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Otago/Southland News
Wow, it’s been over 6 months since most of you have heard from me. For most of you, that’ll be too short of a time—and for that I apologise.
The Otago Club lost a lot of momentum over lockdown, but due to a strong effort of the development committee, we have welcomed 23 new players into the Novice division (our set of lessons got interrupted by the lock-downs). We’ve almost picked back up to our ‘normal’ levels of bridge—but almost isn’t good enough for our new President, Rob Lawson. They’re currently administering a survey to gauge the reasons people aren’t playing more bridge, and around 200 members of the club have responded so far. This will hopefully provide a lot of useful information for the club to foster growth and facilitate better bridge locally.
Since tournament bridge has restarted, we’ve run a fair share, although not as many as some would like (sadly the South Island Pairs got cancelled at the eleventh hour). While we should all be feeling like winners, and be celebrating the ability to play face-to-face bridge, it also feels appropriate to celebrate the high achievers in each of the following tournaments:
Winton Open Pairs Jul 18, 2020
The first tournament after the spate of cancelled ones, good time to see who is in form for the coming tournaments maybe?
| % | ||||||
| 1st | Moss Wylie / Kevin Skoropada | 63.62 | ||||
| 2nd | Lindsay Glover / Greg Buzzard | 63.14 | ||||
| 3rd | Muriel Mathieson / Noeline Eason | 55.93 | ||||
Otago Junior Pairs Jul 19, 2020
It’s been a while since I’ve seen a matchpoint tie for an event like this, so well done to all four of the winners.
| % | ||||||
| 1st= | AnneMarie Tangney / Steve Moratti | 55.91 | ||||
| 1st= | Corinna Laurie / Lesley Martin | 55.91 | ||||
| 3rd | Wendy Copeland / Kaye McNabb | 55.45 | ||||
Corinna Laurie, Lesley Matin, Steve Moratti
and AnneMarie Tangney
Taieri Graded Pairs Jul 25, 2020
You might remember the names Annemarie and Steve from the Junior pairs theweek before. They went straight from winning a Junior event to placing in an Open event. A very impressive performance!
So too was the second session of the winners, following up a pretty reasonable 68% with a humungous 76% in the afternoon.
| % | ||||||
| 1st | Glenn Coutts / Brad Johnston | 72.12 | ||||
| 2nd | Graham Dale / Vivienne Clifford-Marsh | 59.94 | ||||
| 3rd | Annemarie Tangney / Steve Moratti | 59.08 | ||||
Otago Swiss Pairs Aug 2, 2020
The club scoring program crashed on the day, so this event was hand-scored on a spreadsheet. In the last round the two hitherto undefeated pairs faced off, and Sheehy-Mountain beat Coutts-Johnston by 11 IMPs to claim first place.
| VPs | ||||||
| 1st | Peter Mountain / Frances Sheehy | 84.88 | ||||
| 2nd | Sam Coutts / Brad Johnston | 83.24 | ||||
| 3rd | Greg Buzzard / Marilyn Jackson | 80.59 | ||||
Peter Mountain and Frances Sheehy
Invercargill Junior Pairs Aug 22, 2020
I can’t report too closely on this event; having not been there – but it seems a very close scoring affair – with a top of 54.50% and 3rd place only 1.5% behind. Sounds like it was closely contested by everyone.
| % | ||||||
| 1st | Corinna Laurie / Jane Whitmore | 54.50 | ||||
| 2nd | Dave Affleck / Trevor Murdoch | 54.00 | ||||
| 3rd | Sonya Adams / Bridget McCaughan | 53.00 | ||||
Invercargill Intermediate Pairs Aug 22, 2020
Our second tie in the standings, fittingly for second this time. Elaine and Judith had a clear margin for first however.
| % | ||||||
| 1st | Elaine Moir / Judith Lawton | 60.27 | ||||
| 2nd= | Karen Palmer-Hall / Diana Easson | 55.81 | ||||
| 2nd= | Jen White / Sandy Buzzard | 55.81 | ||||
Wanaka Intermediate Pairs Sep 12, 2020
Local superwomen Lindsay Gunn started her double-barrelled weekend by directing in Wanaka. By all reports this went smoothy...
