ROSE BOWL 2017
An excellent turnout of 38 members took part in the Club’s first internal competition of the season on Sunday, on a mainly fine day.
In the top half of the draw, Fergal Wright, winner of the Rose Bowl in 2015, made comfortable progress to the quarter-finals with wins against Alex Rimmer (21-10) and Pat McArthur (21-15). Fergal’s quarter-final opponent was three-time Hesketh Arms singles winner Mike Dunlop and this was expected to one of the games of the day. Mike started strongly, winning seven out of the first eight ends to lead 12-1 but Fergal fought back and won eight out of the next nine ends to take the lead at 14-13. From then on, it was nip and tuck with Fergal eventually progressing to the semi-final with a 21-19 win. In the semi-final, Fergal faced former Club president, Bill Nowell, who had enjoyed three close victories over Janice Hobson (21-20), Dave Warrior (21-19) and Dave Bedford (21-20). These close games probably proved to be a disadvantage to Bill in the semi-final as Fergal ran out a 21-10 winner.
The bottom half of the draw saw last year’s Coronation Cup winner, Brian Sutton, make steady progress to the semi-final with wins against Jeff Brown (21-19), Ken Rimmer (21-17) and Wendy McLoughlin (21-16). Brian’s semi-final against Richard Rawcliffe was closely fought, with Brian holding a narrow 16-14 lead after 21 ends. However, Brian was able to win the next four ends to reach another final, the final score being 21-14.
The final started off with neither player dominating and after eight ends Brian led 8-6. At this point, however, Fergal hit top form and won ten consecutive ends to establish a 20-8 lead. Although Brian was able to score a double to make it 10-20, Fergal scored the one chalk required to claim the Rose Bowl for the second time in three years.
A Plate competition was also held and this was won by Peter Smith, who defeated Janice Hobson 15-12 in a closely fought final.
Many thanks to all those who contributed to a successful start to the Club’s competition season.
The next event will be the Spring Pairs, which will be held on Saturday 13th May. Pairings will be drawn on the day. Please report by 11.45am for a 12 noon start.