THE NSW ‘brooch’ tournaments are designed to provide competition for players across the normal division boundaries – the Bronze Brooch is a level play singles golf croquet competition for players with handicaps from 7 to 10, bringing together Division 2 and Division 3 players.

The 2024 Bronze Brooch was hosted by Strathfield Croquet Club from Monday 5th to Wednesday 7th August

12 players entered with 3 players from Nelson Bay: Faby Batho, Rob Batho and Sherry Gordon.

The qualifying round was played as 2 blocks of 6 players with each player playing 5 games, each being a 13-point game with a 1-hour time limit.

The top 3 players from each block qualified for the championship quarter-finals, with finals games being best-of-three. The top 3 from the Green block were Keith Brodie (Coutts Crossing, unbeaten), Rob Batho (Nelson Bay, 4 wins from 5 games) and Michael Morphett (Newcastle National Park, 3 from 5).

The top 3 from the Blue block were Lee Morphett (Newcastle National Park, unbeaten), Carmen Platt (Strathfield, 3 wins from 5 games) and Stephen Bruce (Southern Highlands, 2 from 5 qualifying on hoop count-back).

The top of each block received a bye into the semi-finals that saw Keith Brodie beat Michael Morphett 7-5 7-5 and Lee Morphett beat Rob Batho 7-6 7-6. Keith Brodie won the final 3-7 7-5 7-4.

Faby and Sherry both won 2 games in the qualifying round and failed to make the finals on hoop count-back. The contested the Plate competition with Faby losing in the quarter final to Raymann Kang (Strathfield) 4-7 but Sherry won the Plate by beating Margaret Lund (Sutherland) 5-4, Jan Brodie (Coutts Crossing) 6-4 and Raymann Kang 7-5. Faby won the consolation play-off beating Joanne Nimmons (Mosman) 7-5 and Margaret Lund 7-4.

Thompson Trophy C Grade

The Thompson Trophy is Nelson Bay Croquet Club’s annual Golf Croquet singles championship and is played in three divisions based on handicap: A Grade, B Grade, C Grade and Novice.

The C Grade for players with handicap 9 and above was played on Sunday 11th August.

13 players entered with the qualifying round being played as 3 blocks, 2 with 4 players and 1 with 5 players.

The blocks were played as 13-point games with a 1-hour time limit. Block A was won by Charles Gerussi (3 wins, 1st on hoop count-back) from Faby Batho (3 wins, 2nd on hoop count-back), Geoff Yonge (3 wins), Barbara Burgess and Jenny Turner. Block B was won by Col Chalkley (unbeaten) from Julia Harrison (2 wins), Marion Graff and Susan Luehman. Block C was won by Colin Bailey (unbeaten) from Frank Orton (2 wins), Jeff Pettifer and Nada Yonge.

Faby Batho beat Frank Orton 7-5 in a play-off for the 4th semi-final berth. In the semi-finals, Faby beat Col Bailey 7-4 and Charles Gerussi beat Col Chalkley 7-2, Faby won the final and the C Grade Trophy beating Charles 7-5.

By David WILSON