The annual club event held on Sunday 16th October attracted a field of 29 players and was the first day of sectional play to determine the final eight players to participate in the finals on Sunday 23rd October. The weather was fine and fresh and improved as the day went on. As usual the greens were prepared to a high standard and provided some challenging conditions for the bowlers.
With nine groups of three players in each section and one group of two players, the initial play was very competitive and while there were some familiar names in the eventual sectional winners, there were some very close games. Due to the numbers starting, an alignment round was required which meant a long day for four players so thanks to those guys who finished up later than expected.
The final eight winners were Keith Tompkins, Bob Mulroy, Peter Appleton, Neville Odell, Trevor Orton, Barney Fleiser, Derek Boardman and Gary Bayne.
The quarter finals were then played on Sunday 23rd October with Keith Tompkins v Peter Appleton, Barney Fleiser v Derek Boardman, Gary Bayne v Bob Mulroy, and Neville Odell v Trevor Orton.
There were a couple of very close games with Bob Mulroy going down to Gary Bayne by a couple of shots and Peter Appleton also going down by a similar margin. Unfortunately, rain intervened and the semis and final needed to be rolled over to the following Sunday 30th October.
The final four competitors, Barney Fleiser, Gary Bayne, Keith Tompkins and Neville Odell gathered at 9:30am on a very cold and blustery morning on the 30th to decide the winner of this very keenly contested event. While the green was well prepared as usual, the weather conditions made for some very challenging bowls on the day.
The first game of the semi final between Keith Tompkins and Neville Odell was a close run game during the early stages (7 all on the 10th end) but Keith then started to pull away with some very consistent draw bowling to run out the winner on the 17th end. This was a great game to watch between two of the club’s best draw bowlers.
The second of the semi final games between Barney Fleiser and Gary Bayne was also an intriguing game with the lead changing several times and the biggest score differential being 4 shots on the 7th end. From that point on it got very tight with the guys approaching the 24th end on 19 shots to Barney, 18 shots to Gary. Barney then played the first bowl of the end and on completion of his four bowls was holding 3 shots for game, with Gary still to play the final bowl. As Gary has done during this competition, he played a brilliant last bowl to trail the jack to pick up 3 shots to win the game. Clearly one of the best bowls played in the competition and a great way to finish the game.
The final was then played between two very worthy opponents, Gary and Keith, again in quite challenging conditions. This game started very well for Gary where he jumped to a good lead early on but Keith responded, with some very consistent draw bowling to slowly catch up, to the the point where the scores were level at 9 shots each on the 15th end. Keith then drew away to a small lead of 3 shots after the 25th end. This was a great game played by two strong bowlers, however there could only be one winner and Keith maintained his consistency to take the final two ends and the game. Congratulations to both bowlers for putting on a great game for the spectators present and to Keith for a well deserved win.
On behalf of the match committee, we would like to thank all bowlers who participated in this event and played great bowls throughout the competition and all in great spirit. Thanks to Ross Porteous and Terry Parker who filled in at late notice to help us make up team numbers. Thanks also to the guys who assisted with marking and umpiring over the three days of play.
