Van Asch starts on the right Foot
The 30th running of the Golden Nugget commenced today at the Tweed Heads Bowls Club. One of Australia’s richest tournaments sees 24 of the best bowlers fighting it out for this prestigious title. Tasmania will be closely following the fortunes of Rebecca Van Asch who has recently seen her good form lead to a return to the Jackaroos line up and a chance to win another World title. It was four years ago when Van Asch won that title, the year she also won the Golden Nugget and she will be hoping to see a repeat of both results this time around.
Van Asch was victorious in the first round of the event today, defeating Carmen Anderson (two time winner) 25-16 which sees her slot into second place in her six person section. This result continues on the good form that she showed in the Australian Open. “I was pleased with how the Australian Open went but having just returned from an overseas holiday, I haven’t been able to practice” said Van Asch. “For me this is the start of my preparation for the World Championships”.
Van Asch is in a tough section which saw Lynsey Clarke & New Zealand’s Jo Edwards win over Anne Johns & Kelsey Cottrell respectively. Van Asch will need to finish in the top 2 of her section to advance to the Semi Finals and matches against Cottrell & Clarke tomorrow will help to see how well she is travelling.
The other women’s section saw Karen Murphy defeat Ellen Ryan, Carla Krizanic defeat Sandra Keith and Natasha Scott defeat Chloe Stewart by 1 shot.
The Men’s section of the tournament will also be hotly contested. Steve Glasson would take great pleasure in defeating Australia’s number 1 player Aron Sherriff by 12, Jeremy Henry defeated Stephen Halmai and Scott Thulbornshone in his debut defeating the winner of the last two years, Ryan Bester. The other section saw Aaron Wilson, who was also recently promoted to the Jackaroos team for the World Championships defeat Kelvin Kerkow by 18 shots, Paul Girdler defeated Aaron Teys & Leif Selby was too strong for Brett Wilkie.
The second and third rounds will be played tomorrow with live scores available from the Tweed Heads Bowls Club website.
By David Genford
