The Draw for The Devon Hotel Women’s Open Fours Post Section Play and for the Pairs Tournament is available.
Click here for the draw: Devon Hotel Women’s Open Fours Post Section Draw
Click here for the draw: Devon Hotel Women’s Fours Pairs Tournament
Play in the Fours Post Section is at Paritutu starting at 9am
Play in the Pairs Tournament is at West End starting at 8.45am
Lawn Bowls
Weather Update: The Devon Hotel Taranaki Women’s Open Fours
7.00am Weather Update: All greens are clear and are being prepared for play as scheduled. All players to report for Opening at 8.45am and Start play at 9.00am.
Monday, Jan 22 2024
Grant Hassall
The Paritutu quartet of Don Christensen, Rodger Hassall, Dean Elgar and skip Darren Goodin have been crowned the winners of the 119th Midlands Funds Management Taranaki men’s Open fours.
They defeated the Stokes Valley side of John Brien, Corey Brookes, Robbie Bird and skip Caleb Hope 22-16 in what was a tense final at Paritutu yesterday afternoon.
The tenseness was evident, sometimes in the play, and certainly through the score.
While Goodin did lead 6-2 after five ends, it was 7-all after 10 heads. Hope nosed in front 11-8.
Goodin took six points over the next five ends, although one point was a little fortunate as Hope, holding two shots, slid off a wide bowl and narrowly moved the jack.
The momentum was with Paritutu, leading 14-11, and with Christensen and Hassall putting more bowls around the head.
The 19th end was a beauty. Great play from the Stokes Valley side saw them holding three shots. Elgar superbly drove off all three bowls. Goodin held four. Bird drew third shot. But Goodin added in two more to increase the count to four.
However, Hope crucially drew the shot. He repeated the dose on the next end when three down. There was only one point in the match now.
The tension levels rose.
Goodin took a single on the 21st and then, when two down, played a good bowl to get shot on the 22nd. But Hope cleverly clipped it off to score a three and reclaim the lead 16-15.
However, the Stokes Valley side failed to get close on the next two ends, two threes to Paritutu giving them a five-shot lead at the commencement of the last end.
The last head, lacking in quality, had plenty of interest, with Hope holding two and a measure on the change-over.
Hope didn’t like his chances on the measure and elected to try and push off Christensen’s bowl. Goodin then sewed it up by drawing the shot. Yes, he got a slide in the process, but he would still have drawn the second shot if he had had a free run to the jack. That left Hope with the tough task of trying to kill the head, but Paritutu still had one shot and the championship.
The victory was Elgar’s first Open title in a glittering career, while it was a second win in the event for Christensen, Hassall and Goodin.
The Paritutu quartet of Don Christensen, Rodger Hassall, Dean Elgar and skip Darren Goodin have been crowned the winners of the 119th Midlands Funds Management Taranaki men’s Open fours.
They defeated the Stokes Valley side of John Brien, Corey Brookes, Robbie Bird and skip Caleb Hope 22-16 in what was a tense final at Paritutu yesterday afternoon.
The tenseness was evident, sometimes in the play, and certainly through the score.
While Goodin did lead 6-2 after five ends, it was 7-all after 10 heads. Hope nosed in front 11-8.
Goodin took six points over the next five ends, although one point was a little fortunate as Hope, holding two shots, slid off a wide bowl and narrowly moved the jack.
The momentum was with Paritutu, leading 14-11, and with Christensen and Hassall putting more bowls around the head.
The 19th end was a beauty. Great play from the Stokes Valley side saw them holding three shots. Elgar superbly drove off all three bowls. Goodin held four. Bird drew third shot. But Goodin added in two more to increase the count to four.
However, Hope crucially drew the shot. He repeated the dose on the next end when three down. There was only one point in the match now.
The tension levels rose.
Goodin took a single on the 21st and then, when two down, played a good bowl to get shot on the 22nd. But Hope cleverly clipped it off to score a three and reclaim the lead 16-15.
However, the Stokes Valley side failed to get close on the next two ends, two threes to Paritutu giving them a five-shot lead at the commencement of the last end.
The last head, lacking in quality, had plenty of interest, with Hope holding two and a measure on the change-over.
Hope didn’t like his chances on the measure and elected to try and push off Christensen’s bowl. Goodin then sewed it up by drawing the shot. Yes, he got a slide in the process, but he would still have drawn the second shot if he had had a free run to the jack. That left Hope with the tough task of trying to kill the head, but Paritutu still had one shot and the championship.
The victory was Elgar’s first Open title in a glittering career, while it was a second win in the event for Christensen, Hassall and Goodin.
PAIRS WIN TO AUCKLANDERS: Brendon Walton, left, and Adam Blucher, representing the Te Atatu Peninsular club, held off a stern late challenge from Bannockburn’s Alan Rickard and Hugh Andrews to take out the New Plymouth Club-sponsored pairs event 19-17 at Paritutu yesterday.
Blucher and Walton led 16-6 after 14 ends and appeared in control.
But Andrews, the skip, and Rickard pulled back a five and a three to tighten the game up. The deficit was only one playing the last end. Rickard held the shot but Blucher trailed the jack to sew up the game.
In the semifinals, Blucher and Walton again withstood a late comeback to beat Garth Lyne and Cary Pinker (Wanganui East) 15-13. Rickard and Andrews beat the Darfield pair of Bob Shorter and Ash Paul 22-8 in the other semi.
Sunday, Jan 21 2024
Grant Hassall
Stokes Valley’s Caleb Hope and his side emerged from a spectacular quarterfinal with a one-point victory in the 119th Midlands Funds Management Taranaki men’s Open fours at Paritutu yesterday.
In a game many observers rated as worthy of a final, Hope skipped his side of John Brien, Corey Brookes and Robbie Bird to a nerveracking 25-24 win against West End’s Craig De Faria.
