Gordon Giles wins CAQ GC Open Singles

CAQ GC Open Singles – Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th April 2022

Originally there were 29 players from 10 clubs entered for this event, but in these times of Covid, a number of players had to pull out.

The remaining 24 players were allocated into 4 blocks of 6, with blocks A & B played at Wynnum and blocks C & D played at Toombul on the Saturday. On the Sunday, the top 4 in each block competed in the Championship finals played at Wynnum for the Pam Shepherd Trophy, with the remainder competing for the Pam Shepherd Plate at Toombul. Although heavy rain had been forecast for the weekend, play was completed in the dry, much to everyone's relief.

There were many close-fought games in the championship, with several being decided at the final hoop or being timed out. A good example was the quarter-final between Greg Bury and Graham McLean, a very tense battle with Greg coming out on top 5-4.

The finals of the Championship X, Y, Z and W were the best of 3 matches, 13-point games, timed at 1 hour each game. The Championship final between Gordon Giles and Greg Bury was a "nail-biting" match with some exceptional play by both competitors. The spectators were kept on their toes in the first game as both players put on a marvellous performance of precision blocking, clearing and hoop running, with Gordon taking the game 6-5 as time was called after 1 hour. The second game was a classic seesaw affair, with both players being in front at different stages, and went to hoop 13. Gordon finally got that hoop and took out the Pam Shepherd Trophy.

Meanwhile at Toombul, 7 players competed in the Plate block, with Helen Rillie (Headland Buderim) winning closely to secure the Pam Shepherd Plate.

Unfortunately, Pam wasn't able to be at Wynnum to present the trophies, so Tournament Manager Bruce Fleming presented the winners of Z, Y and W knockout with a CAQ Centenary badge before presenting Greg with the runner-up trophy and Centenary badge, and winner Gordon with the Pam Shepherd Trophy and Centenary badge.

Winner Gordon, in his acceptance speech, thanked both Bruce Fleming (TM) and Liz Fleming (TR) for taking over the running of the tournament, which allowed him to concentrate totally on his game for the weekend. This was certainly the catalyst in gaining the final winning result. Gordon also thanked Wynnum CC for hosting the finals and the referees Liz Fleming, Sue Green and Deirdre Giles for their great work. Of course, thanks also to our wonderful kitchen helpers who provided refreshments for players (and spectators) throughout the day.

The winners of each of the finals were:

- Championship W (13th – 16th Place) – Casey De-Vene (r/u Francis Spencer) - Championship Y (9th – 16th Place) – Dennis Green (r/u Rosemary Newsham) - Championship Z (5th – 8th Place) – Wade Hart (r/u Geoff Hull) - Championship X & Pam Shepherd Trophy – Gordon Giles (r/u Greg Bury)

Results will be on the croquetscores website: https://croquetscores.com/2022/gc/qld-open-singles