Butler Victorious in Marathon Final
Blake Butler is the 2019 Dyenamic Men’s State Singles Champion winning the title at Yokine this weekend.
He defeated Daniel Trewhella 25-23 in a terrific final watched by over 500 people between those at the venue and those watching the live stream.
Both men had experience in State Singles finals, Butler being the 2009 New South Wales singles runner up and Trewhella coming second in WA in 2006.
Trewhella was the first to settle and looked good value for his early 7-3 lead, drawing and hitting well in the early part of the game. All of a sudden the game turned as Butler picked up four shots to cancel out all Trewhella’s good work. When he had the mat Butler’s first bowl was often good throughout the match and he worked his way to a 13-9 lead, a 10-2 swing from where he had been before his maximum.
Trewhella went on his own four end run, taking advantage of Butler giving shot away by going with a longer length to take the lead before Butler levelled the game at 14-14. At this point their had already been seven dead ends and it took four goes to complete the next with three dead ends taking the total to 10.
Dead ends had made up a third of the game to this point with nine killed by Trewhella and one by Butler. The game had also been very tight to this point with only two scores over two but the game began to open up. Butler scored a one and a three to take the lead 18-14 but Trewhella counted with a two and his first three to get back in front.
Two ends later they were locked up once again at 20 before three good draw shots got Butler three shots to take him within an end of victory. On the next end however Trewhella returned the favour with a good three of his own and levelled the match for the sixth time. A great first bowl by Butler gave him control of the end however Trewhella had sit or trail for game. He hung wide as many of those shots had through the day giving Butler an opportunity to draw within a foot and a half for game. Butler was a touch quick but kept shot and the mat which was critical for his last shot strategy.
At 24-23 Butler brought the mat right up with the jack on the tee and drove at the bare jack looking to bury it in the ditch behind his bowl. It was a tactic he attempted in the semi-final when 24-21 up against Daniel Brown but missed and put his first two bowls in the ditch nearly leaving himself vulnerable. This time he made no mistake and drove the jack into the ditch finishing no more than a foot away from his bowl, forcing Trewhella to draw right to the lip. Trewhella second bowl was a great effort just falling in while his third was even better. He drew right to the lip and his line was good enough to have a look at although probably not quite shot. Butler was unwilling to take the chance and drove Trewhella’s bowl into the ditch leaving Trewhella one last chance. He needed to tighten his line a fraction with the same perfect weight but wasn’t able to pull off one of the hardest shots in the game.
Butler seemed almost stunned to have won the championship in one of the greatest finishes seen in a long time. It’s his first Western Australian title and capped off a weekend of awesome draw bowling.
He’ll now have the right to represent the state at the Australian Championships next season.
The women’s finals had to be postponed due to last week’s cancellation however will be played at Yokine on Saturday February 9.
Full results of both events can be found here.
A replay of the live stream can be found here.
