Billy Bob Breeden on the way to his second KC ACI title
The Kactus Creek AC Invitational sponsored by CroquetNetwork.com was originally scheduled for Tulsa, Oklahoma, but with minimal interest the event shifted gears and switched to the Kactus Creek Croquet Club in Parkville, Missouri. On relatively short notice, five players chose to join the fray and battle it out April 21-23, 2017. The reward for these brave AC warriors was Friday start in "November-like" conditions, but the event saw improving weather each day.
The first two days were a round-robin that eliminated one player to set up a four-player knockout on Sunday. Matt Griffith worked through the block with a 4-0 record to take the top seed in the knockout. There he advanced with a 26-2 semifinal win over Ron Millican, who still needs some convincing on the merits of AC. Billy Bob Breeden took down Dylan Goodwin 24-4 with ease in the other semifinal. That set up what proved to be an interesting final between Griffith and Breeden.
The early positions were very spread out as Breeden chose corner two after Griffith set up on the east boundary. When Griffith put out an on-court rush, Breeden shot from B and missed into corner four. From there we saw a bit of back forth as both players kept defensive positions. Eventually Breeden took the first break with yellow, but failed to get his red ball far enough to the east boundary and had to reverse the rush on a diagonal spread.
Griffith missed the leave, but Breeden did have to bail off the ensuing break. More interactivity followed. Griffith was able to get around with blue but failed the 3B hoop. Breeden picked up from there and pegged out one ball as time ran out. Griffith actually transposed his clips as blue was on 3B and black was on #4. With 11 wickets needed for a tie, black was just east of the peg had a 7-yarder at the opponent ball near #4, while blue had was southwest of #2 with a 12-yard plus opportunity. Black would have needed to pegout and peel one to tie, but with the clip mix up, Griffith chose blue and missed the roquet.
The KC ACI had actually been played in 2011 and 2012. Those events were played over several weeks and the 2012 edition failed to complete, so no champion was named, but it was Breeden that won the 2011 edition. So, with the win on Sunday, Breeden remains the king of Kansas City AC.
BLOCK RECORDS
Matt Griffith (4-0)
Dylan Goodwin (3-1)
Billy Bob Breeden (2-2)
Ron Millican (1-3)
Deborah Millican (0-4)
SEMIFINALS
Matt Griffith 26, Ron Millican 2
Billy Bob Breeden 24, Dylan Goodwin 4
FINAL
Billy Bob Breeden 22, Matt Griffith 11