JACK'S CORNER - Large field for men's singles

This weekend we have the Centre Singles and the entries in the men's event are the largest we have had for many years. A total of 60 have entered which means that extra greens have had to be found to accommodate all the games.
It also means that the final cannot be decided on Sunday as with a usual qualifying rate of around 1/3 of entries we could end up with 20 or more qualifiers which will take five rounds to complete. Once the finalists are known, a date will be arranged to suit. The draw is:
Men at Kensington Top Green: W. Walker, M. Webb, G. Lyddiard, C. Pierce, A. Rakich, P. Lison, S. Nelson, C. Van Haaften, J. Dunn, E. Horgan, E. Pattillo, C. Jellick, G. Herbert, M. Butler.
Men at Kensington Bottom Green: P. Graham, T. Reader, S. Sampson, R. White, K. Smith, S. Prasad, C. Megchelse, S. Smith, I. Bowick, R. Burrows, R. Hocking, L. Lilly, K. Robinson, M. Haslam. Men at Whangarei Top Green: T. Ker, B. Horscroft, J. P. Van Haaften, T. Matthews, G. Mulligan, J. Thorburn, P. Savident, A. Trimmer.
Men at Whangarei Bottom Green: L. Reader, D. Barnett, R. Sowerby, V. Moffett, G. Bond, B. Sharlott, J. Matich, K. Nash. Men at Waipu: G. McKinnon, A. Van Haaften, R. Bowmar, W. Wrack, G. Rope, P. Freeman, R. McCallum, I. Reed, P. Wightman, T. Chapman, S. Mitchell, D. Hood, J. Cook, I. Halls, H. Smith, R. Yanko. Women at Kamo: S. McKinnon, M. Attwood, T. Matthews, J. McLean, P. Arbon, J. Carson, P. Warth, G. Norris-Palmer, A. Muir, A. Lison, P. White, D. Stewart, D. Fischer, S. Wightman. Women at Onerahi: P. Murray, S. Anderson, A. Halls, A. Burgess, E. Riceman, L. Pedro, C. Downs, B. Pouwhare, A. Bateman, P. Brewster, D. Haslam, M. Yovich, N. Jujnovich, A.N. Other.
Remember starting time is 8.30am both days. Women players are each to provide a marker. This would not be a bad idea for the men also to ease the burden on clubs. o0o
Club Championships were the order of the day in men's clubs last weekend and a few results are: Dargaville Fours to Mickey Marinkovich, Max Jones, Nick Posa and Bill Jensen, Whangarei Fours to Tom Chapman, Kevin Smith, Laurie Reader and Hayden Smith and Mangawhai Fours to Peter Manuel, Lindsay Stichbury, Paul Freeman and Len Lawrence. At Kamo their Singles is still incomplete but only two players remain, Graham Neeley with 2 lives and Peter Nicholas with 1 life. Kensington also cleared up a few competitions and their Fours went to Mike Butler, Eric Pattillo, Sam Nelson and Joe Thorburn. They also completed their men's and women's Singles with Caroline Downs winning the women's and Joe Thorburn the men's. Bowls Whangarei women's Fours went to Peg Wardell, Pat Reader, Yvonne Wallace and Dot Edge. o0o
Mangawhai Bowls put on a couple of popular tournaments over the holiday period. The first was their annual 1 bowler and 3 non bowlers which attracts holidaymakers in droves. This year there were 40 teams involved and I doubt if any Northland club can match this number of teams for a one-day tournament. Winners were Greg Lawson, Rikki Moffitt, Brooke Nathan and Lee Newman.
The other new tournament for the club was a Junior Classic which attracted teams of junior bowlers from far and wide. In the end, however, it was a Northland team from the Leigh club who came out winners ahead of Point Chevalier R.S.A. and Orewa. Winning team was Ivan Pivac, Brian Lawrie, Ronnie Reed and Beverley Cassidy. Hopefully this tournament will continue in future years. o0o
An interesting point from the nationals in Wellington. Paul Yovich was drawn to play Rowan Brassey in the first game of section play at Park Avenue Bowling Club which is in the Hutt Valley. When I arrived at about 8.40am to watch the game everybody was rushing around in circles because Brassey had mistakenly gone to The Park Bowling Club which is in Kilbirnie. The official 10 minutes laid down in Law 58 had elapsed but Bowls New Zealand had been on the phone asking that Brassey's opponent extend some leniency, which was done, and the game played when Brassey finally arrived just after 8.45am. I just wonder, however, if the roles had been reversed and it had been Paul Yovich who had gone to the wrong club, would Bowls NZ have been interested in picking up the phone to ask for some leniency? I think not.