Sims, Skoglund dedicate success to an old friend

Palmerston North
Sharon Sims and Philip Skoglund dedicated their national bowls finals in Auckland to their late Northern Bowling Club tyro Leon Mill.
Mill died suddenly in Palmerston North on December 31 soon after visiting the club.
Had Sims and Skoglund been in Palmerston North, they would have been at his funeral yesterday. Both wore black armbands when they took to the Henderson greens.
Current world pairs champion Sims went out and won her second national singles title. But her thoughts were with Mill, a founder member on the new merged Bowls Manawatu executive.
"He's a huge loss and he was a wonderful man," Sims said.
"He has done a lot for Northern. I saw him only on Christmas Eve. His death came as a terrible shock."
Sims, a Halberg Awards teams finalist, kept the already-decorated Northern honours board ticking over with her 21-17 defeat of Paritutu's Cathy Fleming in the final yesterday.
Skoglund, however, had to settle for second place, runnerup in the men's pairs.
It was Sims' third national title. She beat Waikato legend Millie Khan in 2002 and with Manawatu's Bev Budd won the pairs in 1993.
Two singles titles isn't bad for someone whose first choice isn't the solo discipline.
"I don't fancy myself as a singles player," Sims said.
"I think I aged my supporters up here about 20 years."
She had two major scares on the way.
In her second post-section game at Homai near Manurewa, she was 8-19 down against useful Aucklander Barbara Lyon and battling on the crunchy starweed green, but fought back to win 21-19.
In her quarterfinal against Raewyn Willis of Mt Maunganui, a conqueror of New Zealand bowler Marlene Castle, Sims scraped back from 11-18 down to win.
Her semifinal win was a contrast, a 21-4 doddle over Mata Frankham of Waimate South.
Sims made a slow start in the final. The starweed greens are not to her liking and with the strong wind, the conditions were tough. She had a good middle patch to lead 15-9 and went out with a two for the win.
She had played little bowls since returning from winning the world pairs title in England in September, on the slow greens at Leamington Spa.
"The singles were to get my eye in really. But the more you play the more you want it."
A visit to a Christchurch biomechanist, who stabilised her weight transfer, instilled her old confidence on New Zealand's fast greens.
Her win earned her an all-expenses-paid trip to the world champion-of-champions event in Christchurch next year. A singles is the only title missing from her world portfolio of pairs and fours.-NZPA