Bright start to Tasmanian Lawn Bowls Seniors Championships
Morning cloud cover turned into a sunny and warm afternoon as Bowls Tasmania’s State Senior (Over 60’s) Bowls Championships commenced in Hobart today with sectional play in the Men’s and Women’s Championships.
The Men’s Senior Fours Championship is wide open with the winners and runners-up from 2022 not competing this year. Buckingham’s Grant Chamberlain and his team of Stuart Rees, Kev Raby and Mike Casey were undefeated in their section as were the Penguin combination of Wayne Willcox, Wayne Manson, Peter French and Trevor Docking and another Penguin team of Grant Youd, David Jeffrey, Brian Butler and Harvey Clark. The other two sections were much tighter. Shane Young and his team of Cam Norris, Roger Dale and Steve Graf scraped in to the finals when they drew their last game against Glenorchy Rodman’s Tony Vince, Grant Allford, Tony Sutton and David Sutton. Had Vince won, he would have jumped from third position into the finals. A shot difference of just one shot determined the winner of the final section with Kingborough’s Gavin Cleary, Tony Verrier, Brett Rollins and Jim LaDuke just edging out Cremorne’s Peter Marshall, Garry Banks, Ralph Tieman and Geoff Doyle.
Chamberlain and Young will play off in the quarter-final on Tuesday morning at Beltana with the winner playing Willcox in the first semi-final. Cleary and Youd will meet in the other semi-final with the grand final scheduled to commence at 3pm.
Pre-championship Women’s Senior Fours favourites and last year’s champions from Howrah – Rosie Geeves, Lyn Page, Janet Rutherford and Anne Mullavey – were bundled out of the championships without winning a game. Their section was won by a composite team from Westbury, Invermay and South Burnie consisting of Kim Saunders, Bev Huett, Helen Sturzaker and Denise Middap who won two games with a shot difference of plus 26 to win from another Howrah combination of Charon Foster, Denise Tanner, Anne Allanby and Shirley Calvert who won two games but had a shot difference of plus 8. Another composite team from Bridport, Invermay, Buckingham and Kings Meadows consisting of Maxine Monson, Debbie Lee, Jeanette Lane and Judy Gurr were the only team to remain undefeated on the day and will head into the semi-finals full of confidence. In the tightest section of the day, Sandy Bay’s Carol Bannister, Robyn Leggett, Jackie Phillips and Jan Hobbs with a shot difference of plus 4 just edged out a Penguin / South Burnie combination of Gaylene Elsworthy, Gail Thow, Cheryl Fielding and Pam Vant with a shot difference of zero. The remaining section was won by Jennie Suttie, Peri Buckley, Yvonne Buckley and Jean Claridge by a walkover.
Saunders and Bannister will play off in the first semi-final at Beltana on Tuesday morning. Suttie and Monson will meet in the other semi-final with the winners to meet in the grand final scheduled to commence at 12.30pm.
The Seniors Championships continues on Monday with over 150 bowlers converging on the Beltana, Rosny Park and Howrah Bowls Clubs with post-sectional play in the Men’s and Women’s Senior Pairs Championships and post-sectional play in the Bowling Arm Seniors Championships.
For more information, the draw and all the results click HERE.
