Elijah Wood traveled a great distance and returned home with a surprise victory.
No, not that Elijah Wood.
While Elijah Wood the actor is known best for his role in the “Lord of the Rings” movies, Maine’s Elijah Wood is proving himself to be a lord of cornhole — even on the international stage.
Wood, of Greenbush, traveled to the United Kingdom recently for a family visit with his father, sister and her husband and kids. On a whim, the Lincoln Lakes Cornhole league member used a tournament-finding app to look for any local cornhole events while in the London area.
Not only did he find one. He won it.
His improbable international victory at the Aug. 16 event hosted by the United Kingdom Cornhole League included a finals win over reigning champion Liam McGrath.
“The championship match began as a tactical duel, with six of the opening seven rounds ending level. Then McGrath took the first serious points and surged ahead to a commanding 10–0 lead. Victory seemed inevitable,” according to a recap on the UKCL website. “But Elijah Wood had not flown across the Atlantic to bow out quietly. With ice in his veins, he produced a four-bagger to seize momentum and begin clawing back point by point. The tension mounted as the scoreboard tightened, every throw carrying the weight of the title.”
Wood, who plays two tournaments each week in Lincoln and at the Sports Arena in Bangor, said he didn’t even know he was battling against the UK champ until someone interviewed him after the win. And while the crowd was clearly pulling for the hometown favorite, they also welcomed the American visitor with open arms, he said.
Wood expected to be treated like an outsider, but said everyone treated him nicely. He was met with congratulations after his surprising win.
“They were shaking my hand, telling me, ‘Awesome match,’” said Wood, calling it “a real good community over there.”
It was also a surprising experience for his father, Darren Wood, who lives in the London area and was both proud of his son and entertained by the randomness of it all. He didn’t realize that hosting his family from America would also include a cornhole tournament.
“I didn’t even know there was a league here, actually,” he said, calling the addition to their family trip “very random, but awesome, obviously.”
That family presence wasn’t the only support that Wood had as he battled it out on foreign soil. Members of his Maine-based cornhole league were able to watch and root him on via YouTube, while telling other attendees about him in the live chat.
“The whole time they’re cheering me on, so I wasn’t completely alone there,” Wood said.
As for the key to his unlikely tournament win, Wood said he was just focusing on one bag at a time.
“I’ve played all kinds of other sports my whole life, so cornhole is very mental,” he said. “So I have that kind of mental aspect — not to get rattled, and just have ice in my veins when the time comes.”
Wood said his English counterparts at the tournament noticed how he shared his name with the “Lord of the Rings” actor.
“They said I have to come back, and it’d be like ‘Return of the King,’” Wood said.