The News for those few who play real croquet!                                January 15, 2001

Martin Luther King Jr. who's ideas on croquet match play are unknown

Scott Balthrop pulls off comeback to outduel Steve Unfred

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, some members of the Ironman Croquet league took this holiday to try out a new form of croquet, match play at the hilly Cough Course. These one on one games would lead to some of the closest matches in Ironman Croquet history. After the dust was settled on this cold winter day, "The Living Legend" Scott Balthrop edged out Steve by one shot to win this tryout event. It was deemed a success and will become an official event this year as the new format for the Scott Balthrop Memorial Tournament. It is ironic that Scott won the first tryout.

The tournament had three players (Steve, Brandon, and Mike) who had the day off along with the visiting Californian Scott. The match play event was double elimination format. This meant you lose twice and your out of the event. We would do this until we had only two players left. At this point they would play one game to determine the champion. The champion who would get a picture of Martin Luther King pasted on a piece of computer paper.

The first round matches were set by finishes of the previous year. This meant Brandon would play Scott and Mike would play Steve. Steve was able to coast to an easy victory while Brandon edged out Scott by a turn. Steve, looking dominate wiped out Brandon in the winner bracket match. Scott was able to win his loser bracket match over the host Mike. Mike had two losses and was done.

This set-up a rematch between Brandon and Scott to determine who would play Steve for the championship. Scott played well and with Brandon falling in the street was able to win. Scott had eliminated Brandon and had fought his way into the final with the seemingly unbeatable Steve.

Mike and Brandon made rally signs to support Scott in his quest for a rare win. Signs like "Steve smells" and "Go Living Legend" were among the most popular. While the support was fun, it didn't seem to slow down Steve thru the early wickets.

However, the match remained close throughout. The difficult end stick near two green utility boxes slowed down Steve allowing Scott to catch up. As Steve lined up, Scott hit an impressive shot to claim victory. Steve hit it the next turn and claimed since he hit it the same turn as Scott it was a tie. The observers had none of it and celebrated a rare singles victory by the "Living Legend".

The players discussed how they enjoyed the speed of the event and the exciting matches it led to. As Scott drove off into the sunset, he made an illegal U-turn. The cop car behind him was not too pleased. The Living Legend had the flair for the dramatic along with the first match play win.

Results of MLK Match Play Championship:

Champion- Scott Balthrop, the Living Legend
2nd Place- Steve Unfred
3rd Place- Brandon Lasher
4th Place- Mike Cough

Scott Balthrop, the winner of MLK Match Play Championship