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Current U21 Golf Croquet World Champion and world number 3 Felix Webby headlined the North Island Golf Croquet Championships, held over four days at Orewa Croquet Club last month.
Golf croquet, like the older association croquet, is played on a flat lawn about the size of a tennis court and has players use a large mallet to hit balls through a series of hoops positioned around the lawn. It is a much quicker version of the game, perhaps in the same way that Twenty20 cricket is to Test cricket.
The championships were held on November 8-11. They comprised a doubles competition over the first two days and a singles competition over the final two days, were well represented by Rodney District players, including Bill Morrison and Pixie Jones from Orewa and Nelson Morrow and Marion Taylor from Warkworth.
Defending doubles champions Nelson Morrow and John Christie of Morrinsville, who was also the defending singles champions, retained their title by overcoming Kathie Grant and Malcolm Crawley, both of Epsom, in the final.
Felix Webby, the hard-hitting teenager from Taranaki quickly dispelled any notion that croquet is more about finesse and strategy than technique and raw power. Felix frequently sent opponents’ balls flying off the lawn on his way to the singles championship title, overcoming the North Shore’s Rod Templeman in the final.
Apart from a brief downpour on the second afternoon, fine weather prevailed throughout the championships. Spectators, when they weren’t taking evasive action from any ‘Felix fireworks’ shots, were treated to some outstanding displays of skill and accuracy in the battle for supremacy.
There was a ceasefire on the lawns at 11am on November 11 – Armistice Day – as spectators and players stood to observe a two-minute silence in remembrance of those who died while serving in WWI.
