Seven players in the hunt for national glory
The Australian Champion of Champions at Coolum Beach has been turned on its head after Natasha Scott claimed victory over Australian team mate Rebecca Van Asch and the only female player who went into the final round of the day undefeated.
When the two World Champions Van Asch and Scott met in the tournaments fifth round no more than two shots ever separated the tournament favourites until the final end when Scott held on to one shot, despite a gallant final attempt by Van Asch, to claim the match 21-18.
Scott’s run home will see her face South Australia’s Renata Callisto and Northern Territories Carolyn Smolski in the final two rounds of sectional play.
QLD’s Debbie Logan who pulled off the upset of the women’s competition just one round earlier could not replicate the performance she put in against Australia’s number one ranked female bowler, Scott, and went down to Victoria’s Jody Nevill despite her late run home that fell agonisingly short.
Western Australia’s NTC Coach and former state representative now moves up to fourth on the ladder having only dropped the one match all tournament.
Van Asch, Scott, Logan and Hastings are all on three wins however Logan will have her bye tomorrow morning so will need results to fall her way to be a chance in the last round to snatch victory.
Hastings and Van Asch will meet at 9am tomorrow morning with the loser of that match dropping out of title contention and the winner left to fight it out with Scott; a count back on margin potentially playing a huge part in deciding the women’s 2015 champion.
In the men’s competition Scott Thulborn won the battle between two Australian Premier League inaugural franchise members taking down Perth Sun’s star Clive Adams 21-14 in a high quality contest.
Kenta Treacher was given a scare by Tasmania’s Andrew Whitmore in a match that chopped and changed leaders for the entire match; Treacher managed to sneak away with a hard fought 21-18 victory and now sets up a top of the table clash with defending champion Scott Thulborn.
The match that could decide the champion takes place tomorrow morning at 9am with Treacher to end the event against Northern Territory and Thulborn’s last sectional match against the ACT.
Thulborn currently sits 18 shots clear of Treacher; therefore a win for Thulborn will all but secure him the title; whereas if Treacher wins the top of the table clash he will still need to win his last match against NT as Thulborn can still overtake him because of his higher margin.
In other matches this afternoon Harold Whitman (QLD) prevailed over David Wells (VIC) and Jeff Rankin (ACT) won his second match of the event 21-12 over Mark Malogorski.
To view all results and too see the progressive ladder click here.
