History made at Champion of Champions
All four of Bowls WA’s Champions of Champions events were completed on the weekend at Yokine and Morley Bowling clubs.
Holt is the man in Singles
At the Champion of Club Champions at Yokine the big story is Wagin’s Warren Holt who became only the second man in WA Bowls history to win the State Singles and Champion of Champions in the same year.
The only other man to do it is Hall of Famer Harry Snook who completed the feat back in 1946. Holt is also the first country winner since 1999 when Eaton’s John Cowin won the title.
He defeated Melville’s Travis Leahy in an extremely tight final where the final margin of five was the largest of the game.
The lead changed hands several times in the opening ends before Holt levelled with a three and a four in consecutive ends to lead 10-6. He was able to keep a slight advantage for the rest of the match as every time Leahy began to close the margin he would produce a good end to keep the advantage often doing so with a multiple count to eventually win 25-20.
Great Scott at it again
In the women’s event Capel’s Bev Scott was back to claim her third Champion of Champions title in her fifth final. A regular on the podium at major events Scott won her first major title for three seasons defeating surprise finalist Lisa Smith from Perth and Tattersalls.
Smith who was originally from Perth took up bowling just over three years ago in South Australia before moving back to WA last year. Despite her brief bowling career she showed plenty of natural talent including an impressive 25-22 semi final win over Osborne Park’s Hailey Adams.
However in the final Scott showed her experience to take control of the game quickly and didn’t let Smith back in. She won seven of the first ten ends to set herself up with an 11-3 lead before continuing on to a commanding 18-5 score line.
Smith picked up a couple of late threes, but Scott had already done the damage and won 25-11.
Novice wins to Leeming and Manning players
Over at Morley the novices also had their Champion of Champions this weekend.
In the women’s competition Leeming’s Marjorie Blake accounted for Quinns Rocks’ Lee-Anne Simm 21-9 scoring four counts of three in the process.
After having the better of the opening exchanges, she led 10-6 and secured here victory with eight shots in four ends to take an 18-6 lead.
And for the Men Manning’s Del Evans and Mosman Park’s Steve Swanson had a terrific battle which Evans won 21-18. No player led by anymore than four shots throughout the game and they swapped the lead six times.
Towards the end of the game a three from Swanson locked the score up at 18-18 to set up a tense final few ends. It was Evans who found something as he managed to earn himself a shot for three consecutive ends to win the novice title.
Congratulations to all the winners of these events.
Full results from the Champion of Champion events can be found via this link
Photos from these events are available on the Bowls WA Facebook Page
