Twelve people took part in this season’s 18-Point Handicap competition, which took place on the 15th and 16th of August. Fortunately the weekend was much more temperate than in the last couple of months of blistering heat, but the lawns were rock solid and the only thing you could predict was that you were generally going to hit the ball too hard as it often rolled off the boundary line.
Four blocks of three players competed, with each person playing two games in their block. All four blocks had clear winners with Margaret E, Max, Alberto and Dave M winning both games in their block and progressing to the semifinals on the Sunday.
In the semifinals Max qualified for the final, having beaten Margaret by +6 and Alberto also qualified for the final having beaten Dave by +1.
And so to the final, where Max (last years winner) slowly built a four hoop lead and managed to keep Alberto (2024 winner) from running any additional hoops for the rest of the game. Max increased his lead and eventually won by +7. Although Max won, there were many times during the final where the play see sawed from one player having a significant advantage then the advantage swinging to the other player and the spectators were never quite sure if either of the finalists would streak ahead.
So, many congratulations to Max who retains the trophy for a second consecutive year and commiserations to Alberto, who came close to winning back the trophy he won in 2024.
Mike Long