Park Beach Aero Singles - Local Makes History

Johnny Bain has become the first ever local to take out the Park beach Open Singles with a clinical display on the final two days of the event.
The first three days saw the field whittled from One Hundred and Twenty players to just a final Thirty Two. Local bowlers stepped up in the qualifying with Johnny Bain, Jim Swan, Cory Daley and Brett Sinnott from Park Beach joined by Sawtell's Greg Cridge in the final thirty two.
Former winners of this event such as Brodie Pitham, Kelvin Kerkow, Sam Laguzza and Jeremy Henry also made the cut as well as big guns Shane Garvey, Dave Fergusson, Nathan Wise, Paul Girdler, Ian Taylor and Ben Twist.
After a blind draw to determine the sections, the bowlers squared off for a place in the final eight. Julio Posadas was beaten in his final match to allow Sam Laguzza to win section one. Paul Girdler had three tough wins to take section two. Johnny Bain caused the first big surprise, defeating Kelvin Kerkow in round one, then winning a tough match against Glen Raymond to claim section three.
Matt Sargeant played off for section four against Phil Westcott, Sargeant winning by one. Section five saw Kempsey Heights bowler Peter Taylor come from behind on three occasions to advance tot the finals whilst in section six Queenslander Peter Leon managed two big wins to sneak through on for and against ahead of David Ferguson. Cory Daley used the home green advantage to advance in section seven and in section eight Shane Garvey battled through to give himself another shot at one of the few titles to have eluded him.
The quarter finals saw Laguzza against Girdler, Bain vs Sargeant, Taylor facing off against Leon and Garvey playing Daley.
Shane Garvey reeled off fifteen unanswered shots to ensure a ten shot victory over Daley to move into the semis. He would play Leon who held off Taylor to win by five. Bain was methodical in his disposal of Sargeant whilst Laguzza won a nail biter against Girdler.
The semi finals almost saw an amazing comeback after Leon opened up a 21-3 lead over Garvey, who then fought back to get to twenty three shots before Leon finally closed the match out. Bain and Laguzza went toe to toe in a marathon match. Bain scored an unlikely four to steal the match and a place in his second final.
The final between Bain and Leon saw the ascendancy change numerous times with both players looking like they would charge away with the match only to see the other fight back with some great conversion shots. With both players on the spring board, it was Bain who held his nerve to claim his maiden  Aero Open Singles crown, much to the delight of the home crowd.

That's all for now however a new post will be up soon with some local club championship results.

Chippy

West Coffs Triples Results

In an exciting finish, eight teams finished with four wins from their five matches in the West Coffs Classic Triples.
Two consistent performances on the Sunday saw Park Beach side Brett Sinnott, Rod Farmer and Mark Menzies sneak home ahead of the pack to claim the $1320.00 first prize after the previously undefeated sides skippered by Graham Tindall and Col Curtis both suffered defeats in round four.
Tindall bounced back with a win in round five which enabled his side to hold on to second place whilst Laurie Morris and side finished in third.
The tournament by all accounts was run extremely well and with only a modest entry fee which included lunch both days and prize money to sixth place plus round winners it is amazing that the event didn't receive more entries. More so it was disappointing to see a lack of patronage from some of the other local clubs, two in particular with their own annual tournaments being held within the next two months which I'm sure will be reliant on entries from outside of their own club to be a success.
There used to be a time when club championships would be put on hold in order for bowlers to support other clubs tournaments, however that doesn't seem to be the case in a number of clubs now. Maybe it is a communication issue, from either the host club, or from other clubs organisers to their members. Either way it is hoped that this trend can be reversed so that good events like this don't fall by the way side and instead can prosper and get back to their former glory.
Congrats to West Coffs on a well run event and also to the winners.

Full results:
1st: M. Menzies   40 pts + 38
2nd: G. Tindall    40pts + 34
3rd: L. Morris     40pts + 34
4th: P. Taylor      40pts + 32
5th: C. Curtis      40pts + 25
6th: S. Hartigan  40 pts + 24