The United States beat Great Britain 13-8 at the 2011 Solomon Trophy, held June 28 – July 1 at the Hamptworth Golf & Country Club in Wiltshire, England. Having won the match for the first time ever in 2009 at Mission Hills, Team USA’s first Solomon win on British soil is also its first successful defense of the Trophy.
Read MoreSolomon Trophy: Final Day Open Thread
The U.S. now leads 9-6 and is two wins away from overall victory. The U.S. picked up the ninth match when Jim Bast defeated Ian Lines +25, +3. Great Britain is still hanging tough though as David Maugham took down Danny Huneycutt +13TP, +3. Updates the rest of the day will be posted in the comments of this thread. Add your own commentary if you so desire.
US 8-5: BURRIDGE (GB) beat SOO (US) +17,+15
US 9-5: BAST (US) beats LINES (GB) +25,+3
US 9-6: MAUGHAM (GB) vs HUNEYCUTT (US) +13TP, +3
ROTHMAN (US) vs MULLINER (GB) +13
LE MOIGNAN (GB) vs GRIMSLEY (US) +3
PATEL (GB) vs PATMORE (US) +7
Update on 2011-07-01 16:33 by Dylan
U.S. officially retains the Solomon Trophy with an 11-6 win. American captain Danny Huneycutt got the 11th match with a win over Stephen Mulliner +2, +4. Full test scores are available on the Croquet Association website:
Solomon Trophy Update: US Leads 8-5
Great Britain drew first blood on the final day of the Solomon Trophy test. Ian Burridge defeated Jeff Soo +17, +15 to cut the U.S. lead to 8-5. Currently, Great Britain is leading in three of the five singles matches in progress.
US 8-5: BURRIDGE (GB) beat SOO (US) +17,+15
In Progress
BAST (US) vs LINES (GB) +25
MAUGHAM (GB) vs HUNEYCUTT (US) +13TP
ROTHMAN (US) vs MULLINER (GB) +13
LE MOIGNAN (GB) vs GRIMSLEY (US) +3
PATEL (GB) vs PATMORE (US) +7
Solomon Trophy Update: US Jumps to 8-4 Lead
The day started with a 4-3 lead for Great Britain, but the U.S. swept the third round of doubles and also won the both of the resumed matches. The Croquet Association website reported that Great Britain won just one of the nine games played today.
Tomorrow is the final day of play with six singles games to start, two pegged down singles games and one pegged down doubles match on the schedule. The US needs to win three to of the nine matches to win their second straight Solomon Trophy.
ROUND THREE DOUBLES
SOO & PATMORE (US) beat LINES & PATEL (GB) +15, +3
GRIMSLEY & ROTHMAN (US) beat BURRIDGE & MAUGHAM (GB) +16, +14
HUNEYCUTT & BAST (US) beat MULLINER & LE MOIGNAN (GB) +3, +6
RESUMED GAMES
PATMORE & SOO (US) beat LE MOIGNAN & MULLINER (GB) +26TP (P), -21TP (M), +22
GRIMSLEY & ROTHMAN (US) beat LINES & PATEL (GB) +1, +17
ROTHMAN COMMENTS
Ben Rothman posted the following comments on the Croquet World Forum:
To those wondering why no one seems to be "on form" yet (failing hoops and putting down triples etc.) I invite you to come try the Hamptworth lawns. If you mowed Ren Kraft's [Arizona] court bare and set the hoops at contact, you would find it more managable than lawns 3 and 4 here.
Mulliner took it upon himself to reset the hoops to a 64th of an inch clearance and seems to enjoy checking hoops to reveal a few photons of light through and declaring any claim of contact hoops "over ruled".
That being said, our team is staying mentally strong (although I am a bit of an exception as I mutter to myself on the sidelines like a psych patient). We have tied the test at 4-4 and we are tied or ahead in the seven matches in progress.
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 --
Morning Coffee: MacRobertson Shield
It's a rough month to have a croquet event or story and expect to get any attention. Clearly, the eyes of serious croquet players across the world are on Great Britain and the MacRobertson Shield competition. The U.S. team shocked the British team with a 3-0 sweep on day four to pull to 8-7. There had been talk about the British team clinching and now they go into the final day needing three wins. The Americans have the tougher challenge as they will require four wins out of the six matches.
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