Monday (Nov 20) marked the start of the ‘major’ local competition season as the ‘Club Championship’ took place with a bumper field of 24 competitors from as far and wide as Sweden, Australia, Canada, England, Wales, Ireland, Germany, the United States and Thailand taking to the green in an effort to claim the prestigious Donald Moore memorial trophy.
An added incentive was a new club champion was guaranteed, with previous consecutive hat-trick winner Rob Blackwood having moved on to pastures new and last year’s experimental and somewhat controversial ‘scroungers and seeding’ format was ditched in favour of the traditional cup knockout.
With the random draw being made on the day all were keen to avoid the preliminary round, necessary to reduce the field to 16, with eight players recieving byes into the round of 16.
Such was the quality of the field, everyone knew there would be no easy passage to any stage of the competition and nobody was suggesting any favourites or predicting the outcome ahead of competition – everyone was aware that any of the entrants had the potential to be victorious on their day.
To win the competition a minimum of four victories would be required via eight sets of games scheduled on the green, so an arduous battle was ahead for the players, with any bowler failing at the first hurdle moving into the ‘unlucky losers’ Plate competition.
Following the random draw there was a suggestion from some of the players that the top half of the draw favoured an easier passage to the latter stages. The better prediction was that throughout the tournament there would be no such thing as an easy game and that is exactly how it transpired.
Experience counts
The only major talking points after the preliminary round and last 16 was that of the eight fortunate to receive a bye only one, Doug Reid, made it through to the last 16 and only one of the six ladies survived - form horse and reigning Phuket Open champion Sunnee ‘Aon’ Srisaka.
Of the quarter-finals only one, surprisingly, was a tight affair. The others resulted in straightforward wins, with Frank Born’s trouncing of the luckless Ian Mintern 15-0 the pick.
Joining Frank in the semi-finals were Carl ‘The Mesh’ Mesham, Ken ‘Sammy’ Sampert and the only previous major winner Aon.
Tight games were anticipated at this stage and that is exactly what transpired between Carl and Sammy, with the latter overturning a 3-5 defecit on the final end to force a sudden death decider, which he ultimately won.
The other semi-final between Frank and Aon was ultimately decided by the latter’s experience, or perhaps the former’s inexperience. Both bowlers won 4 ends each but Aon crucially scored a maximum 4 points on end number 5 after Frank somewhat naively opted for the ‘bingo bowl’ as opposed to a more defensive approach which would have limited his opponents advantage to just 1 or 2 points.
Utimately, it meant Aon prevailed by a score of 8-5 to reach her 2nd consecutive final, where she would face her husband Sammy, the first time a married couple had faced off in a final game!
Bizarre coincidence
Many expected reigning Phuket Open singles champion Aon to use her experience of handling finals pressure against her better half, who was contesting his first tournament final.
However, it was not to be as Sammy bowled superbly well in the first 5 ends to surge into a 7-0 lead, with Aon’s renowned ability to produce magic on the green at the final stage for once deserting her.
After pulling back 2 points on end 6, Aon then very surprisingly also fell into the trap of trying to displace the excellent bowls that Sammy was delivering rather than limit any damages and make a late surge, reminiscent of her semi-final showdown against Frank.
As a consequence Sammy rattled up the points and bucked the trend of previously close finals to storm to victory with 2 ends to spare by the wide margin of 13-4.
By a bizarre coincidence, one half of the Plate semi-final was also contested by a husband and wife combo as Nid ‘Noi’ Collins faced off and ultimately triumphed against her husband Glenn to progress and face Judy Maunder in the fina with a comprehensive 13-2 score.
The fact that three of the four semi-finalists were of the fairer sex will be a major boost of encouragement to local female players, while both Sammy and Aon battled through five testing rounds of action on their way to the final showdown during a hot and steamy, stamina-testing day.
Congratulations ultimately went to Sammy on securing his first major trophy although huge credit goes to everyone involved for some exceptional bowls played, all with the highest respect to fair play and sporting conduct.
Of note, Sammy’s win also meant the trophy remained in the hands of the small group from Canada for the 4thsuccessive year.
Kamala Lawn Bowls club is open six days a week and all equipment is provided. Members days are Monday and Friday and beginners day Wednesday from 2:45pm onwards. For more information please contact: Tel 099-130-7255 or 097-173-0221; email: galations1402@gmail.com or Gordonjenkins1963@gmail.com.