Bowls: Determined Frelan shines in singles

Tauranga South's Robbie Frelan may have thought his top level singles days were over. But it all fell into place again at the Matua club on Sunday.
Frelan's consistency and doggedness shone through when he beat defending champion Paul Anderson (Mount Maunganui) 21-12 in the final of the Bay open singles championship.
A former Waikato and Bay of Plenty singles representative, Frelan has lately preferred the teams events at his club, even electing to lead in the pairs for the Tauranga South second team which has made the national inter-club finals.
But Frelan is one of the most experienced bowlers in the centre and he stormed through the singles field unbeaten last weekend, his closest encounter coming in the quarter-finals when he beat Bay rep Kevin Maxfield (Mount) 21-16.
Frelan controlled youngster Matt Martensen (Mount) 21-14 in the semi-finals and then coasted against an out-of-sorts Anderson who struggled to find his line in the final.
Anderson started well to win back-to-back titles, leading 8-5 but then dropped a maximum four shots, and Frelan took over.
He picked up a three and two twos to lead 16-9 and Anderson crucially gave the shot away to fall further behind at 12-17. Frelan collected three shots on the final end to take out the title.
Another reluctant singles player, Mere Eden (Ngongotaha) won the Bay women's championship, beating experienced Patsy Jorgensen (Mount) 21-16 in the final at the Rotorua Arawa club.
A Bay rep who anchors the four or the pair, Eden beat two former New Zealand representatives - Jorgensen and Mary Campbell (Tauranga South) - in the semi-finals. There were only eight qualifiers from a disappointing field of 28 players in the women's singles.
Three Bay combinations reached the finals of the national club championships in Wellington after the zone qualifying was held at the Gate Pa club last week.
The Mount four of Steve Beel, Paul Anderson, Dean Worral and Ray Wilson finished unbeaten, beating the Dave Emirali-skipped Counties Manukau side 24-7, the Thames Valley representative 31-18 and the Waikato side, skipped by Paul Bartosh, 23-11.
The women's pair of Mary Campbell and Robyn Davis, from Tauranga South, also had comfortable victories, beating Betty Gibson/Lynda Bennett (Waikato) 20-10, Marilyn Bristowe/Maria Darwin (Counties Manukau) 20-11, and June Wood/Jillian Cresswell (Thames Valley) 21-8.
They were joined by Elizabeth Maxwell, Mary Solomon and Ann Rika, from Rotorua, who qualified in the women's triples with three wins, including a 16-14 upset over Waikato's experienced Annette Bell, Ada Stevenson and June Crow.
After leading most of the way, the Mount men's triple of Kevin Maxfield, Maurice Hickey and Lance Tasker missed out on the last bowl of the day, falling to Counties Manukau's Ian Gordon, Glen Newton and Jim Hart 21-18.
The singles spots were taken out by Jim Campbell (Counties Manukau), and Lindsay Grant (Thames Valley) who overcame two strong opponents Wendy Green (Taupo) and Doreen Schumacher (Waikato) on points differential.