Bowls: Brassey in command despite misgivings

Rowan Brassey reckons he has a draw from hell but that did not stop him and partner Jamie Hill confirming their title favouritism on the opening day of the national pairs championship qualifying on Auckland greens yesterday.

Brassey and Hill met two competent lineups in Henderson's Mike Farac with lead Tony Andrews (Carlton) and Carlton's former national fours champion, Ivan Marsic, and his Pakuranga lead Neil Fisher.

They came up against the Farac/Andrews pairing in the first round and the Marsic/Fisher team in the third round.

Although Brassey and Hill came through the day unbeaten, needing just one more win today to make post-section play, it was a near-run thing, especially against Farac and Andrews.

A Farac drive to the ditch on the 15th end brought him four shots and a 16-15 lead.

On the 18th, and last end, it was 17-17 but Hill recovered to outdraw Andrews and Brassey added another shot for a 20-17 win.

Brassey and Hill finished with an equally hard-fought 21-17 win over Marsic and Fisher, but it was not one of the more comfortable days in Brassey's illustrious career.

"The draw hasn't helped us at all and it has been very tough for everyone trying to draw in this wind," Brassey said.

Andrews was a late replacement for Henderson's Tony Garelja, who has been forced to withdraw because he is suffering appendicitis.

The narrow defeat he and Farac suffered to Brassey and Hill was not their only heartbreak yesterday.

They lost in the third round, too, to Hillsboro's Dave Cupples and Brian Glover, and now cannot afford another defeat in today's three matches.

Upsets in both the men's pairs and the women's singles qualifying rounds yesterday were frequent in conditions made extremely difficult by the wind and showers.

The biggest casualty was in the women's singles, where former world champion Patsy Jorgensen failed to qualify.

Four promising contenders - last year's champions, Carlton's Petar Sain and Wally Marsic, along with Ivan Marsic and Fisher, Auckland veteran Danny O'Connor and his Australian-based partner Richard Girvan, and last year's beaten finalists, South Canterbury's Barry Andrews and Dave Hanson - all suffered losses and must win at least twice today.

Sain and Marsic went down 13-10 to Dave Cowan and Colin Rolfe, from Rotorua's Arawa club.

Ivan Marsic was another star on shaky ground. He and Fisher just pipped the father-son pair of Gerard and Peter van Tilborg 19-18.

O'Connor and Girvan, who moved to Sydney in 1999 after starting bowling at O'Connor's Okahu Bay club, were well beaten by Manawatu's Philip Skoglund and the 1998 national singles champion Kelvin Scott, from Canterbury's Belfast club.

But O'Connor and Girvan recovered for two comfortable wins in the second and third rounds.

O'Connor, emphasising how strongly Girvan had played, believed there was little discredit in the loss to Skoglund and Scott, who were among yesterday's three winners at the headquarters green at Henderson, showing an imposing touch.

"They are going to be a threat," O'Connor said.

Also among the three-winners were the ageless Ivan Kostanich and his North Harbour centre partner, David Eades.

In the women's singles the defending champion, Southland's Shona Klimeck, internationals Sharon Sims, Wendy Jensen, Superbowls champion Lisa Dickson, 1990 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Judy Howat and last season's Auckland bowler of the year, Marie Broadbent, needed only three matches to qualify.

But other leading players - including Marlene Castle, Anne Muir, Marina and Jan Khan, Mina Paul and Karen Coombe - all had to go to the fourth round to ensure post-section places.

* Meanwhile, the Holden-Dorchester-sponsored championships have suffered an early promotional setback with the late withdrawal of Australia's world champion, Steve Glasson, who had been entered in both the men's singles and pairs.

Until late last week, Bowls New Zealand officials had had no inkling that Glasson would not come to Auckland. In recent media interviews he appeared to be looking forward enthusiastically to playing the championships.

But BNZ chief executive Kerry Clark confirmed that Glasson had pulled out for personal reasons.