2022 GC Nationals

Essick Wins Singles, Father-Son Maloofs Take Doubles

By Jeff Soo

Matthew Essick won his seventh USCA national title, winning the singles at the 2022 USCA Golf Croquet National Championship. In the final match, he beat perennial favorite Sherif Abdelwahab, 2-7, 7-0, 7-6. David and Kyle Maloof won the doubles title, beating Essick and his partner Jim Teel 7-3, 6-7, 7-2 in the final. The Maloofs become the third father-andson pair to win a USCA national doubles title and the first since 1982. It is Kyle’s first national title and David’s sixth.

Championship Flight Singles finalists Matthew Essick and Sherif Abdelwahab with Adrienne Lucke (L) and Damon Bidencope (R)

Since the start of the COVID-19 era, the USCA has held five national championships (two of the 2020 events were canceled). Essick has won four of those five singles titles and three of the doubles, with three different partners. That COVID-19 remains an ongoing concern became all too evident over the course of the tournament. The first cases appeared on the third day. Over the rest of the week, at least 20 participants (including guests and non-playing officials) were affected, either with a confirmed or suspected case, or leaving to avoid possible exposure. Substitutes were found for some of the missing players, but in the end, three of the four Championship Singles blocks were incomplete, as well as one of the First Flight Doubles blocks. The tournament was held in the mountains of western North Carolina, at four venues: Chattooga, High Hampton, Highlands Falls and Sapphire Valley. With eight courts in total and some creative scheduling, the limit was set at 64 players, 32 in each flight. In First Flight Singles, Dawn Jupin and Tamer Hatata each started 7-0 to win their respective blocks. But Jupin lost 7-2 to a hot-shooting Giancarlo Ruiz in the first knockout round. Ruiz completed his run to the final with a couple of 7-6 games against Highlands Falls locals Don Eastman and Onifer Wilmoth. Hatata won through on the other side, beating Rick Zazueta, Alex Galasso and Billie Ray. He then won the final against Ruiz, 7-4. Jack Howard won the First Flight Singles Plate, beating Ellie Griffith 7-4 in the Plate final.

Championship Flight Doubles Champions Kyle Maloof and David Maloof

In Championship Doubles, only one pair went through the blocks undefeated: Matt Griffith and Macey White. They continued their winning ways through the quarterfinals, where they knocked off defending champions Blake Fields and Mohammad Kamal. Essick and Teel put an end to Griffith and White’s nine-game winning streak, winning 7-5, 7-3 to advance to the final. The Maloofs had lost a couple of block games, but showed better form in the knockout with straight-game wins to advance to the final. Sapphire Valley locals Billy Harper and Mark Kucharski won the Doubles Plate.

In First Flight Doubles, Jim Hester and Ellen Nielsen had the best block record at 6-1. Priscilla Flowers and Ellie Griffith won the other block, 5-2. Hester and Nielsen lost their quarterfinal match against Tamer Hatata and Gary Gamble. Hatata and Gamble then lost to Scott Spoerl, a last-minute replacement, and Onifer Wilmoth in the semis. Flowers and Griffith won the final, 7-5. Zazueta and Ruiz won the doubles Plate. In Championship Singles, Block A finished with a three-way tie for first place and a three-way tie for fourth. Amr Hamdy won the block on net points, while the players tied for fourth played a two-round playoff. Paul Fecteau won both games to advance to the knockout. Stephen Morgan won Block B. Damon Bidencope won the very incomplete Block C, including a 7-4 victory over Essick. Highlands Falls local Mike Zuro played well above ranking to win Block D. Four players advanced from each block, into a pre-set draw based on block seniority. Tom Balding had started slowly in the block, but then won three-game matches against Bidencope and then Brian Lozano to advance to a semifinal match with Essick. Essick, just off a tough quarterfinal against Stephen Morgan, won his semifinal 7-2, 5-7, 7-4. In the top half of the draw,

CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT FINAL ORDER

CHAMPIONSHIP SINGLES 01. Matthew Essick 02. Sherif Abdelwahab 03. Tom Balding 03. Blake Fields 05. Stephen Morgan 05. Brian Lozano 05. Mike Zuro 05. Billy Harper 09. Damon Bidencope 09. Paul Bennett 09. Amr Hamdy 09. Paul Neubecker 09. Jeff Soo 09. Jim Teel 09. Jimmy Huff 09. Paul Fecteau 17. Matt Griffith 18. Hammond Rauers 19. Mark Kucharski 19. Jochen Lucke 21. Kent Lovvorn 21. Cheryl Bromley 21. Dick Boger 24. James Creasey 24. Helen Covington (WD) 24. Jim Jamison (WD) 24. Justin Fields 28. Rich Dell 28. Gil Flowers 28. Roy Gee (WD) 31. Hesham Elzoghby WD Kyle Maloof WD Macey White CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLES 01. Kyle Maloof/David Maloof 02. Matthew Essick/Jim Teel 03. Macey White/Matt Griffith 03. Brian Lozano/Stephen Morgan 05. Blake Fields/Mohammad Kamal 05. Kent Lovvorn/Roy Gee 05. Paul Neubecker/Jimmy Huff 05. Tom Balding/Jeff Soo 09. Sherif Abdelwahab/Damon Bidencope 10. Paul Bennett/Dick Boger 11. Helen Covington/Cheryl Bromley 12. Billy Harper/Mark Kucharski 13. Hammond Rauers/Paul Fecteau 14. Rich Dell/Jochen Lucke 15. Amr Hamdy/Jim Jamison 16. Hesham Elzoghby/Gil Flowers

