Tuross Head bowlers have finally dodged the weather to complete their first big event of the year. Twenty four players participated in the Barry Sloane Memorial Lightning Singles that was played over two days.
This event is played in the sets format with competitors playing two sets of 5 ends with a one end tie breaker if needed. Players were randomly paced in groups of three for the first section of the competition and playing a round robin. After the round robin the top 8 performers progressed to a ‘knock out’ stage to determine the overall winner.
After the round robins the players who progressed were Marcel Kors, Doug Williams, Bruce Magilton, Jonathan Green, Lorraine Wake, Alan Skelton, John Monks and Peter Macdonald. Again a random selection was used to determine the draw for the knock out stage.
In an extremely tight, low scoring game Magilton just managed to get the better of Monks. Magilton won the first set 4 – 3 and was able to grab a spot in the semi-finals when he drew the second set 4 all. In the only game to go to a tie breaker, Williams and Kors each won a set. Williams started well to take the first set 6 – 2 but Kors struck back to take the second 5 – 2. Kors was able to grab victory when he won the tie breaker.
Green caused somewhat of a surprise when he outplayed the current Club Singles Champion, Peter Macdonald, to win 8 – 3 and 6 – 4. Wake grabbed a spot in the semis when she defeated Skelton 4 – 1, 6 – 3.
Both of the semi-finals were very closely contested. Magilton and Wake only scored 12 shots over the 10 ends they played. Magilton managed to scrape home in both sets by a single shot winning 4 – 3 and 3 – 2.
Green and Kors also had a tight match, though they managed to score more shots. Kors won the first set 6 – 4 but Green managed to win the second by 5 – 3 forcing the contest into a tie breaker. Green prevailed in the tie breaker meaning he would meet his next door neighbour in the final!!
Magilton and Green played a great final! Magilton won a very tight first set
picking up 2 shots on the fifth end to grab a 4 -3 win. Green struck back immediately picking up 3 shots on the first end of the second set giving him a huge advantage. While Magilton won the second and third ends by a shot, Green was able to force a tie breaker when he scored single shots on the last two ends to give him a 5 – 2 win. The tie breaker went Magilton’s way by a single shot! He was a very deserved winner of the sort after trophy!!
