September Madness

BELTON, MO -- The MCA capped its third season of Nine Wicket Series play with a wild weekend of croquet at Markey Park in Belton, Missouri. Dylan Goodwin took the Pro Championship with a 17-13 win over Greg Clouse in a hard-fought final, but with four divisions and the Six Ball Open Championship on Friday night there was plenty of hardware to go around.

Deborah Millican probably had the biggest weekend as she took the Six Ball Open Championship in an epic Friday night battle under the lights, then followed that with a 20-11 win in the Gold Championship over Bill Berg on Saturday -- claiming both the Gold Shield and overall Gold Points race with 208 points on the season. Bill Berg was second in the Gold Points race with 193 points.

Millican won the Gold Shield and Trophy

PHOTOS | RESULTS | OFFICIAL SCORESHEETS

Saturday morning started with eight players in the mix for the Pro Championship. The overall race had already been decide as Matt Griffith's record of 474 points set at the KC Open was enough to secure the Pro Points Series titel. He missed the Championship as he was in North Carolina winning the Lake Toxaway GC Invitational in an effort to work on his GC grade to improve his chances of making the international team for the WCF World GC Team Championship.

That left Greg Clouse as the favorite and number one seed on Saturday morning, but Clouse got off to a tough start as Bill Berg got him into a slugfest in in round one. Clouse survived 13-12, then went on to a more comfortable 23-14 win over Ron Millican in the semifinals.

On the bottom half of the bracket, number two seed Goodwin was able to survive a 21-17 battle with Deborah Millican in round one. In the semifinals, Breeden got the early jump on Goodwin with a two-ball break that went around from three to the 11PW. The two AC-style players then got into a traditional American-style game with Goodwin collecting one wicket at a time push one ball out past the 11PW. After a short back and forth, there was a brief standoff for positioning, but Goodwin jumped first and took control with a short break that should have gone to rover. Goodwin lost the turn though after 14PW when he went for an extra shot after a hand roquet. That left Breeden a 35-foot shot for the hit in. It missed and Goodwin survived 17-14.

In the Pro Final, Goodwin got the first break and took it around through 13PW, then set a set good leave. But he botched the second turn with red and had to bail off prior the fifth wicket. Clouse was unable to get in and once Goodwin got red going again he tried to make his way through wicket five hoping to make an easier approach to the black ball on the east boundary about 15 feet north of five.

Goodwin stuffed the hoop and Clouse had the three balls he needed to go around. He took the break through three and all the way to the stake but broke down coming out. Goodwin claimed the MCA Pro Shield with a 17-13 win.

"I wanted this one pretty bad," Goodwin said. "I've always wanted to win this event and that loss back in 2013 has haunted me."

Silver Shield winner Darin WatsonThe Silver Division provided some of the best drama of the day. Number one seed Di Berg came in with 153 points as the overall leader with Darin Watson as the challenger in second with 129 points. Berg had a bye in the first round, then faced Brevin Millican who picked up his first win with a 20-17 win over Trevor Adams in the only first round game. Millican then went on to upset the number one seed 12-10 to secure a place in the final. Watson took a 10-7 win over Justin Marciniak in the other half the bracket to earn his spot in the final.

Millican had the early advantage with his ability to hit long and score tough hoops. Watson kept his partners together and worked a few wickets at a time until he was able to get to the turn to gain the advantage and take a 19-15 win. Watson's 19 points came up short in the overall race (158) and Berg held on with 163 points for the 2015 Silver Division points cup. 

The Bronze Division played in the early afternoon with four players and Dylan Goodwin and Deborah Millican providing the coaching. Game one saw Gwyneth Bowen win with eight wickets, with Renee Potter close behind with six wickets. In game two, Goodwin noted that the players would score higher if they played faster and the took the advice to heart as Potter scored 10 wickets for the win, but Cade Millican (8) and Elizabeth Goodwin (6) both made it into the turn wickets to provide a challenge to Potter. However, opportunities in last turns didn't play out and Potter survived for the win.

Potter won the overall event with 16 points and claimed the 2015 Bronze Shield. Bowen took second with 13 points, Millican third with 12 points and Goodwin rounded out the line-up with 10 points. 

NOTES

• The 2015 Goodwin World Media Pro Points Race paid out to four places for 2015. Matt Griffith earned $150 for his first place performance. In second place, Greg Clouse claimed $75, with Dylan Goodwin in third at $50 and Billy Bob Breeden receiving the fourth place check of $25.
• The MCA handed out a total of 40 prizes over four events for the 2015 season.
• Four players retained the Ironman status of perfect attendance for all 13 MCA 9WS tournaments. Bill Berg, Dylan Goodwin, Deborah Millican and Ron Millican have all been on hand for every event since the first on in Stilwell, Kansas in May of 2013.
• The unofficial total MCA membership count for 2015 is 43. That follows 32 for 2014, 22 for 2013 and nine for 2012. 
• The MCA Records page is now corrected and updated. In the Pro Record book, Matt Griffith took down several marks in 2015 including the highest Pro Points total of 474 pts. He also holds records for most tournament wins (5), tournament win streak (5), most pegouts in a season (9), most consecutive game pegouts (4) and holding the most career pegouts at 11. In addition, he tied Paul Miller's win streak of 15 straight games and also Dylan Goodwin's season win total of 17 games.
• Deborah Millican set a new mark in the Gold Division record book with a new season points total of 208, eclipsing Taylor Airrington's record of 174 set in 2014. She also took the season wins record with seven total for 2015. She also shares the career tournament wins record of three with Jason Johnson.
• Dylan Goodwin surpassed the 1,000 wicket mark in Pro Play at the KC Open and now has an overall total of 1,056 wickets. Greg Clouse looks like he will be the next player over 1,000 as he now has 937 wickets.
• Goodwin now has 38 career wins, with Clouse just behind at 30 wins. Matt Griffith is making up ground fast as he is already at 25 career wins.
• The Pro Division saw 3,097 wickets scored in 2015 and 83 games played. The overall average for per was 18.66 wickets per game.
• Overall, MCA players across four divisions played 150 games and scored 5,277 wickets in 2015.
• Deborah Millican became just the second player to win a double championship by claiming the Gold Shield and the overall Gold Points Trophy on Saturday. Paul Miller was the only other to player to achieve that feat by winning the MCA Pro Shield and the MCA Pro "Breeden Cup" in 2013.
• With Griffith's 474 point performance, five pro players have now joined the "300 Wicket Club" ... Paul Miller (2013), Dylan Goodwin (2013, 2014), Greg Clouse (2013, 2015), Greg Adams (2014) and Matt Griffith (2015). Only two players have reached the "400 Club" ... Goodwin (2014) and Griffith (2015).