7 minute read
six for FULFORD
By Jeff Soo
Robert Fulford (ENG) won the 2023 WCF Association Croquet World Championship for a record sixth time, further cementing his legacy as the greatest AC player of all time. The victory was a comeback in two senses. It was Fulford’s first individual world championship title since 2002, by far the longest gap ever between wins at this event. And, in the best-of-five final against Matthew Essick (USA), Fulford had to overcome a two-game deficit to win.
Provided by the Hurlingham Club photographer Isobel McTear.
2023 AC World Championship
July 15–22, London, England
It was Essick’s third consecutive appearance in a world championship final. His breakthrough came in 2020, where he knocked off two world champions to reach the final against Reg Bamford (ZAF). In 2022, Essick won the GC world title with a dominating performance in the knockout, ending with a 3-1 victory over Fulford in the final.
Twelve American players qualified for the tournament, the most ever for a world championship held outside the U.S. (the host country receives extra spots in the tournament). Eight of those players qualified for the knockout, the most ever. In another first, two Americans reached the semifinals, setting up the possibility of an all-American final. Tom Balding (USA), playing in his first individual world championship, had a breakthrough performance. After winning seven of nine block games, he came back from a game-one loss to beat 2016 champion Stephen Mulliner (ENG) in the round of 32, then posted successive 3-0 wins to advance to the semifinals.
Photo provided by Hurlingham Club photographer Isobel McTear.
Essick started the event as the #5 seed. After posting a 7-2 block record, he breezed through the knockout, dropping just one game en route to the final. This included a 3-0 semifinal victory against Robert Fletcher (AUS), former world champion and current world #1. In the first game of that match, Fletcher hit the lift and made six hoops and a 1-back leave, Essick’s Red and Yellow cross-wired at Hoop 1. Essick jumped the hoop to make the roquet and finish game 1 with a triple peel. This is the third time Essick has beaten Fletcher in a world championship semifinal.
Moving on to the final, the first pivotal point came in game 3. Essick had won the first two games, but Fulford had the first break to 4-back (as he had done in the two previous games). Essick hit and opted to make just six hoops, cross-wiring Fulford’s two balls at #1 and laying up in corner III (just as Fletcher had done to Essick in game 1 of their semifinal). Fulford narrowly missed the 35-yard shot, and Essick now had the option of a TPO (triple peel on opponent) — peeling Fulford’s forward ball through three hoops and pegging it out of the game, or a sextuple peel, peeling his own ball through six hoops for the immediate win. He went for the sextuple. The first two peels went well, but troubles with the 3-back peel led to needing a straight-triple finish. This came undone when the striker’s ball went a little farther than intended on the 4-back peel, barely scoring the hoop and leaving no shot at either opponent ball. He finished the turn under reasonable control but had to concede a contact lift, and Fulford finished a few turns later. Fulford then leveled the match at two games all with a quick +26tp to win game four.
Winning yet another opening, Fulford took a 9-0 lead on the fifth turn of the deciding game. Essick opted for the long lift, missed and set Fulford up for a championshipwinning turn. Shockingly, after scoring Hoop 1, Fulford missed his Hoop 2 pioneer, leaving a 10-yard shot, which Essick hit center-ball with Red. Despite not picking up the fourth ball until after Hoop 3, Essick opted for the TPO — an unconventional choice given that it would necessarily be a delayed peeling turn. He peeled Blue through 4-back before scoring Hoop 6, failed a “death roll” penult peel on the way to 2-back, but then put Blue in the jaws of penult on the way to 4-back. His straight penult peel sent Blue to excellent position at rover, and he pegged Blue out of the game, leaving Yellow in corner IV and Red in corner I.
Fulford went all-out to set up a winning turn, lifting to Yellow and sending it to Hoop 3 while approaching Red in corner I. His roll to Hoop 2 was nearly perfect but just a touch too hard, sending Red over the treacherously brown, fast and sloping north boundary by inches. Essick hit and made a leave. Several turns of cat-and-mouse play followed, Essick advancing Yellow to Hoop 3 while Fulford played defensively, biding his time for a safer or shorter shot. From here, Essick went all out, making a two-ball break for four hoops, then playing for a cannon in corner 2, where the Black ball was waiting. His shot through 6 left him short of a straight rush, and he attempted a hard cut, missing. This left Fulford a 10-yard shot, although one along that treacherous north boundary. Fulford hit and now had a straightforward pickup for a championship-winning three-ball break. A three-ball break on such a fast lawn is no easy turn, especially in these circumstances, but Fulford never looked in doubt. Final match score: -17tp, -17tp, +4tp, +26tp, +8otp.
Fulford’s last appearance at this event was in 2013. In the years since, he has typically played just a handful of tournaments a year, nearly all of them in England, and in some years playing more GC than AC. Raising a family took priority, and wrist problems from years of playing Irish grip also took a toll. He entered the tournament as the #2 seed, but looked vulnerable at times, including a -26tp loss to Blake Fields (USA) in the first game of their best-of-three match in the first knockout round. But by the final day, he was in top form, shooting well and making few errors. Essick won the first two games on the strength of his long hit-ins and controlled break play. Astonishingly, though, Fulford won the opening in all five games, making the first break to 4-back each time. As Fulford noted at the closing ceremony, you can have a long-playing career in croquet. His 35 years at the top of the game are emphatic proof of that.
The tournament was held at seven clubs in and around southwest London. This included the All-England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, Wimbledon, which staged two days of consolation play, a special treat for those players. The main venue was The Hurlingham Club, a grand old club on the Thames, and a host of major croquet championships for well over 100 years. London’s excellent public transport network made it easy for players to get to all the venues, especially after the tournament schedule was adjusted to cope with potential transport union strikes.
