Member Profile: Brian Lozano

Age:

34

Home base:

San Diego, Calif.

Home club:

Cullasaja Club and Mission Hills Country Club

Grip:

Standard for touch and medium-pace shots; Solomon for power

Mallet:

Trimmer mallet; 37” handle and 11” head

Years playing croquet:

I first picked up a mallet in 2011, however, the croquet journey began in 2017.

Current title and role:

I’m the Croquet Director of Cullasaja Club in Highlands, N.C., in the summer and Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, Calif., in the winter.

Favorite croquet venue:

Several venues and clubs come to mind as favorites for different reasons. The Sussex County Croquet Club, where I made my World Championship debut, or the lightning-fast, golden brown lawns of the Guildford and Godalming Croquet Club where three teammates and I won gold for Croquet Mexico in the Tier 3 GC Teams World Championship. I owe a great deal to the lawns at Mission Hills. Thanks to the late Steve Mossbrook for giving me the opportunity to share the lawns with such fun and enthusiastic members. Two successful seasons in the winter desert led me to find my summer home in the mountains of North Carolina. The Cullasaja Club brought me on board to further develop the croquet program while supporting my competitive opportunities both domestically and abroad, therefore the clear favorites.

Favorite tournament:

The Mexico Open is definitely one of my favorites; it’s a special tournament. This is a young event — headed for only its third edition in 2023 — and it has already attracted top players from countries like Spain, Wales and England, including national and world champions.

How did you get into the game:

Fun story: A massive power outage in Southern California in 2011 led our group of friends to take a bocce set out to a nearby park. About 45 seconds later, we got tired of bocce and one of our friends mentioned croquet. We got hooked right away. We played almost every day all over San Diego in public parks. We made up our own rules, which we later learned were very similar to American Rules (we called it Parklay). Six years later and about 10 broken Eddie Bauer croquet sets, we found the Pasadena Croquet Club. There, we were introduced to golf croquet by Dr. Mohammad Kamal and Eric Sawyer. This was in 2017, and shortly after, some of us became more involved and dug deeper to begin our journey into competitive croquet and club building.

Croquet highlights/notable tournament wins:

The clear highlight for me has to be our victory for Mexico in the Tier 3 GC Teams World Championship. We had been looking forward to and preparing for this tournament for almost three years. Originally postponed in 2020, we finally got our chance to make our international debut in July 2022 against teams from Czech Republic, Iran and Portugal. Competing in an international event alongside three close friends as a team was one of those unique croquet experiences. Claiming gold in this event has earned Croquet Mexico a promotion to the 2nd Tier of world golf croquet.

Do you play other sports?

I play a little tennis and piccolo.

Favorite sports teams?

Croquet Mexico

Pop culture favorites:

My favorite TV series is easily “The Sopranos,” (“whatta ya’ gonna do?”). For movies, I have many, but the first one to come to mind is always Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed.” The book I keep going back to and I’ve enjoyed reading multiple times is “The Inner Game of Tennis.” (It’s not a tennis book.)

What would you like to see happen in the sport over the next 10 years?

I would like to see more associations and federations dedicate resources to further develop croquet into a mainstream sport. Countries like New Zealand, Australia, England and Spain are leading the way by investing in U21 Championships, getting younger players involved and partnering with media outlets like live video streaming organizations to broadcast important tournaments and expose the sport internationally. In the United States, if ESPN is willing to bet on broadcasting excel spreadsheet competitions and cornhole national tournaments, an opportunity definitely exists to showcase golf croquet.