Karl Wingfield won the Ken Hewison Cup for the 2007 Winter Handicap Tournament
on Sunday 4th February beating Kevin Popely in an explosively decisive final.
In a match that neither looked nor sounded like any that I have ever played in,
Karl seized the initiative from the outset. Starting on a surprising initial
handicap score of 80 to KP's 75, Karl ruthlessly drove Kevin around the court
to end the match on a score of 100-88.
Presumably, some insider knowledge was brought to bear on the selection of the
handicap and 20-20 hindsight leads me to suspect that it was of a similar quality
to that which lead us into war in Iraq but whatever the case, it would have had
to have been seriously wrong in the other direction for the outcome of this match
to have been any different.
In the final of the plate competition, Don Williams overcame tremendous industry
from Joe Lyon to take the honours 100-98 after starting level on 70 points each.
This was an intriguing match where the competitors were rarely more than 2 points
apart and with both parties sharing the lead at various stages. Don held the upper
hand going in to the business end of the match but having come back from 88-99
earlier in the day he may not have felt unduly concerned if Joe had held the
lead in the late 90's.
Well done all round and this time we all got home to watch the telly.
