Summary of the Masters Tournament by Lindsay Knight
Birkenhead’s Terry Moverley, tournament director for North Harbour’s hosting of the inaugural Ryman Healthcare New Zealand Masters, is justifiably elated with its outcome.
“We’ve had accolades from everywhere and Bowls New Zealand was delighted with it,” he says. “It was very successful with 292 individual entries.”
Apart from a highly successful and competitive group from Central Otago, most of the entries did come from the northern part of the country.
Moverley acknowledges this as something which he believes will be corrected in coming years, with the tournament again to be hosted by North Harbour next year.
Rather than travel and accommodation costs accounting for limited entries from south of Taupo, Moverley believes the main contributing factor was a lack of awareness of the tournament within some centres.
Efforts were probably needed to make sure clubs had more notification in future.
The outstanding player at the tournament, fittingly enough, was one of the South Island visitors from what appears to be a thriving Central Otago centre.
Trevor Drake and his Alexandra club-mate Linley O’Callaghan took the 60-74 mixed pairs with an exciting win in the final over the great three-time world champion Peter Belliss and his partner from Wanganui’s Aramoho club, former Harbour player Reen Stratford.
A tense final had to go to an extra end before Drake and O’Callaghan won 15-14.
Drake then made it a double by partnering Lindsay Thomas to win the men’s 60-74 pairs title, beating Orewa’s Bruce McClintock and Walter Howden 10-8.
O’Callaghan just missed emulating Drake’s feat in achieving a double by finishing runner-up in the women’s 60-74 pairs. She and Christine Buchanan were overcome in the final by two Harbour stalwarts, Judith Seager and Lin East, 15-3.
Another Central Otago visitor in former Takapuna club member Bob Howitt also just missed a title. He and his old club-mate Murray Mathieson lost the 75 and over men’s pairs final to Mairangi Bay’s Murray Radojkovich and Barry McCrystal 11-7.
There was a poignant touch to the women’s 60-74 fours final, with Gayle Melrose, Ruth Lynch, Marilyn Constentine and Mary Campbell just beating Orewa’s strong line-up of Elaine McClintock, Kerin Roberts, Christeen Dalzell and Jan Harrison.
It was Ruth Lynch’s birthday and her first success since the recent passing of her great friend Carole Fredrick. It was a reminder of the major success she and Melrose had in 2012 in winning along with Fredrick the national fours title.
Other winners at the Masters were Carlton-Cornwall’s Nick Krajancic and Clare Bowman in the 75 and over mixed pairs, and a composite of Barry Green, David Ball, William Whitburn and Grant Keats in the 60-74 men’s fours.