Alice Springs hosts 2017 State Triples
A large group of players made the trip south to Alice Springs to compete in this years State Triples Championship. A large group of players made the trip south to Alice Springs to compete in this years State Triples Championship.
Apart from the games and winners, a hilight was the introduction of the new club and playing surface at the Alice Springs Golf Club. The green was of a high standard for such a new surface and the future looks promising for lawn bowls in Alice Springs.
The Ladies played their first three rounds at the Golf Club and the final two at the Memo Club with the men. At first glance it looked like the Orr/Smolski/Kingsley trio dominated but the scores show differently with all their matches close and the biggest margin being 5 shots. Colleen Orr (Darwin), Carolyn Smolski (Humpty Doo) and Lauren Kingsley (Katherine) combined to win all of their matches and take the Championship. Pauline McKenzie, Lurleen Vickery and Jen Sullivan (all Darwin BC) were the runners up with Vicky Howie, Sharon Innes, and Tracy O’Brien (All Alice Springs Memo Club) coming in third.
The men’s comp saw eleven teams divided into two sections to fight it out to reach the final. Some upsets saw some good teams knocked out of contention with Alan and Ethan Maher and Ian Smith winning their section. The remaining section saw three teams tied on four wins and one loss each. Tim Hyatt, Barry Orr, and Demetri Hnaris were faced with the task of winning their last match by nearly 40 shots to progress. They started well but fell short winning 30/3. Ralph Fair (Darwin), Stan Smolski (Hunpty Doo) and John Healy (Alice Springs Memo Club) combined to win the section and take on Alan and Ethan Maher (Nightcliff) and Ian Smith (Darwin) in the final.
The Maher and Smith trio entered the final full of confidence but soon found the experienced team of Fair/Smolski/Healy hard going. The Fair trio were playing very consistent bowls and were ready to take the game up to their opponents with Fair keeping a narrow lead through most of the match. The lead narrowed and at the 14th end faced with four shots down in the head, Fair pulled of a classic drive and took the kitty into the ditch. Maher was able to draw on his last shot taking one shot for the end but the scores were level.The Maher trio hit the front after the 15th end at 13/12 , but Fair fought back to take the last three ends and the Championship winning 18/13 after 18 ends.
