THE Nelson Bay Croquet Club hosted the NSW Silver Brooch State Championship from Saturday 27 to Monday 29 July 2024.

The NSW ‘brooch’ tournaments are designed to provide competition for players across the normal division boundaries – the Silver Brooch is a level play singles golf croquet competition for players with handicaps from 3 to 6, bringing together Division 1 and Division 2 players

20 players entered the 2024 competition with 4 players from Nelson Bay: Liz Friend, Peter Gordon, Rae Uptin and David Wilson.

Other players travelled from around the state, as far north as Sawtell and as far south as Canberra and Queanbeyan. The qualifying round was played as 2 blocks of 10 players with each player playing 9 games, each being a 13-point game with a 1-hour time limit.

The top 4 players from each block qualified for the championship quarter-finals, with finals games being best-of-three. Peter Gordon (Nelson Bay) topped the Blue Block with 8 wins and +15 hoops ahead of Peter Sinclair (Marrickville, 7 wins +15 hoops), Ian Donald (Canberra, 7 wins +13 hoops) and Rod Peet (Maitland, 6 wins +7 hoops).

Liz Friend (Nelson Bay) topped the Red Block with 7 wins and +16 hoops ahead of Glenn Sellers (Toronto, 7 wins +16 hoops but lost the head-to-head game against Liz), Tony Croft (Port Macquarie, 7 wins +11 hoops) and Bob Berry (Chatswood, 6 wins +12 hoops).

In the quarter-finals, Peter Gordon beat Bob Berry 7-3 7-3, Glenn Sellers beat Ian Donald 4-7 7-5 7-6, Peter Sinclair beat Tony Croft 7-6 3-7 7-3, and Liz Friend beat Rod Peet 7-5 7-5.

In the semi-finals, Peter Gordon beat Glenn Sellers 7-2 7-5 and Peter Sinclair beat Liz Friend 6-7 7-5 7-3.

In the battle of the “Peters”, Sinclair triumphed 7-5 7-5 to take out the Silver Brooch. Liz lost the 3rd/4th play-off 7-4 4-7 6-7.

No State Championship for Nelson Bay, but a very successful event with 2nd and 4th place for members.

By David WILSON