| % | ||||||
| 1st | Blair Corlet / Doug Hall | 58.64 | ||||
| 2nd | Jeanette Gillies / Jane Hamilton | 58.32 | ||||
| 3rd | Robert Kaplan / Dorothy Fennell | 56.72 | ||||
Balclutha Open Pairs Sep 13, 2020
As did the second event, despite her spending ~9 hours driving between Wanaka, Dunedin, and Balclutha to direct them both!
| % | ||||||
| 1st | Lydia Turley / Brad Johnston | 61.54 | ||||
| 2nd | Vivienne Clifford-Marsh / Graham Dale | 57.91 | ||||
| 3rd | Pam Strang / Stewart Strang | 56.73 | ||||
Winton Open Pairs Sep 19, 2020
Christchurch were holding a 5A/5A Congress this weekend, so I wasn’t present at this event. A popular win, and significant for a reasons to be disclosed ahead.
| % | ||||||
| 1st | Kristen Collins / Donna Ruwhiu | 63.48 | ||||
| 2nd | Jean-Olivier Begouin / Ernie Sutton | 59.04 | ||||
| 3rd | Phillip Hensman / Anne M McGregor | 58.56 | ||||
Taieri Junior Pairs Sep 27, 2020
Otago/Southland have had difficulty with attracting pairs to similar events at the best of times. So, it was good to see 17 pairs keen to compete at Taieri.
| % | ||||||
| 1st | Jen Macartney / Patsy Williams | 59.05 | ||||
| 2nd | John Aitcheson / Dawn Brieseman | 57.94 | ||||
| 3rd | Carl Pedersen / Blair Corlet | 56.49 | ||||
Invercargill 5A Pairs Sep 27, 2020
The first of the ‘Congress replacement’ events hosted by the region, this one was directed ably by Craig Rodgers under Moss’ supervision.
| % | ||||||
| 1st | Moss Wylie / Kevin Skoropada | 64.17 | ||||
| 2nd | Anne Somerville / Kay Shand | 63.64 | ||||
| 3rd | Arleen Schwartz / Murat Genc | 63.45 | ||||
Otago 5A Swiss Pairs Oct 3, 2020
Otago decided to hold a Swiss Pairs event alongside a Teams event the following weekend, to help the IP pairs practice. Eidler-Genc went undefeated over 7 rounds to have a comfortable margin of victory here.
| VPs | ||||||
| 1st | Dean Eidler / Murat Genc | 97.91 | ||||
| 2nd | Arleen Schwartz / Chris Ackerley | 90.03 | ||||
| 3rd | Kevin Skoropada / Anne Somerville | 87.02 | ||||
Otago 5A Teams Oct 4, 2020
A late surge from the Johnstone team might have caught the Coutts team if there was another round to play, but Coutts were able to grab the lead after round 1 and hold on to it through the entire event.
1st Glenn Coutts / Sam Coutts / Graeme Stout / Jeff Miller 89.29 VPs
2nd Michael Johnstone / Paula Gregory / Anne Somerville / Kevin Skoropada 82.53 VPs
3rd Chris Ackerley / Arleen Schwartz / Pamela Nisbet / Peter McCaskill 74.24 VPs
Gore Open Pairs Oct 10, 2020
This is a huge result for David and Murray, and more so considering that Wylie-Skoropada posted a 69% score in the morning to be quite clear of the field. In other news, Kristen Collins collected the last B points she needed to tick over to being a Grandmaster from this result, which is another fantastic outcome of the day.
