There were no cucumber sandwiches. No one was sipping champagne or toting around a glass of wine. Throw out all you think you know about croquet -- the Kansas City Open is for croquet warriors only. 

PHOTOS

With 19 entrants overall, a high of 97 degrees on Saturday and 12 total rounds of croquet, the 2021 edition of the KC Open took the challenge to a whole new level. In the end though, it was the home duo of Matt Griffith and Ellie Griffith that went a combined 10-0 to claim both the Pro and Gold Division titles. For Ellie, it was her third straight KC Open Gold title, while Matt had a repeat win and has won the event five out of eight times.

PRO REPORT

Returning to the traditional format after a shortened event in 2020, the Pro Division led off the event with Saturday action. In spite of the projected high temperature, the Pros set out on the longest one-day schedule ever planned for an MCA Nine Wicket Series event with seven rounds that started at 8:30 a.m. and targeted a 4:15 p.m. championship final. 

PRO DIVISION RESULTS

In addition to her Gold commitment for Sunday, Ellie Griffith agreed to play with the Pros on Saturday and that balanced out both groups and led to a 12-player line-up -- the maximum for a one day event at Kactus Creek Croquet Club. That format made for four three-player blocks with a bye in the morning and to ensure three games, all players would be advanced to the playoff (which meant the block winners would get a first-round playoff bye).

Pro FinalistsBlock play went close to plan as top seeds Matt Griffith, Greg Clouse and Dylan Goodwin claimed block titles. Only Greg Adams in Block D as the fourth seed overall failed to take his block as he took 14-11 loss to Ron Millican in Block D. So at 2-0, Millican then had the playoff bye along with the other block winners.

The first round of the playoffs started on schedule at 12:30 p.m. and the group was already a full two-hours into a special kind of relentless heat. The first round went according to seed and the most notable action occurred in the lower section of the bracket as Deborah Millican squared off a familiar young opponent in Bryce Millican. Bryce made an appearance in the championship final in 2020 by beating me and Matt Smith. Deborah wasn't daunted though as she took him down with a 32-15 pegout win. 

She carried that momentum into the quarterfinals, where she pushed husband Ron Millican to the limit before losing 21-20. Steve Jackson had a good showing as well in the lower half of the bracket as he took a 24-8 win in round one over Eddie Mondt then gave Greg Clouse a battle in the quarterfinals before falling 20-17. Clouse and Millican squared off in the semifinal where Clouse claimed a comfortable 21-11 win to advance to the title game.

In the upper half, all went according to seed and as the overall #3 event seed, I faced off against Matt Griffith in the semifinals. After his traditional out game, he got the first attack with blue and black and took a break around to establish control. There was an error though and I did find a way in and got my yellow ball around and accidentally scored 14 and 15 (penultimate and rover) in one shot to go to rover. I still got a leave set though and was able to start out with a three-ball with red at hoop 2 as planned. Unfortunately, before even settling in, I stuffed a makeable hoop at three after a poor roll-up and Griffith tightened his grip on the game. Still, in last turns and needing five hoops to tie, I did get the first two hoops of a two-ball break attempt before erroring out. Griffith advanced 23-20.

In the championship final, Griffith seemed relatively comfortable in the extreme heat and established an early lead and control of the game. With both balls on three, Clouse had a couple of attempts to get started from the east boundary, but didn't seem to have the same pop on the ball as he did earlier in the event as it was clear the heat was taking a toll. He never really got started and the big excitement was the attempted double peg out by Griffith as time was running out. After running 15 (rover), he was wired on the opponent ball and had to roquet his partner. That led to an 18-foot pegout attempt that went just to the right. Griffith had to settle for a 31-4 win for the KC Open Pro title repeat.

GOLD REPORT 

The combined Gold-Silver Division set out for five rounds of croquet on Sunday morning with two blocks of four players. After the sweltering Saturday action, block play on Sunday started under over-cast skies. But even with a bit of cover, the temperatures steadily worked up to what I could call normal July Kansas City heat. 

GOLD DIVISION RESULTS

The format called for first and second in each block to move to the Gold Division semifinals, while third and fourth would move into the Silver playoff. So the pressure was on from the get-go for players with Gold title aspirations.

Gold FinalistsIn Block A, two-time reigning champ Ellie Griffith got a peg-out in game one and then followed by taking down Colton Lennard in game two, 19-11. She got a win in game three as well to go 3-0 and claim the block. Lennard got his own pegout in round three to snag second place and a bid to the Gold playoff.

In Block B, top seed Brevin Millican went 3-0 with an 11-9 win over newcomer Don Dowd as the closet test. Dowd took second in the block to earn his place in the Gold playoff.

In the semifinals, Griffith moved past Dowd 23-9, while Millican and Lennard entained the crowd with a highly offensive battle. It was Lennard that always held a lead that ranged from narrow to almost comfortable. But the hard hitting Millican kept battling back to stay in the game. It wasn't quite enough though as Lennard took a 26-24 win. As a sidebar, the game featured a number of long hoops and hit ins, but what stood out for me was Millican scoring hoop three and going out of bounds 60 feet away on the north boundary.

So, the championship shaped up as a re-match of the 2020 Gold Division final. In the first half of the game, it was Griffith that got the edge and worked out to the doubles first and got a ball through. Lennard stayed close and with about 20 minutes left he got in with red and looked ready to push out to an advantage as he had black with him and his partner ball near 9PW. But as has he approached the turn peg, he croqueted black out of bounds ending his turn and leaving three points on the court. To compound the issue, that effectively, gave Ellie a three-ball and she in turn collected six points. As one spectator noted, that was a nine-point swing. From there, Griffith closed it out with a 22-12 win and her third straight KC Open Gold title.

SILVER REPORTSilver Finalists

While the Gold players basked in the limelight of an adoring gallery while playing on courts one and two, the Silver playoffs were held out on courts three and four in the bright sun and relative obscurity. The action in the semifinals looked solid though as both games were closely fought. Jim Ratzlaff survived a battle with Ryan Millican to win 20-18, while the other semifinal featured plenty of offense with Carson Lennard claiming a 29-25 win over Valerie Andruss.

SILVER DIVISION RESULTS

Unfortunately, the first round took a toll and Ratzlaff had to forfeit the final. Carson Lennard claimed the Silver Division title and the first Silver medal awarded since the 2017 MCA Championship. Hopefully, this will be the starting point for the revival of the all-important Silver Division.

--Player Report, Dylan Goodwin

KANSAS CITY OPEN WINNERS 

Pro Division
2021 - Matt Griffith
2020 - Matt Griffith
2019 - Dylan Goodwin
2018 - Dylan Goodwin
2017 - Matt Griffith
2016 - Paul Miller
2015 - Matt Griffith
2014 - Matt Griffith