After a slow start, Jackie Jones of Venice rallied to win a wild championship match in the A flight to capture the ninth annual Boca Grande Croquet Invitational top tier title.
Jones is the No. 1-ranked female croquet player in the nation and a member of the United States Croquet Association Hall of Fame. She defended her 2010 Gasparilla Inn & Club crown despite barely making the Sunday finals after finishing sixth in Saturday's block play to fill the last rung on the single-elimination ladder.
Jones battled it out in the title match with Alan Cottle from England. The lead changed hands several times with Jones clinching the crown 16-13 on the last rotation.
Overall, a full house competed with 32 players divided into flights during the March 10-13 competition on three beautifully manicured Gasparilla Inn & Club courts and a Boca Bay Country Club court.
Heavy rain ended the day before the start of play, which slowed the courts initially.
"We did experience a cold front moving through and Friday was a cold and windy day for native Floridians," said Gasparilla Inn & Club General Manager Jack Damioli. "The northern guests were happy not to see snow."
Weather continually improved from the raw start and by Sunday's title matches players enjoyed normal warm Florida winter weather. Play started each day at 8:30 a.m. and concluded at 6 p.m.
Ten seeded players contended for the Championship A Flight, including local club members Jones, Blaine Davis, Don Mathieson, Kelley Newton and Bob Bake.
Block play preceded a single-elimination ladder Sunday.
Newton, a perennial strong contender, finished the Saturday block ranked No. 1 with five wins in six games, closely followed by Blaine Davis of Boca Bay, who also notched five wins.
The No. 1-seeded Newton-Davis team was upset Sunday by Cottle-Jones, who then went head-to-head in the title match.
In other flights:
No. 1-ranked Ken Northrop topped No, 2 Sheila Davis 19-9 to win Championship B, which consisted of 10 players with handicaps 4 to 5. Geoffrey Mattison of Bel Aire and Chuck Perry from Naples tied for third. Other competitors hailed from England, Canada and New Jersey.
Elaine Postley from New York nipped Jim McLaughlin, a Venice snowbird who lives in New Hampshire. The 13-12 First Flight contest was the closest of the day The flight included three players from Venice and three from Oyster Bay, N.Y.
Betty Crisler of Bel Aire defeated Lucinda Sullivan of Boca Bay 13-11 for the Second Flight title. Sullivan was just three wickets short of her first win.
