Lakewood Croquet Club

SEATTLE, WA - Just moments after clinching his fourth Champions Cup victory and first win since 2000, spectulation began as to whether “Mr. Fantastic” Kevin Sutton would be traveling to Perkasie, Pennsylvania for the 2005 Pennsylvania Open, scheduled for Saturday, August 6th.

Such spectulation is based on the elusive Triple Crown, victories in the Gary Coleman Memorial Team Challenge, the Champions Cup and the Pennsylvania Open. No competitor has ever achieved a “career” Triple Crown, let alone a sweep in a single season. Sutton is now in position to do so.

Rumblings about the Cup winner traveling to Pennsylvania for the Open began in May, as Sutton and “The Franchise” Jeff Gepner successfully defended their Lakewood Croquet Club (LCC) Doubles Championship at the 2005 Gary Coleman Memorial Team Challenge. Following the victory, Gepner himself declared before the assembled media that “If Kevin or I go on to win the Champions Cup, the winner has to go to Pennsylvania for the Open. It’s our duty to make history.”

Gepner, a three-time Cup winner and four-time Coleman Challenge winner, is the only other competitor in LCC history to have been in position to challenge for the Triple Crown. Gepner won the Coleman Challenge alongside partner “King of Qualifying” Tom Carmony in 2001, went on to win his third Cup two months later, but was unable to make the trip to Perkasie for the Open.

When questioned about any potential travel plans at the post-Cup press conference, Sutton was non-committal but left the door open for a possible run at the Triple Crown.

“At this point, I can’t commit to anything,” Mr. Fantastic told reporters. “But I definitely want to keep the door open for a possible run at the Triple Crown.”

“We’ll see what the future holds.”