THE Croquet NSW 2024 Division 3 Golf Croquet State Championships were held 9-10 July (Doubles) and 11-13 July (Singles) at Ballina, Byron Bay and Lismore Croquet Clubs.

Division 3 is for players with a GC handicap above 9.

11 pairs entered the Doubles with Gary Allan & Rob Batho and Faby Batho and Rosemary Taylor from Nelson Bay. The qualifying round was played as two blocks of round-robin games with the top three pairs from each block progressing to the finals.

Both Nelson Bay pairs qualified for the finals.

Gary and Rob topped Block A with 4 wins from 5 games while Faby and Rosemary were 3rd in Block B with 2 wins from 4 games.

The winners of each block received a bye in the first round of the finals.

Faby & Rosemary lost 1-7 to Barbara Barrett & Denis Cummings (Byron Bay) in the first round before losing the 5th/6th play-off 2-7 / 7-5 / 3-7 to Margaret Lund & Jenny Dorward (Sutherland/Ballina Cherry Street).

In the semi-final, Gary & Rob beat Janelle Gaggin & Judy Tonkin (Marrickville) 7-4 to reach the best-of-three final where they won 7-4 / 5-7 / 7-5 over Jed Hart & Gerd Modlich (Byron Bay).

24 players entered the Singles with Gary Allan, Rob Batho, Faby Batho and Rosemary Taylor from Nelson Bay.

The qualifying round was played as three blocks of round-robin games with the top three players from each block progressing to the finals.

Gary, Rob and Faby qualified for the finals – Faby topped Block B with 5 wins from 7 games with Gary 2nd with 4 wins, while Rob topped Block C with 7 wins from 7 games.

Faby received a bye in the 1st round of the knock-out finals, while Gary beat Jennifer Dorward (Ballina Cherry Street) 7-3 and Rob beat Colin Beaton (Byron Bay) 7-1, to give Nelson Bay 3 players in the quarter finals. Gary lost 5-6 to Gerd Modlich (Byron Bay), but Rob beat Steve Wallace (Forster) 7-5 and Faby beat Margaret Lund (Sutherland) 5-4 to set-up an all Nelson Bay semi-final.

The semi-finals and final were best-of-three games, Rob beat Faby 7-4 / 7-3 before taking the final 6-5 / 7-4 over Gerd Modlich (Byron Bay).

Faby then lost 2-5 / 7-5 / 4-5 to Wendy Quinn (Elanora) to finish 4th while Gary won two additional games to finish 5th.

A third and fourth State Championship for players from Nelson Bay in the past month plus 1st, 4th and 5th in the CNSW Division 3 GC Championships – a remarkable outcome for the Club.

The Club is organising a Come-and-Try Day for Sunday 22 September – anyone interested in learning about the sport of croquet is welcome to attend between 9:30am and 3:00-pm, morning or afternoon tea provided, at the courts on Tomaree Sports Complex.

For further information about the Club and the Come-and-Try Day, visit nelsonbaycroquet.org.au or e-mail nelsonbaycroquet@gmail.com

By David WILSON