Following on from the block stages of this competition, the two qualifiers from Reigate were Geoff Gunton, and Chris O’Byrne, who will both be going to Surbiton for the Regional Finals.
But, as always, we needed to find an overall club champion in this competition, so the final was played out in front of a modest crowd at 10am on 30th July.
Having won the toss, Chris elected to go second, and this turned out to be a successful tactic when he hit his own Duffer tice 4th turn, and got started. However, after running hoop one, a straight-forward rush went sailing over his target ball and off into the distance.
After what could be perhaps described as an extremely generous exchange of opportunities between the two, Chris made it around to Penult, having popped his backward ball through to hoop 3, where Geoff’s balls had been left together but wired. Geoff missed the long shot, but then, with everything laid out, Chris missed his opening shot of about 2 yards, handing the control straight back over.
After a little more to-ing and fro-ing, Chris managed to extend his lead, getting his ball to 3-back, having completed the Penult peel, but then missed a straight-forward 5 yarder.
It was at this point that the game started to turn, with Geoff’s guile, determination, and experience coming to the fore, as he wrestled back control of the match, with some solid break building, and long range hit-ins. Chris spurned the few opportunities he was offered, and Geoff ended up finishing with a 6 yard peg-out!
Well played Geoff, and good luck to both in the Regionals!