$8k up for grabs at South Tweed

Gordon Rhodes

The 2013 South Tweed Sports Club Open Pairs ran last week with $8,000 up for grabs.

Monday saw South Tweed players lead after game one.

Dean McWhinney (2 + 14) led club mate Kelvin Kerkow (2 + 13) after the first round. Eric Copeland and Scott De Jong enjoyed the rare full count of eight shots in their opening match to finish with a 2 + 11.

The format for the event was three games by 15 ends on Monday and Tuesday and two games of 15 ends Wednesday. The prize money was awarded to the top ten teams, the best performed Ladies team and a final random draw.

After game five Steve Halmai and his lead Brendan Hoey were the only undefeated duo at 10 + 50. Linda and Dave Gardiner suffered their first loss in game four, a seven shot defeat at the hands of Ian Taylor and Peter Leon.

The Gardiners were never in it after falling behind early 1–7 (five ends) and it seemed a case of keeping the margin in check as they could not close the gap as the match progressed. Looming large in third place was South Tweed’s duo of Rod Heaton and Kelvin Kerkow.

A solid 12 shot win over the previously undefeated Dennis Margan and Peter Elder had them poised to make a charge over the remaining three matches.

Trish Dixon and Gail Waitai continued their impressive run and sat eighth overall as the best Ladies team at 8 + 20.

The O’Toole duo, Dennis and Sue, produced a terrific turn around in their match against John Montgomery and Graham Burgess.  Trailing 4–11 with six ends to play, a 14–0 run in four ends put them at 18–11 on 13 and took a great win 19–13 at the fifteenth and final end.

On Tuesday, Brendan Hoey and Steve Halmai won six from six to lead into the final two games with a score of 12 + 56.  Halmai plays locally at Condong Bowling Club which happened to encounter the current Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on their greens recently – Halmai apparently was not present to offer K Rudd any tips.

Their final win was over the impressive all Ladies team of Trish Dixon and Gail Waitai. While Halmai led all the way and at one stage was 14–3 up, the Ladies picked up five shots over the final three ends to minimise the damage to their overall margin.

Mick Anderson and Kris Lehfeldt rocketed into outright eighth place with the biggest win (20 shots) of game six. Lehfeldt was heard to comment that beating the blokes wasn’t the problem ‘but the Ladies!’ His two losses have been to the all Ladies teams of Waitai and Finnigan.

Last year’s runner up Peter Leon playing with lead Ian Taylor moved into fourth spot with a 19 shot win. They won 10 consecutive ends in a 19–0 run to crush Wayne Wilson and Laurie Sylvester 23–4.

South Tweed’s Kelvin Kerkow, with lead Rod Heaton, sat second at 10 + 54. Their 11 shot win included the full count of eight which occurred early on the third end.

However their winning margin was 17 shots and they scored a massive 26 shots from those eight ends won. Their winning ends  included a 7, 5, 2 x 4s, 2 x 2s and 2 singles to show impressive conversions.

The Tweed pairing of the Johns – Bailey and Millington, have had a very interesting tournament. Having inflicted the only loss to date on Kelvin Kerkow, they today claimed an historic moment, three draws in the one day. In conversation, they felt they could have won the first two and by their own admission ‘got out of jail’ in the last.

At the end of game four husband and wife team Linda and Dave Gardiner led the way at 8 + 53 courtesy of a strong 21 shot win and are 1 of 3 undefeated teams. Conversely, the second placed Brendan Hoey and Steve Halmai relinquished the lead having battled to win by 3. Dennis Margan/Peter Elder sat in third after a 16 shot win and have a 8 + 35 score.

South Tweed’s Kelvin Kerkow sits just a game away in fourth at 6 + 31 while Trish Dixon and Gail Waitai remained the best of the all Ladies teams in eleventh at 6 + 13. Ironically, their one shot win in game four was at the expense of another Ladies team of Lesley Behnke and Estelle Welsh (0 –26). Waitai’s nearest all Ladies challenge is June Beverley/Eryn Finnigan at a game back at 4 –14.

In the best comeback match of game four John Bailey and John Millington (5 + 14) trailed  4–12 with six ends to play. They actually led 14–13 before ending at a 15-all draw with the Ladies team of Behnke and Welsh.

Brendan Hoey (Tugun) and Steve Halmai (Condong) remained undefeated over the 8 games to win with a score of 16 + 73.  They had to work for their final win against June Beverley and Eryn Finnigan. The Ladies trailed just 4–5 after 5 ends before a 5 then 2 had Halmai take them to their biggest margin (8 shots) of the game.

Finnigan drew within 5 shots (11–16) with 5 to play but in the end Hoey/Halmai held on and eventually won by 6 shots.

Rod Heaton and Kelvin Kerkow (both South Tweed) dropped from second to fifth after the Ladies team of Lesley Behnke and Estelle Welsh won by a shot in a thoroughly deserved win. Finnigan led 11–5 with 4 ends to play before Kerkow won 3 straight ends 7–0 to lead 12–11 with 1 to play.  The ladies would not be denied and with a 2 at the last claimed the upset win. Heaton and Kerkow ended on 12 + 80, the highest total margin of the event.

Dennis Margan (Broadbeach) and Peter Elder (Musgrave Hill) were the only 7 game winners and finished 2nd on 14 + 58. Their only loss was to Kerkow by 12 shots on the Tuesday.

After having the biggest winning margin in game 8 (24 shots) Ray Hickman and Neville Jenkins only moved one place higher (8th to 7th). Third place went to Graeme Shillington (Burleigh Heads) and Dean McWhinney (South Tweed) on 13 + 63.

Trish Dixon (South Tweed) and Gail Waitai (Broadbeach) finished just outside the top 10/main prize money but their excellent 12 + 31 put them in 11th place and won the best performed Ladies team.