| % | ||||||
| 1st | David Larsen / Murray Barron | 65.80 | ||||
| 2nd | Kristen Collins / Donna Ruwhiu | 62.57 | ||||
| 3rd | Moss Wylie / Kevin Skoropada | 61.43 | ||||
Kristen Collins and Donna Ruwhiu Graeme Stout and Jeff Thompson
Otago/Southland Congress - Open Pairs Oct 24, 2020
Wonder women Lindsay was back, directing two events with different movements, round times, and scoring methods, in a room that’d be small for one event without a timing clock. She was able to handily manage this task, as were Stout-Thompson when faced with the task of doing good things at the table.
| % | ||||||
| 1st | Graeme Stout / Jeff Thompson | 63.66 | ||||
| 2nd | Alan Grant / Jane Lennon | 59.29 | ||||
| 3rd | Samuel Coutts / Brad Johnston | 59.04 | ||||
Otago/Southland Congress - Intermediate Pairs Oct 24, 2020
The Intermediates had to deal with the same playing conditions as above; but had the added joy of using travellers. Unperturbed by this, Bridget and Sonya proved successful on the day.
| % | ||||||
| 1st | Bridget McCaughan / Sonya Adams | 58.54 | ||||
| 2nd | Elaine Moir / Judith Lawton | 55.63 | ||||
| 3rd | Linda Dow / John Dow | 54.38 | ||||
Otago/Southland Congress - Open Teams Oct 25, 2020
There were 14 teams for this event, although it took until after the dealing had been done for the last one to materialise. The chosen format was a full round robin over 2 days; which gave each team a fair shot at all of their competitors. Although not mentioned here, pride of place in my mind goes to the Intermediate Inter-provincial team; who beat the Gregory team, the Coutts team (Coutts / Skipper / Coutts / Johnston), and narrowly lost to the Ackerley team. Chris later told me that he had what he felt was the best score card he’d ever had in that set. The fact that they went blow-for-blow with a seasoned team that was running hot is very commendable.
| VPs | ||||||||||
| 1st | Pamela Nisbet / Jan Cormack / Mindy Wu / Murat Genc | 175.32 | ||||||||
| 2nd | Paula Gregory / Michael Johnstone / Moss Wylie / Greg Buzzard | 169.46 | ||||||||
| 3rd | Chris Ackerley / Arleen Schwartz / Margaret Perley / Paul Freeland | 165.30 | ||||||||
Mindy Wu, Murat Genc, Jan Cormack and Pamela Nisbet
Otago/Southland Congress - Intermediate Teams Oct 25, 2020
One disadvantage of having so many teams in the Open event in these clubrooms was that only 4 teams fronted up to the Intermediate event. They also played a complete round robin, but the lower number of matches will explain the lower VP totals that some eagle-eyed readers might have noticed.
| VPs | ||||||||||
| 1st | Karen Palmer-Hall / Lee Davies / Judith Lawton / Elaine Moir | 44.20 | ||||||||
| 2nd | Judy Russell / Pam Hodgkinson / Cath Preen / Annemarie Pavletich | 35.37 | ||||||||
| 3rd | Margaret Fraser / Jan Lenton / Blair Corlet / Carl Pendersen | 26.81 | ||||||||
Some southern clubs also competed in the Babich, and while these aren’t the most impressive placings on a national level; they’re still good results and should be acknowledged.
Babich Results — Otago Southland
| Rank | Names | Club | % | Field Place |
| 1st | Brian Papps & Dennis Norman | Oamaru | 64.17 | 17th |
| 2nd | Joy Hughes & Jan Ireland | Alexandra | 64.15 | 18th |
| 3rd | Lynne Fegan & Georgie Roberts | Wanaka | 62.75 | 29th |
Coming up there are the Inter-provincials in Wellington, good luck to all of the following players representing the Otago-Southland region.
Open Women
Moss Wylie – Anne Somerville Donna Ruwhiu - KristenCollins
Sam Coutts – Brad Johnston Frances Sheehy – Ann Wood
Intermediate Seniors
Sandy Buzzard – Jen White Graeme Stout – Jeff Miller
Jo Smith – Jeff Elton Phillip Hensman – Hamish Ryan
Chef de Mission Philip Noye
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