"Singles eh? You either love it or hate. Personally I enjoy it. It's all down to the individual and you cannot come off the green blaming, or congratulating anyone but yourself. It's also excellent practice for leads as it is basically a game of draw"

That quote is from my blog after the District singles and maybe it did something to encourage entries in the club singles which arguably had a stronger field than in the District playdowns.

As the club singles championships were getting underway on Saturday August 19th the sponsor of the men’s event, Martin Foxhall, was preparing to play for gold in the Canadian championships in Victoria. Martin is a member of the Ontario men’s fours team and after winning eight of their ten round robin games they qualified for the gold medal match. Unfortunately they lost that game and finished with the silver medal but it was still a great performance from the team in the week long championships.  If he had been in Cobourg Martin would have been delighted with the most successful singles championships the club has had in years and also with the quality of the bowling.
 
Twelve men competed in four groups of three with each of the group winners proceeding to semi final games. The winners of each game were the first to 15 points with the final being first to 18 points.  Three of the favourites, Bob Bates, Ben van Steijn and Carl Ferguson, were drawn in the same group, what sports writers like to call a “group of death” . Carl beat Bob in the opener and Bob then lost to Ben so the position was clear cut – win the last game and qualify for the semi final. Carl continued his fine form to beat Ben.
 
In the other three groups the surprise winner was second year bowler Wilf Stender who won both his games to qualify. Ralph Stoffers looked to have a relatively easy group but was given tough challenges by Steve Haslam and Mike Place before qualifying. Bill Arthur also had a favourable draw and won his two games easily.
 
In the first semi final Carl beat Wilf convincingly. In the second semi final long-standing teammates (and frequent combatants) Ralph and Bill played against one another with Bill winning out on this occasion. The final between Carl and Bill swung back and forth with Ferguson fighting his way back from 10-15 and 15-17 to finally win 18-17.
 
The ladies championship was sponsored by Reg Ward Insurance and eight ladies competed. Players were drawn into two groups of four and the two group winners qualified for the final. The clear favourite was Canadian junior silver medallist Baylee van Steijn and, true to form, she won her group undefeated. The other group was more closely contested but Donna Longman clinched her place in the final with a close win over Sarah van Steijn in her final group game. Donna played a fine game and the final was neck and neck for a long time before Baylee pulled away in the closing stages. 
 
On Thursday August 17th we hosted an open mixed triples which was sponsored by Louisa and me. Eighteen teams competed and in addition to five home teams there were teams from Peterborough, Pickering, Oshawa, Bobcaygeon, Campbellford and Balmy Beach (Toronto).
 
The favourite from Bobcaygeon was the team of Steve Nelson, Anna Panton and Al Steffen and they won their first two games with the maximum possible points – a cumulative 36.
 
 Going into final round of games the Cobourg team of Bob Bates , Pat Bylok and Helen Beaton were in second place and in third place was my team with  Eve Gorringe at vice and and Louisa leading. Bob's team played the Nelson team in the final round and my team team played another two game winner, Rick Barnard’s team from Campbellford. Unfortunately for Cobourg both our teams lost and the Nelson team won the tournament with three wins and 52 points. Full results are on the results page and photos on the photo page

As I write this some of our juniors are playing in Oshawa and I'll let you know how they got on next week and will bring you news of the MVP Sports 4321 junior tournamnet which we are hosting next Sarurday August 26th.

Also on August 26th Carl Ferguson and Mike Place will be competing in the District 14 novices playdowns in Bobcaygeon as will Steve Haslam and Ken Bevan. We wish them the best of luck.

Good bowling

Bill Arthur

It’s an open tournament day. The scorecards are ready; the greens are ready; the kitchen is organised: so why do I always worry a little when the day comes round. Well there are two reasons. One is the weather. When there is uncertainty about it I first get concerned about overnight bad weather and flooded greens. And then when the tournament is underway will bad weather cause a cancellation? No concerns over that last Saturday when rain and thunderstorms did not materialise.
 
My other concern is whether everyone will turn up or alternatively will a team turn up when I haven’t had an entry from them? That did happen on Saturday and I’m grateful to Ken Wren and Nancy Fargo for stepping out of the office and kitchen respectively to make up a team and avoid having to turn someone away.
 
Anyway, enough of my concerns, let’s get back to the bowling.
 
Bob Bates and Pat Bylok warmed up for the club’s mixed pairs tournament on Saturday August 12th by winning a mixed pairs tournament at Campbellford the previous Tuesday with an impressive 3 wins and 40 points. And they followed it up by winning the Cobourg tournament with 3 wins and an even more impressive points total of 50. They put it down to their new lucky green club shirts!
 
