The Racquet Club was proud to host the 2nd Annual Chicago Invitational from October 1st -5th 2014
The tournament commenced on Wednesday night with Chicago members getting the tournament going with some great matches among the locals.
The tournament officially kicked off on Thursday with matches played through Sunday afternoon; the level of play throughout the event was fantastic and of the highest caliber
The Invitational featured tennis, rackets and doubles squash with 27 pairs in the tennis competing in a round-robin format across 4 divisions.
The tournament featured representation from each club in the U.S and we were also pleased to have John Prenn make the trip from the UK
The open division was won by Greg Van Schaack and Steve Virgona who proved too strong for the formidable pairings of Will Hopton/John Prenn and the new pairing of Jeremy Wintersteen and Matt Ronaldson
Steve and Greg beat both pairings 6/4 in the 3rd to take the open title.
The “A” Division final was a see-saw affair with Al Gordon and Geoff Ellis winning the title over Jack Brown and Christian Bullitt 8/5
Jack and Christian jumped out to a 5/2 lead before Al and Geoff dug in and made a great comeback to win 8/5
The “B” Division was won by Chicago’s Dick Ryan and the RC fellow Tom Billings over Billy Fetridge and Jay Leonard 8/5
Tom and Dick had earlier lost to the same pairing in the group stage fairly convincingly so it was a tremendous achievement to make the necessary adjustments and prevail.
The “C” Division was won by the local pairing of Nick Eugenio and Parker Pearson over Stephen Fletcher and Cotton Harrold 8/6
The final went game for game and could have been won by either team but Nick and Parker won the crucial points of the match to take the title.
The doubles squash final produced many outstanding rallies and was won by Peter Dunne and Mark Heather who defeated Freddie Nielsen and David Kay
The rackets final was of the highest quality with Tim Merrill and Richard Owen defeating John Prenn and Davis Anderson
The tournament featured some wonderful social events with a cocktail party in the players’ lounge on Friday night, cocktails then dinner in the Racquet Club on Saturday, along with brunch and a champagne prize-giving ceremony on Sunday.
These events were well attended by both members and players and were thoroughly enjoyed.
During the tournament dinner the Racquet Club president Bill Bickford was delighted to announce that from 2015 going forward the Chicago Invitational would now be known as the “Cashman Cup” in honor of popular longtime Head Professional John Cashman.
Thank-you to all those who made the journey from the other clubs throughout the country and many thanks to John, Steve, Will and the rest of the Racquet Club staff for making this event such a success.
We look forward to seeing you in Chicago for the 2015 Cashman Cup!
