April Fool's HoT Tournament

Nicolas and Michel (Third Place),
Christophe and Joe (Champions), Pascal and Juan (Runners Up)





Hanging the banner .






































The April Fool's Day edition of the Heart of Texas Petanque Club's Open Tournament was won by Christophe Chambers, formerly of New York but now Austin, and Joe Cortright from Portland, Oregon. They beat the incredibly talented team of Pascal Corchia, from Dallas, and Juan Garcia, from Miami. I'm sure Christophe and Joe are proud, as they should be, to have beaten two members of the USA National Team that will be representing the United States in world competition.

Michel Costa and Nicolas Bienvenu won the third place prize.

It was a well run and most enjoyable tournament in which 32 teams participated. The morning play consisted of three games which then determined which teams continued into the afternoon's single elimination bracket of sixteen teams.

Shirley and I played okay and won two out of three qualifying games to make the cut for bracket play. However, we ended up losing in the round of sixteen. Coincidentally, the team that eliminated us in the round of sixteen was the only team to have beaten Christophe and Joe in the morning's qualifying rounds. So, at least we lost to a good team which is always some consolation.
Our thanks to all the people who make the Heart of Texas event such a pleasure. Though we don't come here with any thoughts of winning, we enjoy playing against such good competition.