Ross Rillie wins CAQ Open GC Singles

Four Wynnum club members played in the CAQ GC Open Singles on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd April 2023. A total of 30 competitors were divided into four Blocks for the qualifying round on Saturday, with Blocks A and B played at Wynnum and Blocks C and D played at Toombul. Gordon Giles and Ron Schodel played at Wynnum, while Geoff Hull and John van Barneveld played at Toombul.

The top four competitors in each block competed for the Pam Shepherd Trophy on Sunday at Wynnum, with the remainder competing for the Pam Shepherd Plate at Toombul. Showers were forecast for the weekend, but play was completed in the dry, much to everyone's relief.

The format of the early rounds of the championship was a single 19 point game, timed at 1 hour 15 minutes, and there were many closely contested games, with several being decided at the final hoop or being timed out. The final round of the Championship and Consolation X, Y, Z and W were best of 3 matches, 13 point games, timed at 1 hour each game. The Championship final between Ross Rillie and Bob Martin was a hard fought match with some exceptional play by both competitors. Ross finally came out on top to take out the Trophy.

Meanwhile at Toombul, 14 players competed in the Plate blocks, and the winner of each block will play off at a later date for the Plate.

Unfortunately, Pam wasn't able to be at Wynnum to present the trophies, so Wynnum CC President John presented the winners of the Z, Y and W knockouts with a CAQ Centenary badge, before presenting Bob with the runner-up Trophy and badge, and winner Ross with the Pam Shepherd Trophy and badge.

Ross thanked Wynnum CC for hosting the tournament, and the referees Cloreen (TR), Deirdre, Joy Wright and Willy Silk 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 X & Pam Shepherd Trophy – Ross Rillie (r/u Bob Martin) - Championship Z (3rd – 4th Place) – Wade Hart (r/u Gordon Giles) - Championship Z (5th – 8th Place) – Casey De Vene (r/u Steve O'Hare) - Championship Y (9th – 16th Place) – Addison Matthews (r/u Desley Bischoff) - Championship W (13th – 16th Place) – Ron Schodel (r/u Jannene Wall)

Results will be on the croquetscores web site: https://croquetscores.com/2023/gc/qld-open-singles