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USCA Florida Regional Golf Croquet Tournament

Sarasota County Croquet Club, Venice, Florida

Jan. 6 – 9, 2022

As the saying goes, nothing is more constant than change and that definitely proved to be the theme leading up to the start of the 9th annual Florida Golf Croquet Regional at the Sarasota County Croquet Club in January.

Despite the withdrawal of eight players including the tournament director, the event was fortunate to have been over-subscribed with a large waiting list of players hoping to be activated.  Webster Bull answered the 11th hour call to step into the TD position and the openings vacated by players were quickly filled on an ongoing basis right up to the start.

With the entire country experiencing record low temperatures and snow in many parts, the lovely town of Venice Beach, Florida was one spot where the weather was absolutely sunny, warm, and perfect for croquet.

Day one featured Knockout Doubles matches in Championship and First Flight.  Consolation and Satellite matches also gave players a couple extra rounds of play if eliminated early on. Heading into the Semi-finals, all four top seeds in each division advanced to face one another.

In one Championship Flight doubles semi-final, the father-son duo of David and Kyle Maloof advanced past Jim Teel and Rich Dell in a solid 2-game battle 7-4, 7-6.  On the other side of the draw, Helen Covington and Macey White took out Leo McBride and Amr Hamdy 7-3, 7-5 to face the Maloofs in the final.

In a tough 3-game final, David and Kyle Maloof emerged victorious to capture the 2022 Doubles title

7-4, 6-7, 7-4 over Helen Covington and Macey White.

First Flight Doubles Semis were both won by scores of 7-6 with Laura and Kendall Hendrick knocking out Priscilla Flowers and Bill Simmons while Cami and Tate Russack advanced with a win over Barbara and Jim Jamison.

The First Flight Final between Laura and Kendall Hendrick and Cami and Tate Russack was split at one game each before darkness settled in and postponed the third game to be completed on another day.  The final result was a win for the Hendricks, 7-6, 4-7, 7-3.

Day Two saw the start of Singles Block play.  The 48 players were placed into blocks of 8 players each in three flights.  Based on final win-loss results, the top four players earned a spot in the Singles Knockout, while the bottom four players in each block moved into the Plate Knockout.

With the first four rounds of seven completed, only four players survived the first rounds without encountering a loss.  Heading into Saturday’s final rounds of block play, Matt Griffith in Championship flight was 4-0; in First flight Don Eastman was 4 – 0; and in Second Flight both Sue Emond and Tom Lindley had perfect 4 – 0 records.   Every flight had tight races and it wasn’t until all of the block matches were completed and the results were tallied that it finally became clear as to who would advance to the knockouts.  There was not one player who hadn’t suffered at least one loss in block play.

In Championship Flight, David and Kyle Maloof faced off in a semi-final singles match that had the shot of the tournament.  With the first game tied at 6-6 and Kyle’s ball in the jaws of hoop #13, David hit a reverse backward jump shot from the boundary, made the hoop but then realized he had caused court damage with his mallet and called the fault on himself.  Kyle advanced to the final with a 7-6, 4-7, 7-0 win. In the other semi-final, Macey White and Billy Harper battled with Billy moving into the final with a 7-6, 7-3 victory.  Kyle took care of business in the championship match and earned the 2022 Regional Singles title with 7-4, 7-2 win over Billy.  The Championship Plate winner was Hesham Elzoghby.

In the First Flight Knockout, Mark Kucharski edged past Tate Russack with a 7-6 semi-final win to earn his spot in the final.  On the other half of the draw, Tamer Hatata took out Billie Ray in the semis with a 7-4 win.  Tamer and Mark battled until the sun went down on Sunday and it was Tamer claiming the First Flight Regional title with a tight 7-6, 7-6 victory.  The First Flight Plate winner was Thomas Howell. 

In Second Flight action, Laura Hendrick played solid throughout the entire tournament, dropping only two singles games and one doubles game through the entire event.  In the knock-out semi-final, she took out Rick Alderson 7-3 while Tom Lindley got past Barbara Jamison with a 7-4 win.  The Second Flight title went to Laura with a 7-2 win over Tom Lindley to cap off a great weekend of capturing both the First Flight Doubles and Second Flight Singles Regional titles!  The Second Flight Plate winner was Caryl Firth.

Singles Final Order: