Inaugural Eildon Invitational a great success

The inaugural Eildon Invitational was played on Sunday and Monday in hot 28-30 degree conditions.

Entry to the tournament was by invitation only and comprised Division 2+ players with handicaps of 5 or more in two seeded blocks. This provided the opportunity for similarly matched players to test themselves in a 2 day tournament with the added feature of untimed games.

The tournament was also scheduled to run on a Sunday and Monday to change the cycle of weekend-only tournaments.

While most games ran to just over an hour, we ran a little late with the last couple of games on Sunday - a 5.30 finish after a 7.30 start makes for a long day - but our Tournament Manager Di Leahy, ably assisted by our great team of referees, got everything back on track on Monday with some gentle nudges for slow play.

A great feature of the tournament was that 16 players from 9 different clubs had a great two days mixing with some players who had never met each other. Well done to organiser Megan Stuart for issuing the invitations.

After two long but highly competitive days the results were:

Block B - Winner: Jannene Wall (Ipswich) - Runner-up: Di Michels (Twin Rivers)

Block A - Winner: Casey De-Vene (Merthyr) - Runner-up: Jennie Molyneux (Eildon)

Casey won all 14 games and reduced his handicap to a 4, which was a remarkable effort. Congratulations to Jannene and Casey, and all the other players who made this inaugural tournament a great success.

Thanks also to:

- The lawn crew who specially mowed the lawns on Saturday - The referees Bob Martin, Dennis Green, Bill Habner, Geraldine Trivett, and Marilyn Nelson - Louise Riding and helpers for the catering - Tournament Manager Di Leahy - Tournament Organiser Megan Stuart

Keep an eye out for next year's tournament, which we hope will be bigger and better.

Results are on [Croquet Scores](https://croquetscores.com/2021/gc/qld-eildon-invitational-singles).