Margaret Stoddart retirement village sponsors a golf croquet weekend tournament and an association croquet weekend tournament. The AC tournament was held Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September 2020 and was managed by John Yarrall.

Saturday was perfect weather for playing croquet. Sunday was windy and there was a very brief shower that sent players scurrying for jackets, only to discard them five minutes later.

AC Open

There were nine entries for the Margaret Stoddart Open event that was played as a flexible Swiss. There was no time limit on games except for the final round on Sunday.

Being the first event of the season, play was slow with all first-round games taking more than 2¹/₂ hours. Two players departed midday on Sunday to return home and no one played more than five games.

Logan McCorkindale (Waireka) won the event with five wins. Duncan Dixon (United) was runner-up with four wins. Josh Winter (Cashmere) won the prize for the greatest increase in index points, not winning another prize.

AC Handicap

There were eight entries for the Margaret Stoddart Handicap event. It was played as two American blocks of four on Saturday with three 2¹/₂-hour games. On Sunday the top two from each block played a full knockout with with two 3-hour games. The others played a full knockout for the plate.

Peter Couch (St James Park) won the event with Bruce McLay (United) runner-up. Carolyn Fordyce (Waireka) won the plate.

The cup initially used for the United Men’s Singles Handicap was repurposed for the United Weekend Handicap (now the Margaret Stoddart) since 2008. Peter won the cup in 1975-76, 1978-79 and 1979-80 when he was a member at United.

Full results of the open and handicap events are on CroquetScores.

Thanks to Margaret Stoddart Retirement Village for sponsoring this tournament.-