Australian Open
Seven Sorrento members, Bruce Eagles, Peter and Wendy Flack, Lee Leach, J.J Landman, Anne Sauerwein and Matt Sharrett, left the cold wintery weather in Perth and headed East to the Gold Coast where magnificent weather and Bowling conditions awaited.
Upon arriving on the Friday before the Open commenced, Bruce, J.J and Matt made their way to the amazing Broadbeach Bowling club for a roll up but found the greens were unfortunately closed but the club house packed to rafters with bowlers from everywhere. We were immediately found by our New Zealand teammate Kerry McNulty who was bigger the J.J and quickly nicknamed “Tiny”. After a nice meal and a few quiet ones, we headed back to our rooms to get a good night’s sleep before J.J played his sectional in the singles.
The following morning J.J headed off to the magnificent Musgrave Hill Bowling club where he played well but was unfortunately unsuccessful in getting through his section. During the day, Tiny had started calling him “Skinny” and that stuck for the rest of the fortnight. Peter and Wendy arrived in the afternoon.
The Sunday saw Bruce head off to Southport Bowling Club while Matt and “Tiny” played their sectional at Club Helensvale. Bruce had a very tough draw playing a Queensland State player Chris Monk. He won two of his matches but lost a close game vs Chris and failed to progress. Similar results for Kerry who won two and lost one and Matt who lost two and won one.
Anne arrived Monday evening after a medical emergency caused her plane to be diverted to Adelaide and then fly onto Brisbane. Wendy and her partner Tracey Clements played their section of the Women’s Pairs at Coolangatta. They had a very tough draw and failed to progress after scoring one good win.
Tuesday saw Bruce and Matt play their section of the Men’s Pairs at Tugun Bowls Club while Skinny and Tiny played their section and Broadbeach. J.J and Kerry managed a Win, a Draw and a Loss. Bruce and Matt went through their group undefeated and progressed to the knockout section to be played the following week.
Wednesday saw Lee play her section of the Women’s Singles at Mudgeeraba. Lee played excellent bowls and narrowly missed out on progressing but defeated the section winner and a Hong Kong International player on the way.
Thursday was the start of the Ladies Singles for Anne who played her section at Helensvale and Wendy at Broadbeach. The Men’s Fours also began. Bruce, Matt, Kerry and J.J playing at Broadbeach and Peter playing in a composite team at Mudgeeraba. Unfortunately, nobody progressed past their sections. Wendy however was a different story. She continued the great form that she has displayed throughout this year, progressing through her section by playing some terrific bowls and making it too week two and the knockout section of the draw. In the knockout Wendy won her first game very convincingly before she came up against a red-hot Laura Butler from Manning. She played well but couldn’t get over the line. Congratulations to Laura on her wonderful Tournament.
On Friday Anne, playing in a composite team consisting of a Victorian and two Kiwi sisters headed to Coolangatta for their section of the Ladies Four’s. The team played excellent bowls winning two of the games and going down on the last bowl of the final game. It was good enough though and they progressed to the knockout section. Wendy and Lee also played their section at Coolangatta as part of a composite W.A team but didn’t progress after some tight matches.
The following Monday, Peter Flack and Jim Newton from Leeming played at Mudgeeraba in the over 60’s Men’s Pairs and progressed to the knockout stage. They were unlucky to draw Robina for the knockout round as it was running very slowly and didn’t progress any further. Anne played her Ladies Four’s knockout game at Broadbeach but went down in a very close match. Bruce and Matt also played their knockout game of the Men’s Pairs at Broadbeach but went down after some inconsistent bowling.
The next day Lee teamed with Maggie Newton to play the over 60’s Ladies Pairs at Mudgeeraba while Anne and Jenny Kenyon from NSW played their matches at Coolangatta. Both teams played well but failed to progress.
