tranmere times...tranmere times march 2017 page 4 did you know: betty williamson, this year’s...
TRANSCRIPT
Tranmere Times
Club Champions
Tranmere Times is proudly supported by Pullman Printing ... thank you Mike Sandon.
Issue No: 31 March 2017
A long end of spectators rolled up
to the club championship finals, not
just on Super Sunday, but on all
four days. They were well rewarded
with outstanding bowling,
enthralling contests and several
dramatic finishes.
Not only that, they were treated to
the now customary excellent
morning and afternoon teas, as well
as pizza lunches, prepared by Sue
Sanders, Ann Ellis and Mary
Feddersen. Thank you so much;
they were delicious.
MMeenn’’ss SSiinngglleess
Max Davidson has been a grand
finalist in our club men’s singles
championships for the past three
seasons. Two years ago he became
club champion in a walk-over when
John Coppe unfortunately could not
play the final. Last year, Greg Ferris
won in a sustained onslaught of
draw bowling of the highest quality.
This year, in an amazing match, Max
prevailed in a dramatic final end
after he and John Feddersen were
tied at 24-all.
WWoommeenn’’ss SSiinngglleess
Three times the bridesmaid in 2016,
Betty Williamson was the bride in
2017. Last season, Betty contested
three club championship finals
events and was runner-up in all of
them. This year she contested two
finals events and won the women’s
singles by 25 shots to 16 against a
strong challenge from Di Ferris.
Betty was relentless and on several
occasions opened a handy lead only
to see Di fight back strongly, as she
had done to win the semi-final
against Judy Brooks. A possible
repeat looked on the cards as Di
fought back to trail 16 -19, but then
Betty dug deep to win the last three
ends and the match.
Betty has now been club singles champion twice,
the previous time back in 2003.
Honour Board
Men’s Singles
Max Davidson
Women’s Singles
Betty Williamson
Men’s B Singles
John Hammond
Men’s Pairs
Nick Cirocco & Mike Sandon
Women’s Pairs
Claire Pope & Judy Brooks
Open Singles
John Feddersen
Open Pairs
Stuart Loch & Peter Homburg
Mixed Pairs
Denise Abraham & Max Davidson
Men’s 100 Up
Graeme Young
Women’s 100 Up
Claire Pope
Men’s Drawn Pairs
Nick Cirocco – Colin Whyte
Women’s Drawn Pairs
Di Ferris – Kathy Day
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Tranmere Times March 2017 Page 2
Overheard at the finals: John Feddersen “The bowls pusher. I haven’t seen that in years. Saves a bit on shoe leather.” Barrie Robran “Yeah,
but it doesn’t improve your soccer skills.”
MMeenn’’ss BB SSiinngglleess
The spirit of camaraderie between competitors was a strong
feature at this year’s finals, as it has been in previous years as
well. Players acknowledged quality bowls from their
opponents, responded to applause from spectators and
shook hands when matches were tied with just one final end
to play as if to say, ‘well done so far, it’s been a great contest
and may the best bowler win.’
Arguably this was nowhere on better display than in the
Men’s B singles final fought out between John Hammond and
Darryl Hemsley. The match was tight throughout with not
more than three shots, but usually only one shot, separating
the pair for the first 23 ends. At that stage, John Hammond
led 18 to 15. When he gained two more shots on the next
end to lead 20 to 15 and needing just one more shot to win,
he looked poised to claim the final. That final shot is often
the hardest to get and Darryl wasn’t about to give up. He
won the next end by one shot to make it 20-16. Then, on
the following end, he held two shots, prompting John to
drive into the head with a bowl that Walter Lindrum would
have been proud of. The bowl seemed likely to miss its
target by some margin but then wicked a short bowl,
cannoned into another and careened to the head, knocking
both shot bowls aside and taking the jack back to claim shot.
The crowd erupted into spontaneous applause at the marvel
of John’s shot selection and execution. Darryl could have
been excused for being ‘highly disappointed’. But no; he
showed great aplomb, smiled and congratulated John. John
was chuffed – “It’s the first event I’ve ever won.”
MMeenn’’ss PPaaiirrss
When John Feddersen and Claus Schonfeldt established a
9-1 lead after nine ends of their scheduled fifteen-end clash
in the men’s pairs final, spectators might have thought the
match was heading towards an inevitable result.
It was unlikely that they thought it would end in an 11-all tie
after the regulation fifteen ends and require a tie-break to
determine the winner. But that’s what happened.
In the pressure cooker of that final end Mike Sandon
delivered a wrong bias, but it didn’t matter. Nick Cirocco
had drawn to within a whisker of the jack to hold shot and.
despite four chances for John and Claus to dislodge it, it
stayed to win the end and the final for Mike and Nick.
