Gwen Lawson Northland bowls column: Open triples champions crowned

Congratulations are due to the small Mamaranui Club (pictured) who held their Christmas Hams and Lambs tournament recently. Photo / Supplied

Conditions were tricky for the section and post-section play of the Centre open championship triples held last weekend. Strong winds were the order of both days and with the very exposed Onerahi greens being used for this event the jack was sometimes hard to find!

It was a match committee dream when eight teams qualified for the men's
division and four teams for the women.

Madeline Yovich (s), Carol Neeley and Karina Cooper (Kamo) met Jackie Rutledge, Jan Hollingsworth & Rawi Brewster (Mangawhai) in one women's semifinal, success going to the Kamo combination 22-9.

In the other semi, Patricia Murray, Dawn Owens, Diane Strawbridge (Kensington) took on Leanne Stewart, Betty Mitchell, and Diane Lawrence (Hikurangi) and a very tight match that went to the Hikurangi combination 14-13.

The final between Stewart and Yovich got off to a good start for Hikurangi and they were 9-2 up after six ends, then there was a 'comeback' from the Kamo and after 12 ends, they had closed the gap to only two shots and it was anyone's match.

Stewart then had a run of 1, 3 and 4 shots to extend her lead and while Yovich scored a three on the 14th and 15th ends, the game was virtually over with a 21-13 victory to the Stewart combination.

This was a 20th title for Mitchell (third bar to her gold star) and ninth title each for Lawrence and Stewart.

In the men's division, round one saw Carl Van Haaften (Kensington) defeat Kevin Robinson (Maungaturoto) 25-17, Steve Mitchell (Hikurangi) beat Frank Arnerich (Whangārei) 22-7, Tom Webb (Arapohue) beat Paul Wightman (Mangawhai) 16-12, and Dean McMurchy (Onerahi) beat Alistair Trimmer (Kamo) 17-14.

In the semifinals, Van Haaften beat Mitchell 18-17 and Webb beat McMurchy 20-12.

The final saw Carl Van Haaften, Mike Howie and George Lyddiard (Kensington) beat Tom Webb, Jason Webb and Patrick Lewis (Arapohue) 19-13.

After seven ends, Webb was in front 6-4. Van Haaften then scored 11 shots in five ends to take the lead and although Arapohue made a short comeback, winning the next three ends, two shots on each of the last two ends gave the Kensington combination the win 19-13.

Both teams were attempting to give their skips a fifth title to obtain their gold star. The success of Kensington gave Van Haaften his gold star, Lyddiard his seventh and Howie his second centre title.

Congratulations to all and special thanks to Onerahi, Whangārei and Kensington for hosting the event and to the umpires and control personnel who assisted over the weekend.

Full field

Congratulations are due to the small Mamaranui Club who held their Christmas Hams and Lambs tournament recently and obtained a full field of 20 teams. First place went to Adrienne Graham, Malcolm Hokai, Guy Rope. Second were L Vallance, B McKinley and J Vallance, and third were Des Mclean, Bernie Lyford, Carol Cole.

The tournament was sponsored by Bryce, Allan and Eileen Wyatt who finished sixth. Generous sponsorship meant that seven teams were awarded prizes. Hard luck prize went to Robin Bracey, Gabby Hokan and Lorraine Searle.

Coming events

Club events continue this next week with club championships to be played at some clubs this weekend. Arapohue have a single entry tournament on Sunday, December 20. The Kamo AC Triples will be held on Tuesday.

Over the Christmas holiday period, there are also tournaments at various clubs. Check your Centre handbook for those events to get a break from the over-eating, and maybe overindulgence in all the good things of Christmas.

For those very competitive bowlers, the NZ national singles and pairs will start on January 2, in Auckland. Good luck to all those competing.