TOM HAYES
LAWN BOWLS
VICTORIAN OPEN
By TOM HAYES
JUST over a week of lawn bowls action has come to an end, as the Victorian Open came to a close at the weekend.
Eight separate categories of bowling played their finals across April 1 and 2, with winners crowned for their efforts.
The Victorian Open is Bowl’s Victoria’s premier tournament, which includes the largest and highest profile events in Victoria.
A prize pool of $100,000 was in store for the winners, almost double the amount compared to 2022.
It was also confirmed that a five-year deal was struck between Bowls Victoria and Latrobe City Council to have the tournament return each year until 2027.
The Mixed Pairs competition came down to Leonie Flynn and Philip Crowder of Karingal, as they faced the duo of Jan Morton (Sale) and Thoraedahl Shannon (Essendon).
The duos went to battle at Traralgon Bowls Club, beginning in the early afternoon.
Both pairs managed to bowl their ways into the Grand Final, winning their finals series games by multiple shots.
Whereas in the Grand Final, it was one-way traffic for Flynn and Crowder who won by eight shots, 18-10.
Next to be completed was the Men’s and Women’s Triples section, with the Grand Finals being played on Saturday afternoon, also at Traralgon.
The Men’s Triples Grand Final came down to Essendon’s Ryan Kearns, Michael Stevenson and Thoraedahl Shannon – who had a busy Saturday, and they faced Colin Veenandaal (Mitcham), Andrew Dalli (Mitcham) and Neville Brown (Blackburn).
Both Triples eased there ways into the Grand Final, with double-digit shot wins.
After an entertaining bout, it was the Essendon boys came out on top, winning by six shots, 19-13.
While in the Women’s Triples it was Jill Hopper (Victoria), Debbie Gorin (Victoria) and Michelle Tait (Ballarat) who faced Sophie Kurzman (Sunbury), Kate Argent-Bowden (Angaston) and Tristania Doolan (MCC) in the Grand Final.
The two Triples had contrasting Semi Finals, as Hopper, Gorin and Tait had a tough one shot win to progress, while Kurzman, Argent-Bowden and Doolan had a 10 shot win.
It was Kurzman, Argent-Bowdon and Doolan who got the chocolates, winning by three shots, 17-14.
The following day, on Sunday, the Grand Finals would be set at the Morwell Bowling Club for the Men’s and Women’s Pairs and Singles, as well as the Under 18 Mixed Pairs.
First up on the final day was Pairs competitions, and for the Men’s the Grand Final saw Yarra Glen’s Josh Corless and Mathew O’Brien take on Mitchell Sidebottom (Tallygaroopna) and Matt Robertson (South Bendigo).
Both teams made light work of their opponents coming into the Grand Final, especially in the matches leading into it.
But there could only be one winner (technically two winners in Pairs), and that was Corless and O’Brien, winning by nine shots, 18-9.
Meanwhile in the Women’s Pairs, the final would see Lakes Entrance’s Julie Simpson and Jo Martin take on Anita Jenkins (Somerville) and Tristania Doolan – who also had a busy weekend.
Both Pairs had tough Quarter Finals matches but backed them up by breezing past their Semi Final opponents to reach the Grand Final.
It was the pair of Jenkins and Doolan who found themselves in the driving seat, winning the Grand Final by 16 shots, 26-10.
For Doolan, she was able to win her second division of the weekend, an incredible effort.
Before the Singles Grand Finals were played, the final rounds of the Under 18 Mixed Pairs went ahead.
With a record of 4-1, plus one bye, the pair of Amity Bickley (Berwick) and Kaleb Shaw (Bundoora) took out the Under 18 Mixed Pairs division, finishing on top of the ladder after the round robin.
They were only one of three teams with 15 points, but their percentage towered over the rest, sitting at 236.36 per cent.
Finally, it was time for the Men’s and Women’s Singles events.
In the Men’s, the Grand Final was host to Chalambar’s Chris Young as he faced Ocean Grove’s Bradley Pavey.
Both men had tough fixtures leading up to the Grand Final; Young won his Semi Final by two shots, while Pavey won his by one shot.
But it was Pavey who came away as the winner on the day, by quite a convincing amount, winning by eight shots, 21-13.
The Women’s Singles Grand Final was much closer, as Leongatha’s Jenny Miller took on Kiewa Valley’s Carol Fair.
Both women were convincing winners in the lead up to the Grand Final, so an entertaining match was in store.
At least, it was Miller who got the job done, winning by three shots, 21-18, in a close battle.
20 towns opened the doors to their Bowling Clubs in the past week to host the Victorian Open, including smaller clubs, which do more than you could imagine for them.
Those towns were: Morwell, Traralgon, Drouin, Warragul, Longwarry, Yarragon, Newborough, Yallourn North, Moe, Trafalgar, Mirboo North, Thorpdale, Boolarra, Yinnar, Churchill, Heyfield, Maffra, Sale, West Sale and Stratford.
The importance of the Victorian Open cannot go unnoticed, as it injects so much into the local economy, and brings exposure to the area.
Morwell Bowling Club saw some competitive Victorian Open singles action on Thursday March 30.
Winner: Geelong’s Shane Simkus defeated Maffra’s, Geoff Crawford.
Photo Zaida Glibanovic
Needed: Moe Bowling Club was appreciative they they could host some Victorian Open events. Photo Tom Hayes
Travel: Anthony Wong represented Hong Kong at the Victorian Open. Photo Tom Hayes
Local: Traralgon’s Chris Thomas in action in Moe. Photo: Tom Hayes
Action: Plenty was to be seen at the Morwell Bowling Club. Photo Zaida Glibanovic
