With six players participating in the Open on Saturday April 4 we played with only one group, allowing everyone to play each other once.

After the group stage the first placed player received a bye to the Open final, and the second and third players played in the Open semi final. The player in fourth place received a bye to the Mary Jane final, while the fifth and sixth placed players played the Mary Jane semi final.

At the start of the tournament Munir Merchant, ranked as the sixth, turned the form book on its head by beating the first and second seeds, Wayne Smith and Steve Tucker, in back-to-back games. Steve had a tough time winning only one game in the group stage.

At the end of group play no-one was surprised that Wayne finished in first place. John Carroll and Simon Hutchinson finished in equal second place with the same number points. Munir finished in fourth place, Steve fifth, and Kevin Nieman sixth.

Both of the semi finals were decided by shoot outs. Simon won the Open semi final out shooting John. In the Mary Jane semi final Kevin made the greatest come back in the history of the Southern California Subbuteo Club fighting back from three goals down against Steve, but he lost the shoot out.

The Mary Jane final between Munir and Steve was a closely fought encountered and ended goalless after extra time. In the shoot out Munir scored the only goal to win his first tournament title.

Two early goals from Wayne gave him what he thought was a safe lead. Simon fought back to tie the game before the middle of the second half. Alas, a defensive error by Simon, with three minute left, gave Wayne the shot he needed to score the goal to win.

Congratulations to all the winners:

• Open
  • Winner: Wayne Smith
  • Runner up: Simon Hutchinson
  • Third: John Carroll
• Mary Jane
  • Winner: Munir Merchant
  • Runner up: Steve Tucker
  • Third: Kevin Nieman