Clouse Takes Missouri Open Win

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Clouse Takes Missouri Open Win

The Missouri Open returned to action after a five-year hiatus yesterday in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, with thirteen players competing for three titles. In the Pro Division, tourney host Greg Clouse defended the home turf as he went 5-0 on the day with a 17-13 win in our final. The Gold Division was actually a playoff for the third and fourth-place finishers in the Pro Division blocks. Jason Johnson made his return to MCA action to claim the Gold Playoff with a 17-16 win over Justin Marciniak. Johnson’s last 9WS tourney win was in 2014 when he won the Kansas City Open Gold title.

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2023 Missouri Open Set for Lee's Summit

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After a five-year hiatus, the Missouri Open is set to return on Saturday, May 6, 2023. to Lee’s Summit, Missouri. The event will be held in Lee’s Summit, Missouri a traditional Nine Wicket Series event and serve as the 2023 season opener. The event will be hosted by Greg Clouse in partnership with the Kansas City Croquet Club. The Missouri Open ran from 2015 to 2017, so the 2023 event will be the fourth edition.

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Era of Domination Continues

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Matt Griffith put an exclamation point on his fourth straight MCA Pro Nine Wicket Series win as he took me down 26-24 in yesterday's final at the 2018 MCA Championship at Kactus Creek Croquet Club in Parkville, Missouri.

In reality, Griffith had pretty much claimed the 9WS Series by the time the final started as he held a 30-point lead at the start of the game. I did make a go of it with an out-game approach with blue, but it didn't take Griffith long to get in and wrap up the Cup chase by taking yellow through wicket #3.

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KC Open Pro Report: Swiss Battle Royale

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The 2018 Kansas City Open Pro Division offered a day designed for the croquet hardcore. Matt Griffith and I squared off in the final yesterday at about 5:30 p.m. at Kactus Creek Croquet Club in Parkville, Missouri, after playing five straight games. In total, we played eight hours of croquet with about 15 minutes for a quick lunch after round two.
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2018 Missouri Open Entry List

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Tracking entries for the 2018 Missouri Open at Eagles's Landing set for Saturday, July 14, 2018. Entry deadline is Monday, July 9, 2018.

PRO DIVISION
01. Dylan Goodwin
02. Greg Clouse
03. Matt Griffith
04. Steve Jackson

GOLD DIVISION
01. Justin Marciniak
02. Ellie Griffith
03. Wanda Jackson

SILVER DIVISION
01. Valerie Andruss
02. Jim Ratzlaff

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Clouse is the 2018 Pro 9WS Leader

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While Matt Griffith and Ron Millican took the glory at the 2018 Lee's Summit T-Bone MCA opener, it was Greg Clouse that slipped in to snag the early lead in the Nine Wicket Pro Series with 116 points. Clouse faired better in the conditions than any other player and averaged 23.20 wickets on the day.
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2017 MCA AGM Notes

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The 2017 MCA Annual General Meeting was hosted on Saturday, February 18, 2017, by Greg and Jodi Adams in North Kansas City in a private room at the local Pizza Shoppe. The meeting highlighted another record year for revenue and membership. Total membership reached 79 members in 2016 thanks to the re-working of the MCA agreement with the Mahaffie Farmstead on the annual Sunflower Wickets Benefit that now counts each of the players in the event as one-day license members.
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Drama to the End

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BELTON, MO -- Finally, two of the MCA Nine Wicket Series races lived up to the hype and played out on the final Saturday of the season at Markey Park in Belton, Missouri on September 17, 2016. The GWM Pro Series race saw Matt Griffith come into the MCA Championship Saturday with a narrow 16-point lead over Greg Clouse. The MCA Gold Series was even closer with Steve Jackson clinging to a five-point lead over Jodi Adams. That set the stage for a dramatic finish to the 2016 season.

PHOTO GALLERY | OFFICIAL SCORESHEETS

At the Pro level, there was an interesting twist in that the playoff bracket favored Clouse as Matt Smith slotted into the top half of the bracket as a five seed with a 9-1 record. That indicated Griffith would likely have to take on Smith in round two, while Clouse was set for a much easier path in the bottom half of the bracket.

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2016 MCA Championship Early Results

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Here's a quick look at the main results from yesterdays MCA Championship. Full report with photos will be posted when available.

Pro Points Race -- Matt Griffith took his second straight MCA Pro Nine Wicket Series with 427 points on the year to edge out Greg Clouse at 421.

MCA Pro Shield Championship -- Matt Smith 23, Greg Clouse 8

Gold Points Race -- Jodi Adams started the day from behind but maded up ground to claim the overall Gold Series title with 318 points. Steve Jackson was second on the year with 283 points.

