Phil Taylor wins the Plate in Mauritius

Phil Taylor attended the 4th annual international Sugar Beach Golf tournament in Mauritius.

The event was at the Sugar Beach hotel on the west coast of Mauritius,  a lovely location with the croquet lawns right in the middle of the hotel and right next to the beach.

24 competitors from England, Ireland, Scotland, Australia and Mauritius took part with handicaps ranging from -4 to +11.

It was an extremely well run affair with multiple competitions running with lots of games; even if you were on a losing streak.

The opening competition was knock out doubles with the better players paired with the weakest. Games were a single race to 7 points with a time limit of 50 minutes.

Phil was paired with a local Mauritian player Henri Piat and they progressed to the semi final where there were knocked out by the eventual winners Stephen Mulliner and Janelle Morris.  The skill and tactics of Stephen more than compensating for the inexperience of Janelle.

Next day the singles started and Phil was drawn in a group with David Dickens (Southwick Handicap 0) Jeremie Brooussse de Gersigny (Mauritius Handicap 8) and Derek Ryan (England Handicap 10).

Touching the ball when casting and therefore forfeiting the shot did not help Phil but ultimately he was out classed by two of his opponents. Apparently the handicapping system is different in Mauritius with an angled jump shot over an opponent ball from the boundary through hoop 9 is reasonable for someone with a handicap of 8!

Phil won against Derek but the skill of the other two players was too much for him which placed him firmly in the plate competition where he excelled. The only hiccup was against Henri Piet (his former partner in the quarterfinal.  Phil was winning 4-2 with about one minute to go and the were both tussling for hoop 7. Phil accidentally put Henri through  hoop 7 and with 20 seconds left on the clock played his next shot down into the jaws of hoop 8.  There was nothing that Phil could do to stop him making the hoop.  Fortunately Phil was able to take position for hoop 9 and won the match.  The Final was not such an exciting game with Phil dominating the play winning 7-1 against the Australian Peter Hamilton.

The grand final took place between veteran Stephen Mulliner and young up coming Dom Avold. It was an exciting match with Dom ultimately being victorious.

The evenings were spent socialising, taking croquet meeting new croquet enthusiasts and generally enjoying life.

Croquet with all inclusive cocktails in the sunshine by the beach is to be recommended.  Win or lose it is a lovely holiday.