ANDY MACDONALD/Stuff
Maurice Symes will meet Gerry O’Sullivan in the final of the Taranaki champion-of-champions bowls.
Two titanic men’s singles semifinals highlighted a competitive opening weekend in the TCM-sponsored champion-of-champions bowls playoffs.
Both the semifinals in the men’s senior event were locked at 20-all at West End on Sunday, with Inglewood’s Gerry O’Sullivan and Fitzroy’s Maurice Symes the two victors.
They will meet in the final at Paritutu on April 29.
Symes, who will appear in his first Taranaki final since 1989, when he won the Open fours, got the nod 21-20 over Tower’s Bruce Phillips in the first semifinal. While the green was only running at about 15s, the standard of play was excellent.
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That trend continued in the second semifinal, when O’Sullivan, the 2014 winner, produced a top-shot on the last end to deny New Plymouth’s Kelly Hill 21-20, in another grand advertisement for bowls.
In the women’s senior singles, Briar Atkinson (Paritutu) will meet Trish Howard (West End) in the decider.
SIMON O’CONNOR/Stuff
Briar Atkinson has made the women’s champion of champions final. (File photo)
Atkinson, backing up her open singles triumph last month, was decisive in her semifinal, beating Val Symes (Fitzroy) 21-8. Howard, after a bye and a default, won her semifinal 21-7 over Lorraine Crofskey (Inglewood).
In the junior singles, played at Vogeltown, Alethea Rowlands (Tower) and Irene Taunt (Manaia) emerged as the finalists in the women’s section. The duo combined to make the semifinals of the consolation pairs in January, and both gave further illustrations of their bright futures in the sport. In the semifinals, Rowlands beat Sheryle Taylor (Stratford-Avon), while Taunt defeated Tina Atkinson-Watt (Paritutu) 21-11.
Both semifinals in the men’s junior singles ended up with 21-19 scorelines. Craig Murray (Oakura) edged Merv Dew (New Plymouth) while Camron Horo (Rahotu) sneaked past Peter van Dyk (Inglewood).
Rain caused problems in the fours on Saturday, with only the morning round played as scheduled at Stratford-Avon. Both afternoon rounds were moved inside to Paritutu, with four teams left in both sections.
The surviving sides in the women’s event are skipped by Jane Augustine (Tower), Susan Cottam (West End), Gale Fache (Paritutu) and Kristin Stampa (Hawera Park), while the men’s teams are headed by John Garrud (West End), Noel Probyn (New Plymouth), John Kurta (Fitzroy) and Darren Goodin (Paritutu).
Meanwhile, in the Waitoa $10,000 men’s classic at Tower the previous weekend, a team from Hastings comprising Tony Terry, Mike Isaacson, Peter Jones and Mike Phillips took out the top prize. They were unbeaten on the second day, as were the other placegetters, but their superior differential won through. Hamish Kape (Paritutu) was second ahead of Scott Roberts (Tower) and Maurice Symes (Fitzroy). Mark Anderson (Tower) won the second division from John Ranford (Tower) and greenkeeping guru Terry Mullin (Pihama).
