Great Action on the Courts at the 2024 Missouri Open

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Ron Millican in play on court 2 during the block phase

Pro Division Sees a Rematch of the 2023 Championship Game

The 2024 edition of the Missouri Open avoided the threat of heavy rain and 15 participants were able to get through the full schedule on time to crown champions in the Pro, Gold and Silver Divisions.

The event ran a standalone Silver Division with a four-player block that saw the top two advance to the championship final.The Pro/Gold Division was combined and scheduled to have 12 players in four blocks of three. The top two players would advance to the Pro Playoff Knockout while all third place finishers would be slotted into the Gold Division playoff. Unfortunately, the B Block was compromised with a player no-show, that had implications for the Gold playoff as well.

In Pro Division play, tournament host Greg Clouse earned a spot in the championship final after knocking off #1 seed Matt Griffith in the upper bracket semifinal. The key moment occurred when Griffith went to the wrong wicket at the double wicket turn. 

I was in the lower half semifinal with Ron Millican in a game that got interactive after I took my first break. Millican patiently worked his game and took a lead late. I was able to stay clean on my back ball and a key hit in on a double target set me up for an end of game opportunity where I was able to secure a 23-20 win to set up a rematch of last year’s final.

Pro division finalists clouse and goodwin

The Pro final opened with an unintentional outgame with R, K and Y when I bounced red off of H1. Clouse won that battle and had both balls in while only had red in. But he did end a turn with both balls on court in what seemed like a relatively safe gamble. However, I was able to score H1 with yellow and landed in perfect position for H2. With U and K acting as pioneers, I was able to run H2 long to get out to H4 to pick up a ready-made three-ball break. That went around to rover, but I did go three-ball dead to set a leave that was sub-optimal as I didn’t get the distance needed on danger ball. 

Clouse naturally hit in and went to work but broke down before really getting started. After some interactive play, I did get the second break going with red but failed H5. By this time, Clouse had picked up some partner deadness and so I played a bit more of two-ball game and kept him dead, staying ahead in rotation, then eventually working through the turn. Even with the clearing, Clouse had to take some risks and once he got partner dead, I was relatively free and eventually was able to get the peg out before time expired for a 32-5 final.

GOLD FINALISTS steve Jackson and jason johnson

The Gold Division was set as a four-player playoff for all of the third place finishers in the Pro Division blocks. With a late withdrawal, that meant Jason Johnson took a 14-0 forfeit win and he awaited the winner in the other semifinal, which saw Steve Jackson knockoff Justin Marciniak 23-9 to advance. Jackson prevailed in the final 21-13 to claim his sixth 9WS Gold Division tournament. 

Braydon johnson won three straight on his way to a silver division title

The Silver Division had family theme going with a husband and wife rivalry and sibling rivalry as well. Braydon and Jaydon Johnson saw action in the 2023 Missouri Open where Braydon had the win over his brother in that event. Jaydon flipped the script this year though as he opened with a 28-27 win over Braydon. Jaydon then went to 2-0 after getting a win over first-time MCA player Ladonna Garrison in the second round. To secure a spot in the final, he needed a win over Randy Garrison in the last round who was at 1-1.

The plan went awry though as Randy took a 32-24 win which created a three-way tie with only two spots in the final. The tiebreaker came down to points, with Randy having 94, Braydon having 91 and Jaydon on the short end with 84 points. Braydon and Randy squared off after lunch in the Silver final and Braydon won his third straight game to claim the Silver title with a 32-28 pegout win.

silver division finalists johnson and garrison

I should mention that last year’s Silver Division played on wider non-standard MCA wickets and that resulted in eight pegged out games for a 10-game schedule. This year, I told Greg Clouse that we needed to put them on the standard wickets as last year’s group destroyed the Silver record book. So what happened? This year’s crew pegged out in six of seven games. So much for that theory.

Overall, Saturday’s event provided great action on courts that played true most of the time while throwing in a few random surprises that are standard for nine wicket. As tournament manager, I would like to thank Greg and Joni Clouse for hosting the event and providing a wonderful lunch for the group. Additionally, I would like to thank Jodi Adams for handling the morning registration process. Jon Spaulding came up from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to play in the event and he helped set wickets on Friday and that is always a big help. And certainly, many players stayed to the end and helped with the teardown. Thank you all and we look forward to another successful Missouri Open in 2025.

PRO: Dylan Goodwin 32, Greg Clouse 5
GOLD: Steve Jackson 21, Jason Johnson 13
SILVER: Braydon Johnson 32, Randy Garrison 28

—Player report by Dylan Goodwin