20 Northern Squash members contested the third annual Andy Lee Memorial tournament on Saturday 23rd June 2018 and it truly was played in the spirit of our late Andy Lee.
The tournament was a handicap event played on Saturday evening with the 20 members split into four groups of 5. The games were played first to 15, PAR scoring, sudden death at 14 and the vast majority of matches were closely scored affairs. The winners of each group were decided by highest number of wins followed by highest number of points, and then highest winning margin to decide ties.
The final standings were as follows:
| A | Name | Handicap | Wins | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matthew Thompson | -12 | 4 | 60 |
| 2 | Tegan Younger | -7 | 15 | 53 |
| 3 | Roger Tames | 0 | 2 | 51 |
| 4 | Joe Elliott | 5 | 1 | 44 |
| 5 | Alison Todd | 14 | 0 | 39 |
| B | Name | Handicap | Wins | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Thompson | -11 | 4 | 60 |
| 2 | Ankur Sawant | 10 | 3 | 57 |
| 3 | Dave Watson | 3 | 2 | 56 |
| 4 | Libby Kahn | 14 | 1 | 50 |
| 5 | Gordie Robertson | -5 | 0 | 34 |
| C | Name | Handicap | Wins | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joel Birch-Machin | -9 | 4 | 60 |
| 2 | Sharon Naisbitt | 15 | 0 | 55 |
| 3 | John Lennox Snr | 4 | 3 | 54 |
| 4 | Dave North | -2 | 2 | 48 |
| 5 | Peter J Thompson | 8 | 1 | 48 |
| D | Name | Handicap | Wins | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kieran Mahoney | -8 | 3 | 59 |
| 2 | Matthew Mahoney | 12 | 3 | 57 |
| 3 | Wayne Eastaugh | -1 | 2 | 49 |
| 4 | Denise Thompson | 15 | 1 | 42 |
| 5 | Richard Naisbitt | 4 | 1 | 32 |
The top four players were drawn out of a hat to contest the semi-finals (also played as handicap games) and the matches were:
Mathew Thompson beat Joel Birch-Machin
Kieran Mahoney beat John Thompson
Mathew Thompson then faced Kieran Mahoney in the final on the show court, Court 1. In what turned out to be a thrilling and exhausting final, Mathew narrowly beat Kieran to become the winner of Andy Lee Memorial tournament 2018 and retain the trophy he won in 2017.
Congratulations to Mathew Thompson and well done to Kieran Mahoney for playing such a brilliant and entertaining final, in such a great sportsmanlike manner.
Not only were we proud to have Andy Lee's daughter, Bridget attend the evening with her family but also Andy's wife Yvonne Lee spent the entire evening with us and thoruoguhly enjoyed watching the squash. As she congratulated Kieran Mahoney and presented the trophy to Mathew Thompson, Yvonne declared the evening a great success and that she had enjoyed every minute.
Thanks to everyone who took part and made the event such a blast. In particular I'd like to thank Julie Cornell, Dave North, and the rest of the squash committee for all their help, support and work behind the scenes.
See you next year!