The tournament was sponsored by Vandermeer Toyota and twenty two teams competed. In addition to nine home club teams there were thirteen visiting teams from Pickering, Oshawa, Peterborough, Campbellford, Lindsay and  Georgina.
 
After two rounds Bob and Pat were already the leading scorers and they played last year’s winners Terry Taylor and Judy Anderson from Georgina in their final game which they won comfortably by 18-7.  Louisa and I also won our first two games and were only three points adrift of the leaders going into the final round. After a good start to our game we  fell away (don't ask) and lost our final game to finish fourth, one point ahead of Ralph Stoffers and Janet Taylor.
 
The full result is on the results page and photos on the photo page
 
The following day, Sunday August 13th Bob and Pat were in action again when I joined them in a mixed triples tournament in Oshawa. However that was to be the end of their current winning streak as  we won only one of our three games and finished out of the prize money. Rumours that their winning streak ended because they were playing with me are unfounded! I think it was because we played in the white club shirts!
 
It’s another busy week coming up with an open mixed triples on Thursday which Louisa and I sponsor and then on Saturday we have the club singles championships. The mens is sponsored by Martin Foxall (painter and decorator extraordinaire – and not a bad bowler) and the ladies is sponsored by Reg Ward Insurance.
 
See you on the greens
 
Bill Arthur 

Club members were spread far and wide during the week. Two ladies teams competed in the Ontario senior championships in Almonte; Ben and Baylee van Steijn competed in the Under 18 championships in Dartmouth NS; a ladies team managed to squeeze in a one day tournament in Pickering; and the week finished with the club’s Windmill tournament.
 
Pride of place goes to 16 year old Baylee van Steijn who continued her remarkable progress on her way to the top of her sport. Two years ago she finished fourth in the junior championships; last year she won bronze and this year she went one better and won silver. It was an almost flawless performance from Baylee as she won her five round robin games before winning her semi final 18-13. If you tuned into Bowls Canada’s live stream you would have seen the second part of her semi final and the whole of the final.
 
After a slow start in the final Baylee rallied (the commentator on the stream said she must have been encouraged by the tweet I sent lol) but eventually lost 18-8 to Jordan Kos of Saskatchewan. Baylee is pictured receiving her medal from Dartmouth MP Darren Fisher. Brother Ben was not so fortunate in the boys championship. In the round robin he finished with a 4-3 record to finish fourth but only the top two qualified for the semi final. There was gold for Ontario though as Owen Kirby from the Heritage Greens club in Kitchener won the boys championship.
 
Two teams from Cobourg competed in the Ontario ladies senior championships in Almonte on August 1st. There are no easy games at this level and neither team managed to qualify from their pool. Nonetheless there was some excellent play from them. The team of Dianne Hawryszko, Kathleen Shirley and Nan Hendren gave the eventual gold winners from Ancaster a fright. Leading by four points going into the last end they gave up five in their final game. The team of Carol Dewey, Louisa Arthur and Mary Thibault was the most inexperienced and after tying their opening game they nearly had a famous victory over Willowdale. Two down going into the final end they were sitting with three second bowls but just could not remove the counter from their opponents. Willowdale went on to win silver.
 
After their exertions in Almonte two of the ladies, Carol Dewey and Kathleen Shirley played with Ann Tough in a ladies’ tournament in Pickering on Thursday August 3rd. After winning their first game the efforts of the week caught up with them and they lost their second game and were out of the prize money.
 
Carol and Kathleen were back in action at the club’s Windmill tournament on Saturday August 6th as were Dianne Hawryszko and Louisa Arthur. Dianne had some compensation for her loss at the seniors as she skipped her team to victory, ably supported by vice Terry Sutcliffe and lead Melanie Duras
 
The club Windmill tournament was sponsored by Miracle Ear Canada and by the Cobourg Short Mat Bowling Club. If you wonder why it is called the Windmill tournament it is because in short mat bowling (which many members play at the Cobourg Community Centre in the winter) the bowls have to be rolled around a small windmill placed in the centre of the mat, hence the name of this tournament..
 
Twelve teams played three eight end games and most games were very close. One exception was Dianne’s team’s first game which they won 12-3 but their second game was won on an extra end tie breaker and their final game was 7-6.
 
The only other team with three wins was mine. I was playing with Marilyn McMillan (Ralph Hewitt substituted in the second game) and Wilf Stender. Both our second and third games were decided on an extra end tie breaker and we finished with  23 points – only one point behind Dianne’s team.
 
The full result is on the results page and there are pictures on the photos page.
 
Have a great week on the greens
 
Bill Arthur