MCA Gold Shield Championship -- Jodi Adams 24, S. Jason Cole 16

Silver Points Race -- Gabe Airrington mathematically claimed the overall Silver Points race once it was determined that the Silver bracket would only field six players. That meant challenger Justin Marciniak couldn't get the three games that would be required to even make a run at Airrington's lead. Due to his football career, Airrington was unable to play in the MCA Championship, but he is still the overall champ with 314 points. Marciniak finished with 272 points.

MCA Silver Shield Championship -- Justin Marciniak 14, Brevin Millican 12 

2016 MCA Pro Championship Bracket

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The 2016 MCA Pro Division Championship is scheduled for an 12:00 p.m. start on September 17, 2016 at Markey Park in Belton, Missouri (615 W. Markey Road, Belton, MO 64012). The championship games should be start around 2:30 p.m. Playoff bracket with scheduled times:
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Miller Back on Top

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The 2016 MCA Nine-Wicket Series continues to find ways to reach back to the 2013 season. During that historic first season, Paul Miller took both the inaugural MCA Championship tournament and GWM Pro Points Race, but since then had only been able to play in a few MCA events. His return this year netted his first tourney win since 2013 as he took down Billy Bob Breeden 32-18 in Sunday's Kansas City Open Pro Division final at Kactus Creek Croquet Club in Parkville, Missouri. That little nod to the 2013 season follows the only other tournament winner from that first year, Greg Clouse, also picking up his first MCA win since 2013 at the Missouri Open held earlier in July.
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Clouse Roars Back

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When the MCA Nine-Wicket Series launched in May of 2013 with the Stilwell Open, Greg Clouse was there. He took that first title with an 18-16 win over Dylan Goodwin in the final. Since then Clouse made many appearances in MCA 9WS finals, but had to settle for runner-up status each time.
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2016 Missouri Open Winners

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BELTON, MO -- The 2016 Missouri Open rolled out on schedule yesterday morning at Eagles' Landing Golf Course in Belton, Missouri. A full report and photos will be posted in the near future, but here are your winners across the four divisions:

PRO DIVISION: Greg Clouse 19, Greg Adams 15
GOLD DIVISION: Steve Jackson 19, Nathan Oberg 18
SILVER DIVISION: Gabe Airrington 21, Josh Reed 18
BRONZE DIVISION: Brevin Millican 21, Cade Millican 6 

Cleveland Rocks

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The Cleveland Open certainly rocked the MCA Nine Wicket Series this past weekend as all four of the points' races saw new leaders at the top of the standings after this weekend's action at the Cleveland Croquet Club. The fun started in the Pro Division, as former USCA Nine Wicket National Champion Matt Smith came into the event with the idea of ending Matt Griffith's participated tournament win streak of six. Smith had a couple of MCA events under his belt, but the Cleveland Open is the first one where he planned to participate in the knockout round.
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2016 Cleveland Open Day One Winners

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CLEVELAND, MO -- There was a lot of croquet action on day one of the 2016 Cleveland Open outside of Cleveland, Missouri today as the Pro, Gold and Bronze Divisions all competed today. All three divisions saw new winners.

PRO DIVISION: Matt Smith over Greg Clouse 20-10

GOLD DIVISION: Nate Benz over Jodi Adams 30-22

BRONZE DIVISION: Patrick Fagan 2-0, Gwyneth Bowen 1-1, Shari Cullinan 0-2

A full report will be posted at a later date, as we will continue with Silver play tomorrow morning with an 8:30 a.m. start.

2016 Cleveland Open Pro Line-up

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The Pro Division for the 2016 Cleveland Open start swinging the mallets at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning with a three-round random draw format. Ten players will be looking for eight spots in the afternoon playoff bracket. The Pro Championship will take place at 3:15 p.m. on Center Court at the Cleveland Croquet Club. Methodology is explained below.
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Big Time Finish for Griffith

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LEE'S SUMMIT, MISSOURI -- With the challenging turf at Howard Park, the Lee's Summit T-Bone Tournament lines out to be the MCA's equivalent to cycling's Paris Roubaix. On Saturday, the cool temperatures and steady winds added to the atmosphere as 25 dedicated croquet players took to the courts across four divisions.

PHOTOS | OFFICIAL SCORESHEET

The Pro Division lived up to the epic conditions as Matt Griffith met Greg Clouse in the final. Griffith was looking for his sixth tournament win while Clouse continued his quest for his first title since the 2013 Stilwell Open. As the game developed, Griffith seemed to have the advantage, but Clouse carefully clawed his way back into the game and in the final minutes held a 20-16 lead off a break that ran out from the turn to 13PW.

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