VITAL STATISTICS
Date: Thursday, August 10, 2000
Location: William J. Cherry Croquet Grounds, Perkasie, PA
Winner: “Blackjack” Kevin Sutton
The five annual Champions Cup event, the first held outside the Lakewood Croquet Club’s home state of Washington, proved to be the biggest in Club history. Featuring a field of twenty-five competitors, the event was (for the first time) broken up into a qualifying round, consisting of four heats, and a championship final featuring the top qualifiers from the evening’s earlier action.
In addition to the expanded field of competitors, Champions Cup 2000 featured it’s first ever “peanut gallery” of fans in attendance. This non-competitors brought the events total attendance to nearly fifty people.
The event began with the traditional Champions Cup barbecue, featuring the first ever dual gas grill system. The influx of attendees forced Cup organizers to scramble to insure each fan and competitor was properly fed and inebriated before the event.
Two courses were set up side by side for the four qualifying heats, with two heats being run concurrently. The top two finishers in each heat qualified for the finals. Jim Cherry and Brian Egan, both rookies making their first Cup appearances, surprised many by taking first place in Heats 1 and 2. The third and fourth heats were also surprises, as the Cup’s perenial last-place finishers Tom Carmony and Brian S. Johnston III took the wins.
Although only eight competitors were originally slated to compete in the Cup final, circumstances dictated differently. First, “Queen of Croquet” Lin Cherry demanded and received special entry into the finals under the obscure “Bridal Qualification,” stating that since Cup 2000 was apart of her wedding festivities (Cherry married “King of Old School” Tom Carmony August 12th), she automatically qualified for the final round. President Johnston buckled under the pressure, allowing Cherry in, as well as Sean Cherry, the 12-year-old phenom who was injured prior to qualifying by an errant roquet.Further final round shuffling saw qualifier Bob Kopcho bow out due to time constraints, allowing Larry Moss to enter the final from Heat 2.
The Cup 2000 final, originally slated for approximately 8:15pm, did not actually begin until 10pm, under a veil of near-complete darkness. Candles and tiki torches were distributed throughout the course and used to light wickets during play. As has been typical of recent Cup finals, the field was quickly broken up by a surprising difficult early wicket. Sutton and Johnston were able to overcome the wicket, leaving the majority of the struggling field behind them. Although Lin Cherry and the brother-sister tandem of Brian and Amy Egan were in pursuit, the championship was clearly coming down to defending champion Sutton and his nemesis Johnston.
Johnston had an opportunity to pass Sutton on the final two wickets, but a lack of concentration and a hurried shot left resulted in a miscue, granting Sutton the only opening he would need, as he staked out on his following shot to capture his second consecutive Champions Cup victory and his third in five years.
“I had my opportunity, but I just blew it,” stated a resigned Johnston at the post-Cup press conference. “I give Sutton his credit; he was calm under pressure and he made the shot that I couldn’t. That’s why he’s the champion right now.”
Sutton also spoke briefly about his victory.
“I’m just happy to put the events of the past three months (referring to Investigation 2000 and the resulting 60-day suspension issued by President Johnston) behind me,” said the LCC Champion. “Rather than playing the same kind of mind games that others around the LCC have been involved in, I chose to let my play do the talking for me.”
CHAMPIONS CUP COMPLETE RESULTS
QUALIFYING HEAT 1
1 – Jim Cherry *
2 – Kevin Sutton *
3 – Kyle Schoenleber
4 – Andy Cooper
5 – Kristina Miller
6 – Tom Kavanagh
QUALIFYING HEAT 2
1 – Brian Egan *
2 – Bob Kopcho *
3 – Larry Moss
4 – Jeff Gepner
5 – Lisa Ballard
6 – Sara Moss
QUALIFYING HEAT 3
1 – Tom Carmony *
2 – Karl Schoenleber *
3 – Bob Beaty
4 – Lily Hung
5 – Babs Thayakaran
6 – Robin Kavanagh
7 – Danielle Cherry
QUALIFYING HEAT 4
1 – Brian S. Johnston III *
2 – Amy Egan *
3 – Lin Cherry
4 – Amy Cherry
5 – Jay Thayakaran
6 – Tom Cherry
FINAL ROUND
1 – Kevin Sutton
2 – Brian S. Johnston III
3 – Lin Cherry
4 – Brian Egan
5 – Amy Egan
6 – Larry Moss
7 – Sean Cherry
8 – Jim Cherry
9 – Tom Carmony
10 – Karl Schoenleber
