Tauranga's Mike Phipps earned his Napier Indoor Bowls Association's Easter Tournament gold star on Saturday.
Phipps played at two in a composite team skipped by North Taranaki's Grant L'Ami which won the fours final in the annual four-day tournament with a 16-5 win against another composite team skipped by Waikato's
Simon Poppleton. Gold stars are awarded to players who win five titles at the event.
Phipps wife Lorraine played lead for the team which also included fellow Tauranga player Paul Smith in the three role. Poppleton had Bay of Plenty's Mike Bryant at three, Aucklander Jenny Stockford at two and Bay of Plenty's Karen Te Tamaki at lead.
In their semifinal L'Ami's team beat a Waikato four consisting of two husband and wife combinations, skip Linda McCurdy and husband Roy at lead, three Mark Hastie and wife Rochelle at two, 12-4. Poppleton's team beat the Hawke's Bay team of skip Stephen Clinch, three Michael Brown, two Carol Green and lead Dora Warren 13-1 in their semifinal. The pairs section of the tournament was still in progress when Hawke's Bay Today went to press last night.
