The Lawns

WCA Open AC Singles Championship 2023

Played at the Wellington Club from 27 - 30 December

This year’s tournament had 14 entries from Wellington, Hawkes Bay, Manawatu-Wanganui, South Taranaki and South Canterbury. On Days 1 and 2 players were divided into 2 sections and competed in a round robin, each match being 1 game. The first and second placed players in each section moved forward to the knockout competition where all matches were best of 3 with a total time allowed of 9 hours . The remaining 10 players then competed in the Plate - this year a cross block of 6 games, where players played everyone in the Plate whom they had not already played. Results from the original sections were carried over.

As usual the hoops were tightly set and the standard of refreshments excellent!

The weather delivered a little bit of everything in the way of sun, wind and rain. With 7 rounds of section play, day 1 was a very long day with 4 rounds played. Management and helpers were pleased to walk out the gate at 7:30 pm.

Callum McKinnon (Kelburn) and Jarrod Coutts (South Canterbury) were undefeated in their respective sections. the other 2 semi-finalists were Nicholas Flood (Manawatu-Wanganui) with 5 wins and Harps Tahurangi (Wellington) with 4 wins.

The final between Harps and Callum was an excellent and contrasting display of wily tactics and brilliant shot making. Shot of the tournament - Callum jumps over hoop 2, ball bounces 3 times and roquets the target ball!!
Final score : 6-26, 26-23, 26-21 to Harps Tahurangi.

Nicholas and Jarrod played a single game for 3rd place - won by Nicholas 26-12

Going into the final round of the Plate, Graeme Fisher (Wellington), Len Lea (Waimarie-Hutt Valley) and Dennis Bulloch (Manawatu-Wanganui) were all in contention and all finished with 7 wins. The Plate Winner - Dennis Bulloch on a count back of net hoops.