16yo Walding wins Country Singles
Sheridan’s Country Week Singles Final Wrap Sixteen year old Kaleb Walding is the youngest ever winner of the Sheridan’s Men’s Country Week Singles winning Friday’s final at Melville in his first ever appearance at the event.
The lad from Karratha defeated former state player Mark Simpson 21-19 to win the title.
Walding showed how big a threat he would be in the final with an impressive semi-final performance. He set the tone with a four on the first end of his match against York’s Phil Jones and never looked troubled from there to win 21-4.
It looked like Simpson would have an equally comfortable win when he raced out to a 13-1 lead against Pinjarra’s Steven Unsworth. However Unsworth slowly got himself back into the match but every time he closed the gap Simpson would steady. The game looked done at 20-13 but Unsworth showed his fight to get within striking distance of a win but Simpson got his shot and a 21-17 victory.
Simpson looked the more experienced player as he settled into the final first. He started the match with 0-6 lead but Walding pulled back to level just two ends later as he found his feet.
They were neck and neck and traded the lead four times before Walding finally found some breathing space. Having taken the lead with a three he backed it up with another two ends later and with eight shots in four ends he suddenly had an 18-12 lead.
He held his advantage 20-14 but Simpson gave him a real scare with five shots in two ends to make sure the game was well and truly still on.
But just like the semi-final it was a little too much to make up as Walding scored on the next end and won his maiden title 21-19.
Men’s Country Week Singles Sectional Results
Men’s Country Week Singles Knockout Results
