challenge 13-8
From the Croquet Ireland website:
McInerney & Williams beat Davies & Lawrence +17 +3
Johnston & Murphy beat Bent & Wilhoite -4 +23 TP(M) +11
Cunningham & Newell lost to Gillmarten & Rothman -5 TP(R) -1
2011 Carter Challenge: Ireland Leads 8-5
The Croquet Ireland website is reporting an 8-5 lead for Ireland after day two for the Carter Challenge.
Results from Day 2
IRL (5-3) Kieran Murphy beat Ricky Wilhoite +5 +21
2011 Carter Challenge: Ireland Leads 4-3
ROUND ONE DOUBLES:
USA (1-0) Rothman and Gillmarten beat Cunningham and Newell +5tp (R), +1
Tied (1-1) McInerney and Williams beat Lawrence and Davies +17, +3
Read MoreUSA (1-0) Rothman and Gillmarten beat Cunningham and Newell +5tp (R), +1
Tied (1-1) McInerney and Williams beat Lawrence and Davies +17, +3
Morning Coffee: Tom Armstrong, Rothman's Grand Prix and a New World Order
Wow. I've been tracking croquet news since roughly 2008 now and I have to say I haven't really seen anything quite like the current news cycle. More and more websites are getting updates out and it makes for a full slate news. Good for the sport and a lot of fun. Here's what we saw over the last week ...
From Croquet Australia, WCF Hall of Famer Tom Armstrong passed away at the age of 102 --
December Croquet Links: Greenwich, Lenox and Croquet Ireland
North American Clubs
Greenwich Croquet Club -- Active croquet club in Greenwich, Connecticut with a vast website.
Lenox Croquet Club -- The Lenox Croquet Club is a USCA-sanctioned club located in Lenox, Massachusetts with two and a half full-size courts or as many as five half-size courts.
Associations
Croquet Ireland -- Croquet Association of Ireland website.
Scottish Croquet Association -- The Scottish Croquet Association's website.
International
Carrickmines -- Carrickmines Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club in Ireland.
Edinburgh Croquet Club -- Edinburgh Croquet Club in Scotland.
All links above will now appear in the Croquet Links section on the navigation bar at the top of the site. Any links back are greatly appreciated.