[<<] [>>] by Bill Arliss at Southwick
8th May 2001 (AC)

The winner of the main event, the Maurice Reckitt Rose Bowl, was Matthew Burrow from the Channel Islands. Eighteen players took part. It was played as a best of three, knock out with a consolation Swiss. Matthew struggled in the early rounds loosing his first game with David Parkins and then pulling back from a 2-0 defeat at the last moment in his semi-final against Paul Duckworth from Jersey. He regained his form in the final to record a straight 2-0 win in the final over David Mundy from Medway. Southwick's Chris Constable was the other loosing semi-finalist.

This tournament now includes both a handicap and an advanced class played concurrently. Luckily the rain held off all weekend and we had some very sunny periods but with the cloudy day on Saturday the players were met with almost arctic temperature conditions.

The lawns at Southwick were playing very true and much faster than last year and this gave the opportunity for two players to earn their gold badges. Congratulations to David Mundy and Rutger Byderwellen. Winner of the Consolation Swiss was Manager Bill Arliss with 7 from 10 wins.

Sixteen players contested the handicap event for the King Cup. It was played as an eight round Swiss. Local player, John Gosney quickly made his mark in this competition and went into the final round with a two game margin. Unfortunately he lost his final game with runner-up Tony Tizzard from Winchester. This is only John's second tournament season and but for his final loss, he would have come down from 16 to 12. With his very steady game he will soon be in single figures.

Final Positions

1 Matthew Burrow
2 Bill Arliss
3 Paul Castell
4 Paul Duckworth
5 Sarah Burrow
6 David Mundy
7 David Parkins
8 Jack Davis
9 Peter Howell
10 Rutger Byderwellen
11 Richard Knapp
12 John Davey
13 Fernando Ansorena
14 Jonathan Isaacs
15 John Cosier
16 Christine Constable
17 Pauline Davey
18 Daphne Gaitley