First Flight Singles Champion Tamer Hatata Abdelwahab met Blake Fields in the semis, a rematch of their semifinal the year before. This time Abdelwahab won, 7-5, 7-6. The Championship Singles final was an outstanding match. After a routine start, Abdelwahab took the first clear advantage, parlaying an opportunistic promotion after Hoop 3 into a 3-1 lead. A long tactical battle at Hoop 5 ended when Essick cleared Abdelwahab’s Black ball into the hoop. He was able to clear Black back a few feet with Red, but Abdelwahab ran the angled hoop shot for 4-1. Essick pulled to 2-4 but was on the defensive for the rest of the game, Abdelwahab closing it out 7-2. Essick started game two by scoring Hoops 1 and 2 on consecutive turns with Red. He gained control at Hoop 3 and cleared Blue to corner I, but Abdelwahab cleared Red from there, pushing it to six-yard angled position. Essick ran the hoop smoothly for 3-0. Abdelwahab got Black nearly into the jaws at 4, but Essick scored the hoop with an angled jump from 10 feet. Abdelwahab struggled with his hoop-running stroke for the rest of the game, and Essick took full advantage, finishing the game 7-0 with a clean six-yard hoop. In the deciding game, Abdelwahab still occasionally struggled with hoops, and Essick built a 5-2 lead, running hoop 7 to an easy position at Hoop 8. Abdelwahab cleared with Black, and Essick played Yellow to good position. Abdelwahab took a gentle 20-yard shot at the hoop, running it for 3-5. As at several corner hoops throughout the match, Hoop 9 turned into a tactical battle of positioning, hiding and gentle clearances. Abdelwahab used superior touch to build control, winning the hoop for 4-5. A quick exchange gave Essick a three-yard hoop shot at 10, which he ran smoothly for 6-4. Hoop 11 was another quick exchange, Abdelwahab clearing and Essick missing, and Abdelwahab scoring to pull to 5-6. A key shot at 12 came after Abdelwahab had played Blue to close scoring position: Black cleared Yellow to the corner, Black ending six yards behind the hoop, in plausible position to promote Blue to hoop 13. Essick missed his partially hampered clearance shot and Abdelwahab scored for 6-all. But the attempt to promote Blue missed entirely and Essick now had two balls in position. Blue attempted to clear, missing Red and clearing Yellow. Essick ran the hoop to repeat as national GC singles champion. Matt Griffith won the Championship Singles Plate (for players who did not advance from the blocks). Paul Bennett won the Bowl (for players knocked out prior to the main semifinals). The tournament was supported by sponsorships from Silver Creek Real Estate Group (major tournament and presenting sponsor), PFC Hoopmaker Mallets (equipment sponsor) and Peachtree Hills Place (event sponsor and development partner). Michael Albert was the Tournament Manager. Jeff Soo was the Tournament Director and Eileen Soo was the Assistant Tournament Director.

Championship Flight game results at: https://croquetscores.com/2022/gc/usa-national-championship

First Flight game results at: https://croquetscores.com/2022/gc/usa-national-first-flight

FIRST FLIGHT SINGLES 01. Tamer Hatata 02. Giancarlo Ruiz 03. Onifer Wilmoth 03. Billie Ray 05. Alex Galasso 05. Don Eastman 05. Pat Cunningham 05. Barbara Jamison 09. Dawn Jupin 09. John Wight 09. Priscilla Flowers 09. Gail Kern 09. Ellen Nielsen 09. Rick Zazueta 09. Ray Barrett 09. Gary Gamble 17. Jack Howard 17. Kory Teoman 19. Adrienne Lucke 19. Ellie Griffith 21. Jim Hester 21. Stiles Kellett 21. Tom Bown 21. Betty Teoman 21. Katherine Gamble 21. Mary Galasso 28. John Rymer 28. Gay Cinque 30. Linda Merk 30. Lynette Grout 30. Ying Benns WD John Shanholt FIRST FLIGHT DOUBLES 01. Ellie Griffith/Priscilla Flowers 02. Scott Spoerl/Onifer Wilmoth 03. Billie Ray/Don Eastman 03. Tamer Hatata/Gary Gamble 05. Ellen Nielsen/Jim Hester 05. Jack Howard/John Rymer 05. Alex Galasso/Mary Galasso 05. Ray Barrett/Judy Sellner 09. Rick Zazueta/Giancarlo Ruiz 10. Barbara Jamison/Linda Merk 11. Lynda Bjorklund/Jan Spoerl 12. Adrienne Lucke/Pat Cunningham 13. Wade Coleman/Stiles Kellett (WD) 14. Gail Kern/Anne Killilea 15. Craig Sellner/Tom Bown 16. Gay Cinque/Ying Benns (WD) WD Kory Teoman/Betty Teoman

First Flight Doubles Champions Ellie Griffith and Priscilla Flowers with Matthew Essick