Hoepo and Walker win Kahutia optional pairs

The inaugural winners of Kahutia Bowling Club's optional pairs tournament were July Hoepo (left) and Mark Walker (centre), pictured with club president Geoff Pinn at the prizegiving.

July Hoepo and Mark Walker won Kahutia Bowling Club’s inaugural optional pairs tournament held over two days this month.

They had six wins and a draw and a plus-122 shot differential.

Puna McRoberts and Joe Wimutu were second, with six wins and +52.

Third were Willy Murray and Gerry Kora, with five wins, a draw and +40 differential.

Teams to record five wins were George Tamihana and Marc Alexander, Lucan and Mary Taingahue, and father-son combination Geoff and Kyle Pinn.

Twenty teams took part in the tournament, which was organised by Karen and Geoff Pinn.

The schedule for Saturday’s play was four rounds of games, with a time limit of one hour 45 minutes. Rounds 1 and 2 were three-bowl pairs with the skips changing for the second round.

The other two first-day rounds were 2-4-2 pairs. In this format, the lead delivers the first two bowls, the skip the middle four and the lead the last two. The roles are swapped each end.

Players had to play to the time limit, with no limit to the number of ends played.

On Sunday, the time limit was 90 minutes. The first round was 2-4-2, and the second and third rounds were three-bowl pairs. The third round was a blind draw, so some teams had to face teams they had played before. Again, the skips had to alternate in the two rounds of three-bowl pairs.

Hoepo and Walker started strongly, recording three wins and a draw, with a differential of +52 in Saturday’s play. They had three more wins the following day.

On Sunday, McRoberts and Wimutu finished strongly, their three wins giving them six overall.

Murray and Kora added a win and a draw to their first-day tally of four wins and a +45 differential.