Pinehurst’s Jim McGill made up half of an ad-hoc team that took the top prize in the First Flight of The North Carolina Croquet Club Team Championships July 22-25.

The tournament was held at three locations in Linville, N.C.: the Grandfather Croquet Association, the Eseeola Croquet Club and the Linville ridge Croquet Club.

North Carolina is the only state that has a Club Teams tournament on its agenda. The format is doubles only, with each doubles pair representing their North Carolina croquet club. The tournament was started in 1996 by Mack Penwell, Director of Lawn Sports at Pinehurst.

It was a tournament that had great camaraderie along with good food and lots of croquet. Players had the option of playing as many as four 90-minute matches per day.

Jeff Soo, tournament director, organized the 28 teams into four flights. The 56 players were all from the host clubs and clubs in Black Mountain, Etowah, Davidson, Pinehurst and Stoneridge in Chapel Hill.

The Pinehurst Croquet Club sent five teams to Linville: Penwell and Mena Holloway (Championship Flight), Dick and Nancy Loew (First Flight), McGill (First Flight), George and Kathy Kuhasz (Second Fight) and Walter Holloway and Harvey Ledbetter (Second Flight). McGill’s scheduled partner, Al Conolly, dropped out of the tournament before the start. Wally Deener stepped in as a replacement.

The winners of the Championship Flight were Ed Roberts and Hugh Barger (Davidson); runners-up were Harold Allison and John Todd (Etowah). The First Flight winners were McGill (Pinehurst) and Deener (Linville Ridge); runners-up were Curt Valentine and Jerry Sams (Etowah). The Second Flight winners were Arthur and Cindy Bagby (Eseeola); runners up were Gordon Crosby and Mieke Maloof (Eseeola). The Third Flight Winners were Conrad and Marie Hass (Stoneridge); runners-up were Everett and Lucy Jones (Eseeola).