The Jekyll Island Club Hotel to Host Croquet Tournament this Weekend Oct 23-25
Breaking Out the Mallets
By Buddy Hughes, The Brunswick News (originally posted 10/19/2009, TheBrunswickNews.com
It has been a long time since an officially sanctioned croquet tournament came to Jekyll Island - 17 years to be exact.
In that gap, the closest tournaments that made their way even close to the area were at Hilton Head Island, S.C., and St. Augustine, Fla.
For local player Dan Lott, the time had come for croquet to return to the Jekyll Island Club Hotel.
“Jekyll Island used to, years ago, have some really fine tournaments there at the hotel,” Lott said. “I visited with Kevin Runner, the general manager of the hotel, and asked him if he thought there would be any interest in renewing their commitment to having a croquet tournament at Jekyll Island. He gave me a very positive response and from that point on, I started working on it.”
Lott’s efforts will bear fruit Friday as some of the top croquet players in the country flock to Jekyll Island to play in a prestigious singles invitational tournament sanctioned by the United States Croquet Association.
The tournament, which is scheduled to begin at noon Friday and run through mid-afternoon Sunday, will feature three former Georgia state champs, two members of the United States Croquet Hall of Fame, the reigning seniors national champion, a former national championship runner-up and a former USCA president.The quality of the field has the members of the Jekyll Island Croquet Club looking forward to the event.
“They seem to be very excited about it,” Lott said of the club members. “None of them has ever played in a tournament before or, to my knowledge, witnessed a tournament before.
“They’re very excited about having some of these top-notch players come in and participate.”
Ten players in all will compete, including four from Georgia and six players from Florida.
Tags: croquet tournament, jekyll island, Jekyll Island Club Hotel, the brunswick news
