Kansas City Open: Pro-Gold Sunday Schedule

PARKVILLE, MO -- With the limited courts and the worst number for a division (seven), we had to once again mix the Pro and Gold Division block play. The good news we've obliterated the MCA 9WS entry record with 21 players!

We'll work with four blocks of three with games starting at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. The top two from each block will advance to the eight player Pro Division playoff. The third place player in each block will play in a four-player Gold Playoff. Full schedule is listed below.

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2014 KC Open Player List

PARKVILLE, MO -- The deadline for the Kansas City Open on August 2-3 is this coming next Tuesday at 10:00 p.m. Central time (July 29). You can sign up by RSVP on the Croquet Network event section (Kansas City Open) or email Dylan Goodwin at kccroquetclub@gmail.com. Click here for more event details

Player list to date:

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Goodwin's Lead Extends in the MCA Pro Race

LEAWOOD, KS -- The MCA has updated the 2014 Nine Wicket Series Pro Points race standings and Dylan Goodwin's win at the Kansas Challenge has given him a 105-point lead overall. He came into the event with an 83-point lead over Ron Millican, but there was a shake-up in the standings as Greg Adams (260) jumped over Millican (216) for second place in the race.

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Kansas Scorcher

LEAWOOD, KS -- The MCA returned to Leawood, Kansas on Saturday in a big way as the the 2014 Kansas Challenge set a new record for player entries with 17. That eclipsed 12 entries for the same event in 2013 and shows the steady growth that the MCA is enjoying in the second season of the Nine Wicket Series.

GALLERY 1 | GALLERY 2 | GALLERY 3 | OFFICIAL SCORESHEET

On the courts though, the big story was the battle against the heat as the temperature reached 92 degrees in the afternoon. The Kansas Challenge had play across three divisions with Dylan Goodwin taking the Pro Division, Ron Millican winning the Gold Division and newcomer Nate Benz going 4-0 to win the Silver Division.

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2014 Kansas Challenge Early Report

LEAWOOD, KS -- The 2014 Kansas Challenge just finished up and we have winners across three divisions. Dylan Goodwin claimed his third straight tourney win with a 21-20 thriller over Greg Adams in the Pro Division. Ron Millican missed the Pro cut, but battled through the Gold Division bracket and took a 32-25 win over Debbie Breeden. The Silver Division had a five player round-robin and it came down to a big final showdown as projected in the afternoon. Nate Benz took the win with a 16-13 win over Justin Marciniak.

The big report with photos and results will be on the MCA website tomorrow.

2014 Kansas Challenge Matchups

LEAWOOD, KS -- The line-ups are set and players are expected to be on hand by 8:05 a.m. on Saturday for an 8:30 a.m. start for the Kansas Challenge at Mission Trail Elementary in Leawood, Kansas (133rd and Mission Road).

Gwyneth Bowen in the Silver Division is the only player with a first round bye. The Pro and Gold Divisions will play a mixed draw in the morning with all points counting toward the Pro Division. The top six players will then make the Pro Playoff, while the bottom six will be slotted in the Gold Division Playoff. The matchups follow.

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2014 Kansas Challenge Player List

Updated on Sunday, July 6, 2014 at 10:06AM by MCA Website Admin

Updated on Sunday, July 6, 2014 at 8:35PM by MCA Website Admin

Updated on Tuesday, July 8, 2014 at 4:34PM by MCA Website Admin

Updated on Tuesday, July 8, 2014 at 9:36PM by MCA Website Admin

Updated on Thursday, July 10, 2014 at 8:33PM by MCA Website Admin

LEAWOOD, KS -- The deadline for the Kansas Challenge on July 12 is this coming Tuesday at 10:00 p.m. Central time (July 8). You can sign up by RSVP on the Croquet Network event section (Kansas Challenge) or email Dylan Goodwin at kccroquetclub@gmail.com. Click here for more event details

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VPC: Oklahoma Open Wrap Up, Part 4

The MCA held a Virtual Press Conference (VPC) today with MCA President Dylan Goodwin as a follow-up to last Saturday’s Oklahoma Open. This is Part 4 of 4 of the Q&A which was geared more toward Goodwin's role as a player:

Now that we have your insight on the Oklahoma Open from your point of view as MCA president, tell us about the event from a player's perspective. We had touched on the "true croquet court" playing surface. How did the players fare in the nine-wicket game on the fast turf? What sort of adjustments did players make? Were there trade-offs?

So, this is a really interesting question. I've never really seen much of a standard opening strategy develop in 9W on long grass. Chernobyls are effective because you can make hoop 1 and 2 in one stroke to get two shots. I will say with the faster grass, red and yellow were opting for corner 1 a lot, but people were also rolling past wicket 2 quite bit after scoring #1.

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VPC: Oklahoma Open Wrap Up, Part 3

The MCA held a Virtual Press Conference (VPC) today with MCA President Dylan Goodwin as a follow-up to last Saturday’s Oklahoma Open. This is Part 3 of 4 of the Q&A:

Oklahoma and Kansas see their share of wind. Surely that lesson will be a valuable in the future. Returning closer to the MCA's home base, what can you tell us about the Sunflower Wickets Fundraiser in Olathe, Kan.?

This is an event that the MCA has worked with since it's inception in 2010. We provide the equipment and referee the games. I think it is good fundraiser for the historic Mahaffie Farmstead there in Olathe, and it's always nice to see our MCA group out there in the red shirts. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to do much for promoting the sport.

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VPC: OKLAHOMA OPEN WRAP UP, PART 2

The MCA held a Virtual Press Conference (VPC) today with MCA President Dylan Goodwin as a follow-up to last Saturday’s Oklahoma Open. This is Part 2 of 4 of the Q&A:

How did the "true croquet courts" affect nine-wicket play?

At this point, I am very encouraged. We had a little practice on Friday and the set up was a bit undersized and only practice wickets were set up. It was incredibly easy to go around and I was in a state of panic most of Friday night. However, we set standard wickets for pro play and I set them very tight―just a sliver of clearance on about 15 of the 18 pro wickets. That seemed to solve it and I am pleased to report ... we had very inter-active play. The wind may have factored in also, but I really thought the experiment was a success.

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