USCA Western Regional Golf Croquet Tournament Mission Hills Country Club | Rancho Mirage, California February 28-March 3, 2022
Kamal WINS THE WEST WRIT TEN BY PAUL BENNE T T
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The USCA Western GC Regionals began Monday, February 28, 2022, with seven players competing out of the original 28 entries and closed out on the afternoon of March 3, 2022. The event was held at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif. In Championship Singles, the process and draw were knotted up with Brian Lozano having to play both Paul Bennett in the draw and Mohammad Kamal in the process, followed by the Singles final match. The format of all three matches was a best-of-three set of 13-point games. In the draw match, Lozano took the early lead with a 7-3 victory. Bennett fought back in the second game to level the match with a 7-4 win. In the last game, Bennett took the match with a 7-3 victory. In the process match, Kamal and Lozano went through the fishhook twice with Kamal taking the match in two straight games 7-6, 7-6. In the Singles Final match, Kamal quickly dispatched Bennett with strong takeaways, great hoop running and solid tactics, 7-1 and 7-4.
First Flight Singles In First Flight, Giancarlo Ruiz, Vicki Till, Ken Slaughter and Gail Kern advanced to the “semifinal” of the draw ladder. Till defeated Ruiz 10-4, while Slaughter took a 10-9 nail-biter over Kern. Till then cruised past Slaughter 10-2. Ruiz won on the process side of the event to get to the final for a rematch with Till, this time taking a 10-9 victory to claim the First Flight Singles title. Overall, Ruiz went 8-4 in the event, while Till managed a 7-2 record.
Championship Flight Doubles I know that no one collects or loses D-GRADE points by playing doubles, yet I often wonder why ... perhaps the math is too difficult, perhaps if we had the answer, we could figure out the graviton. And yet, doubles is one of the most fun and pleasing aspects of croquet. Where better to occupy your afternoon or morning?
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Championship Singles runner-up Paul Bennett on the left with winner Mohammad Kamal on the right.