WWoommeenn’’ss PPaaiirrss
The women’s pairs match up of Claire Pope and Judy Brooks
were, on the day, simply too good for Brenda Porter and
Betty Williamson, running out comfortable winners by 16
shots to 7 after just fourteen of the regulation fifteen ends.
We wish Mike and Nick as well as Claire and Judy well in
the Bowls SA champion of champion events.
Kirstie Blaskett marking with style and grace.
Spectators enjoying the contest.
Claire Pope using the bowls pusher to round
up the bowls after the end has been completed
Tranmere Times March 2017 Page 3
“If you weren’t that close [holding his hands out to indicate a narrow spread], you weren’t going to get shot.” – John Feddersen, commenting on the high quality of the bowling in the men’s singles final at this year’s club championship Super Sunday.
OOppeenn SSiinngglleess
Over the years,
John Feddersen
and Richard Ellis
have fought out
some epic club
championship
finals. Twice, in
the Men’s 100-Up
final, they’ve
required a tie-
break to resolve
the deadlock at
100-all. A third
time it was 101 to
99. This year’s
Open Singles was
just as good.
A dominant display by John in the opening set saw him win
that 13-6. “That’s as good as I’ve seen him bowl,” Richard
acknowledged. The second set saw Richard dominate early,
with the fourth end producing what must surely have been
the highlight end of the entire tournament.
After seven fabulous bowls, John was four down.
With his final bowl, John drove into the head and Richard
crossed his fingers. It was a perfect drive, hitting the jack
right on target. Somehow, after much noise and ricocheting,
the jack rattled into a triangle of Richard’s bowls and stayed
put.
Richard now led 7-1 after four ends and looked on track to
win the second set and push the match into the tie-break
ends. John had other ideas though. All he had to do was fight
back to draw the second set and he would win the match.
Not that that would be an easy task, but still he dug deep
and won three shots on each of the next two ends to make
it 7-6 down after six ends. Now Richard rallied. He won one
shot on each of the next two ends to be 9-6 up after eight
ends. On the ninth and final end for that set, John needed to
score three shots and, conversely, Richard needed to
prevent that.
With only his final bowl to come John was holding a single
shot. He had a close third and, with a perfectly-weighted
bowl, he could promote that third into second and stay in
the count with his bowl for the required three shots.
A hushed crowd watched as his bowl homed in on its target
and acknowledged the quality of the delivery with generous
applause as it succeeded in its mission. What a match!
OOppeenn PPaaiirrss
Tim Huston began the early rounds of the Open Pairs
championship matches with Darryl Stanton as his partner.
When Darryl had to withdraw late in the tournament, Max
Davidson stepped in as substitute. Max seized the
opportunity and he and Tim won through to the grand final
to take on Stuart Loch and Peter Homburg.
Open pairs is a challenging event with each player only
bowling two bowls, as they would in a pennant fours match.
In the first set, Stuart and Peter drew marvellously and
established a comfortable 7-1 lead after five ends. From
there they hung on to win the set 8-4.
For the first six ends of the second set the contest was
much closer and, after six ends, Max and Tim were 6-5
ahead. Defying the trend of that second set Max and Tim
won all four shots on the seventh end. That set up them up
and they hung on to win 10-8.
Coming in to the three-end tie break it was anyone’s game.
Max and Tim got off to a great start, winning the first end,
and victory seemed not far off. Stuart and Peter however
hadn’t read that script and won both the next two ends to
claim a 5-1 victory in the tie break.
Tranmere Times March 2017 Page 4
Did You Know: Betty Williamson, this year’s women’s club singles champion, previously won the event in 2003, beating Brenda Porter in the final. That year they won the women’s pairs (in the morning on the same day); this year they were runners-up. Betty transferred to Gawler for a while and won the women’s singles championship there in 2006.
MMiixxeedd PPaaiirrss
Max Davidson qualified for three championship finals this
year (as did John Feddersen and Claire Pope) and the mixed
pairs, with his partner Denise Abraham, was the third of
those.
They’d seen off some stern competition in the preliminary
rounds and faced the determined cousins, Claire Pope and
Bob Bussenschutt, in the final.
The match began with hotly contested ends in which the
lead changed several times after some high-quality bowling –
exactly what you like to see in any final’s match. After five
ends the match was all square at 3 shots apiece.
When Max and Denise then quickly opened a 7-3 lead and
were holding another three shots on the next end, it was
time for something special from Claire and Bob lest the
match got away from them. And special it was. Bob killed
the end to allow Claire and him to reset, but Denise and
Max had other ideas. Denise, in particular, was bowling
superbly and with a magnificent delivery captured a further
two shots for her and Max to lead 9-3 after eight ends.
