The Club’s first internal competition took place on Sunday,
attracting a good turnout of 31 members.
In the top half of the draw, the 2011 President’s Cup winner, Sue
Andersen, was in fine form and picked up some impressive
scalps. Sue’s first victim was former club President
Bill Nowell (21-15), followed by another excellent win
against 2013 Rose Bowl winner Jim Halsall, also by a 21-15
scoreline. The quarter-final was expected to be a difficult
test for Sue against Dave Bedford, who had enjoyed a 21-10
success against Kyle Dawes in the 2nd Round. It was Sue,
however, who progressed to the semi-final with a 21-9 win,
where she faced Wayne Graham. Wayne had reached this stage
with wins against Pat Miller (21-7), Sue Davies (21-20) and
Tony Livesey (21-11). Sue and Wayne were locked in a close
battle until the 16th end, when Sue scored the first of 3
successive twos to take an 18-13 lead and despite Wayne
pulling a chalk back, it was Sue who reached the final, the
scoreline being 21-14.
The bottom half of the draw saw Eagles’ player Fergal Wright
progress comfortably to the semi-finals with wins against
Don Parish (21-9), Ted Moule (21-13) and Margaret Langley
(21-15). Fergal’s semi-final opponent was the club’s
2015 President, Ray Sutton and this was to prove a close
battle between one of the club’s youngest players and
the vastly experienced Ray. Although Fergal had to concede a
handicap of four chalks against Ray, he seemed on course for
a comfortable win, leading 15-11 after 17 ends. Ray is
always a tough opponent however and won five out of the next
seven ends to take an 18-17 lead and go within a couple of
ends of victory. At this stage though, Fergal was able to
maintain his concentration and scored the four singles
required to take him into the final, the winning margin
being 21-18.
The outcome of the final was difficult to predict but Sue, starting on
+4, looked to be in the driving seat as she won four ends
out of the first six to lead 10-3. From this point though,
Fergal got in and playing a straight mark extremely well,
won eight consecutive ends to ease into a 14-10 lead. Sue
was able to pull a couple of chalks back but Fergal was able
to continue his consistent form to eventually run out a
21-13 winner and take the 2015 Rose Bowl. Congratulations to
both finalists on an excellent standard of play throghout
the competiton but especially to Fergal Wright on claiming
his first Hesketh Arms singles title.
The next weekend event will be a Round Robin this coming Saturday,
2nd May, starting at 2.00pm. All members welcome to
attend.