CoC Singles Wrap by Lindsay Knight
North Harbour’s former Black Jack Tony Grantham showed all of his international class at the weekend at the Waimauku club when winning his Seasons fourth centre title, so adding a second bar to his gold star.
Grantham, from the Browns Bay club, won the champion of champion men’s singles title with an effortless win 21-1 over Helensville’s Terry Cullen.
A measure of Grantham’s gaining his 15th centre title was the fact that Cullen was a worthy finalist and has an excellent past record with four open centre titles and three at junior level.
The women’s champion of champions final was a repeat of the pathways championship late last year, with the same players and with the same result.
Birkenhead’s experienced Ruth Lynch beat Mairangi’s promising Theresa Rogers, who is only a fourth-year player but already with three centre titles to her credit, 21-14.
For Lynch, a national fours champion in 2012, it was her 24th centre title,
Manly’s Judy Smith and Glenfield’s David Payne won the one-to-five champion of champions singles titles, reward for the consistency each has shown in the past couple of seasons.
Payne beat Browns Bay’s Willie McIvor 21-17 and Smith beat Birkenhead’s Milika Nathan 21-14. It was a brave effort from Nathan as she has been playing since December. However, she has strong bowling genes, with her dad Peter a former centre champion.