The win secured Hope a semifinal berth this morning against Birkenhead’s Chad Nathan. The other semi is an all-Taranaki affair between Tower’s Scott Roberts and Paritutu’s Darren Goodin.
The Hope-De Faria match finished at 7.55pm, which was not altogether unreasonable, given an hour’s play had been lost because of rain mid-morning and the clash itself did not start until after 3pm.
De Faria’s side of Jordan Linn, Dave Wilson and Steve Walker led 10-5 after six ends. But then the trend of one team dominating scoring for a period kicked in.
Hope went ahead 16-10 through 12 ends; De Faria hit back to get in front 20-17 after 18 heads; then it became 20-all. Hope took a three-shot buffer into the last end. Brien and Linn, who had an intriguing battle, both got close.
West End held two, before Bird drew the jack. Walker, with an excellent hit, killed the end.
On the replay, Linn drew two good ‘uns. Bird was in the vicinity twice, his second bowl just falling short of one of Linn’s counters.
Both Wilson and Walker had handy bowls. At the change-over it was uncertain whether De Faria held two, three or four. Neither skip altered the head.
The measures came out and Bird and Walker, both having had turns, agreed that the count was only two.
And so it was Stokes Valley’s match.
The bowling achievements of both Hope and Bird have been documented previously during the week. Brien, a past Wellington Open fours winner, appeals as a traditional specialist lead. No 2 Brookes is Brien’s cousin. They have played together in the tournament multiple times.
Brookes, an eighth-year player at West End, is a Taranaki under-eights rep. Nathan’s Birkenhead side of his father Peter at lead, David Payne at second — both have previously won the North Harbour singles — and wily Evan Thomas at No 3, have the potential to keep Hope honest this morning.
Their 26-8 quarterfinal win ended the dream run of the Mt Albert side of Leon George, Jim Gray and Nathan Haturini and skip Steve Ramsay.
It was all pretty much one-way traffic. Nathan led 12-3 after seven ends, then 20-4 after 12.
Roberts, playing with Mark Kuklinski, John Roberts and Kelly Hill, eliminated Neville Hill (Onehunga & Districts) 22-17.
Remarkably, a five on the first end proved the difference according to the card. No more than a three was scored on any other head.
But the more accurate story was two-fold. Hill’s side of Davey Motu, Mike Bradshaw and Liam Hill — how many 14-year-olds have ever played No 3 in a Taranaki Open quarterfinal? — recovered from 10-6 down to 15-12 in front after 16 ends.
On a long head, which saw Motu draw the jack, Neville Hill, with his last delivery, rolled out the closest Tower bowl to hold four. Roberts, though, is a pressure player. He drew a pearler for one.
Thereafter, the Tower side drew closer and while Neville Hill often reduced the count, Roberts cribbed home with singles on each of the last six ends.
In the remaining quarterfinal, Goodin and his side of Don Christensen, Rodger Hassall and Dean Elgar somehow found a way to win 23- 21 over the Bulls team of Warren Hausman, Mark Smith, Scotty McGavin and skip Trevor Belk.
Goodin led 13-8 after 11 ends and held a reasonable three until Belk rolled in one of his own bowls for shot.
The momentum swung with it. Belk surged in front 21-17 after 22 ends. Goodin pulled back two singles but was in deep trouble when McGavin drew the jack for shot on the last end.
Goodin, however, found a path to the bowl, clipping it off to hold two shots. Belk hit another Paritutu bowl in.
Goodin drew another. Reaching through the head, Belk narrowly slipped under the jack, touching nothing for a frustrating loss.
In the third-round games that finished earlier in the afternoon, De Faria’s match with Garry Muriwai (Martinborough) was the closest and longest.
De Faria sneaked through 21-20, having led by three shots playing the last end. Muriwai twice held five-shot buffers midgame, but four ends in a row to De Faria had his side 18-14 in front after 20 ends.
Muriwai levelled with three to go, but a two and a single gave De Faria just enough space. Thomas had a tense clash with Darren Scott (West End), leading just 16-14 after 16, before pulling away.
Hope got a flyer against Mark Anderson (Tower), leading 12-1. That break was decisive in Hope’s 24-14 win. Roberts got past Dan Delany (Royal Oak) 24- 18.
Delany had led 13-8 after 12 ends and the scores were 18-all after 21 heads. Belk overturned a 10-7 deficit in beating Nigel Drew (Birkenhead) 24-18.
The other round three matches were all decided by relatively comfortable margins. Goodin beat Peter Nixon (Sunshine Coast) 25-12, Hill ousted Phil Morgan (Te Puke) 25-12, and Ramsay a 31-17 victor over Colin Boyle (Carlton-Cornwall).
*Four visiting teams will dispute the New Plymouth Club-sponsored Taranaki Open fours-pairs event following three post section rounds at Vogeltown yesterday.
Allan Rickard and Hugh Andrews (Bannockburn), who were runners-up in the pairs two years ago, meet Bob Shorter and Ash Paul (Darfield) in one semifinal today.
The other semi is between Brendon Walton, who was runner-up in the fours last year, and Adam Blucher (Te Atatu Peninsular) against Wanganui East’s Garth Lyne and Cary Pinker. Pinker won the pairs in 2014.
The pairs will be played at Paritutu today, too.
We would like to welcome you all to come and join us for Finals Day for the Midlands Funds Management Taranaki Men’s Open Fours. Come and join us as we celebrate the end of the Men’s Open and look forward to The Devon Hotel’s Women’s Open Fours.
Semi-finals start at 9am and the Final is due to start at 2pm. The New Plymouth Club sponsored Pairs will also be completed throughout the day at the Paritutu Greens. Food and Drink available all day. So come on down and take in the action.