With the match once gain threatening to get away from
them, Bob converted a 1-down to 2-up with his final bowl
on the ninth end. Instead of being 3-10 down, he and Claire
were only 5-9 down and back in the match. They won the
next two ends and with the match now more evenly poised
at 7-9, the tension suddenly became too much for Jill
Bussenschutt. Tom Lycett came to her rescue by opening
the bar and poured Jill a calming glass of bubbly.
It did the trick for her but not for Bob and Claire [perhaps
they too should have had a calming glass]. Max and Denise
produced some marvellous saving bowls and scooted clear
to win the final 13-8.
MMeenn’’ss 110000 UUpp
The Men’s 100-Up final saw Graham Young pitted against
Roger Kairl. For many ends it was a keen contest with just 4
points separating the combatants at 67-63 Graham’s way.
Then, slowly but surely, Graham edged ever further ahead
and in the end won by 20 points over a gallant Roger.
WWoommeenn’’ss 110000 UUpp
The Women’s 100-Up final was a tight affair from the get go.
At the half-way mark Marg Filmer enjoyed the slightest of
advantages over Claire Pope to lead 51-49. As if to mirror
the men’s final, Claire then edged ever so slightly ahead with
each further completed end to lead 97-83 and go on to win
the match 100-90.
Denise taking charge while Claire and Bob look on.
Tranmere Times March 2017 Page 5
Bowling Wisdom: “The greens were so fast the bowl kept rolling even after it had stopped” – Stuart Loch
Betty Williamson delivers superb draw bowls.
Mike Sandon and Nick Cirocco, delighted with their win
over Claus Schonfeldt and John Feddersen in the men’s
pairs final.
Congratulations to all our club champions, to the
runners-up and to all those who competed in the
various events. Thank you to all the members,
family and friends who came out to watch matches
and, finally, thank you so much to Bob Gilby, Mike
Porter and Pam Fullarton for organising the events.
See you all at the Presentation Evening.
Betty Williamson keeps an eye on Judy Brook’s
technique in the women’s pairs final.
Max and John, a study in concentration during
their epic men’s singles final.
Tranmere Times March 2017 Page 6
Believe It or Not: John Feddersen, Geoff Thomas and Bob Taylor all bowled a wrong bias on the same night in the Taylor Super Challenge Series
Claus’ Conundrum
Quiz Night Taylor Bowls Super Challenge Series
Congratulations
Well done to our three Taylor Bowls Super Challenge
Series sides for competing well in their various divisions. The
Silver North side found the competition just that touch too
hard as did the Bronze Central side. Silver North finished
last in its division this year, while Bronze Central finished
sixth of eight.
Congratulations to our Bronze North side which finished
second at the end of the minor round to qualify for finals.
The Tranmere fours rink was the best performed in the
competition.
Each side comprised a twelve-player squad with players
rotating throughout the competition. Absent from the photo
above are Ann Ellis and Nick Cirocco.
In its first finals match the side beat Toorak Burnside 3 rinks
to 1 and followed that up with a win in the quarter final on
all 4 rinks against Christies Beach.
The side now plays its semi-final match against Holdfast Bay
at the Hawthorn Bowling Club on Sunday 26 March and,
hopefully, with a positive result in that match, will play in the
grand final on Sunday 2 April.
Congratulations to John Feddersen, who followed up his
selection in the SA representative side in the national RSL
bowling championships earlier this year with a win as skipper
of the fours in the SA state RSL championships.
Congratulations also to Justin Parkinson for his selection to
the Metropolitan Region 10 side (Metro East) that competed
in the Prestige Medley competition on Saturday 11 and
Sunday 12 March. Justin played lead on the triples rink.
Metro East played an outstanding tournament and finished
runner-up to Metro West in the grand final.
Once again a bumper crowd of close to 100 quiz enthusiasts
turned out at the Tranmere Bowling and Tennis Club annual
quiz night to test their trivia knowledge and wits against
Quiz Master Geoff Thomas. The rivalry amongst teams is
now legendary and, finally, after years of playing second,
third, or even lower than that, fiddle to bowling club teams,
the tennis club produced a winner.
Congratulations to the combined team of members and
friends from the Rostrevor and Tranmere tennis clubs in
taking out honours this year.
Solution to last month’s conundrum: It was none other than
Ron Brooks, of course, who has been very generously
donating an extra dollar to the afternoon tea costs, believing
that the cost was $5 instead of $4. There is no truth to the
scurrilous rumour that Ron is making up for it by only
contributing $3 for the time being.
This month, in lieu of
a conundrum, you
have an opportunity
to submit a clever
caption to this photo
from the club
championships.
Entries must be
submitted to Claus
Schonfeldt before
Friday 7 April, where
the winner will be
decided by popular
acclamation at the
Friday winter bowls.