Gordon Insurance on King Street have sponsored this event for many years. We thank them for their continued support.
Once again, we were blessed with great weather for bowling. Sunny & warmish all day long. As usual when I arrived at the club (7:15am) our volunteers were already hard at work. Ernie Sapinski & Terry Shannon were working on the greens while Mike Hendren & Henry Kowalski were blowing leaves off the playing surface. Donna Ball & Mary Thibault were busy getting things ready in the kitchen and putting out tables & chairs all while trying to figure out why the coffee pot wasn’t working. (Turned out to be a breaker was turned off)
By 8:30 the early bird players were starting to arrive. It was a very tough field. 3 of the medal winners from last weeks Ontario Fours Championship were bowling. Derek McKie was the Gold medal winning Skip in the Fours and drove in all the way from Woodstock to play with Jake Masterson. (No slouch himself having won 3 Gold Medals at last years Canadian Championships). Then there was Isaac Kerr & Jacob Hyatt fresh off their Bronze medal win . . . which I believe was the only Ontario Fours medal ever won by an all Under 18 team.
Looking at the results at the end of the day we see that these players lived up to their high ratings.
Ben van Steijn & Dan Milligan not only won last year’s event but have not lost a game in this tournament since Covid . . . . so we offered a bonus prize to any team that could beat them.
Some high scores in Game one (23,22,18) had the Bill McCollam (Pierre Vanderhout), Brent Bayley (Bob Coleman) & Ken Bunner (Ron Kinsey) teams leading the way. Things changed a little in Game 2 with both Brent & Ken losing. This allowed the Andrew Perry (Bob Bates) & Derek McKie (Jake M) teams to vault into the lead with 34 pts each.
In game two after 4 years of wins Ben & Dan were finally defeated . . and it took 3 players to do it. Terry Bradshaw’s team won a 10-9 nail biter and headed to the prize table. Al Bell started at lead for Terry but wasn’t feeling well so after 6 ends he tagged Baylee van Steijn to come over the ropes and finish up.
Perry’s high score had him facing Derek & Jake in game 3. It was a low scoring affair. After 10 ends Andrew was down 9-4 but sitting 4 shots in the head in the 11th with 1 bowl to come. Derek drew the jack to crush the comeback and ended up with an 11-4 win. This gave Derek 3 wins and 45pts to take home the trophy. Bradshaw’s team, on a high from winning the Bounty, took an 18-13 win over Brent B to take 2nd place.
Sitting in the weeds winning with low scores was the Isaac Kerr (Jacob Hyatt) team. After winning the first 2 against tough teams (Wayne Wallwork, Martin Foxhall) they grinded out a 10-9 win over Bill McCollam to take all 3 games.
The Prize-winning teams were:
1st Place: Derek McKie (Woodstock) & Jake Masterson (Heritage) 3W 45pts
2nd Place: Terry Bradshaw, Al Bell, Baylee van Steijn (Cobourg) 3W 43 pts
3rd Place: Isaac Kerr (Belleville) & Jacob Hyatt (Cobourg) 3W 35pts
4th Place: Rick Barnard & George Boersma (Campbellford) 2W 43pts
5th Place: Ben van Steijn & Dan Milligan (Cobourg) 2W 41pts
6th Place: Bill McCollam (Cobourg) & Pierre Vanderhout (Kingston) 2W 40pts
Hi 1 game winner: Ken Bunner (Oshawa) & Ron Kinsey (Cobourg) 1W 38pts
High last Game: Lorne Schiele and Roy Robinson (Pickering) 17pts for 3 against
Other interesting Notes:
We had a late cancellation and needed to quickly find a 20th team to keep the draw even. OJ Kerr (Isaac’s father) was glad to step in. We couldn’t find another man to play but Julie Perry stepped up to the plate and played with OJ. A great big thank you to them both.
The big 50/50 winner was Mary Thibaut. A fitting reward for a hard day’s work in the kitchen.
Thanks
As always, these events wouldn’t be a success without the help of many volunteers. As noted some were there long before the games started.
Others helped during the day running the 50/50 draw helping with parking passes, helping with the games draw, taking photos & taking on numerous other tasks without even being asked to.
A big thank you to all.
Open Tournament Convenor
Bob Bates
Once again, we were blessed with great weather for bowling. Sunny & warmish all day long. As usual when I arrived at the club (7:15am) our volunteers were already hard at work. Ernie Sapinski & Terry Shannon were working on the greens while Mike Hendren & Henry Kowalski were blowing leaves off the playing surface. Donna Ball & Mary Thibault were busy getting things ready in the kitchen and putting out tables & chairs all while trying to figure out why the coffee pot wasn’t working. (Turned out to be a breaker was turned off)
By 8:30 the early bird players were starting to arrive. It was a very tough field. 3 of the medal winners from last weeks Ontario Fours Championship were bowling. Derek McKie was the Gold medal winning Skip in the Fours and drove in all the way from Woodstock to play with Jake Masterson. (No slouch himself having won 3 Gold Medals at last years Canadian Championships). Then there was Isaac Kerr & Jacob Hyatt fresh off their Bronze medal win . . . which I believe was the only Ontario Fours medal ever won by an all Under 18 team.
Looking at the results at the end of the day we see that these players lived up to their high ratings.
Ben van Steijn & Dan Milligan not only won last year’s event but have not lost a game in this tournament since Covid . . . . so we offered a bonus prize to any team that could beat them.
Some high scores in Game one (23,22,18) had the Bill McCollam (Pierre Vanderhout), Brent Bayley (Bob Coleman) & Ken Bunner (Ron Kinsey) teams leading the way. Things changed a little in Game 2 with both Brent & Ken losing. This allowed the Andrew Perry (Bob Bates) & Derek McKie (Jake M) teams to vault into the lead with 34 pts each.
In game two after 4 years of wins Ben & Dan were finally defeated . . and it took 3 players to do it. Terry Bradshaw’s team won a 10-9 nail biter and headed to the prize table. Al Bell started at lead for Terry but wasn’t feeling well so after 6 ends he tagged Baylee van Steijn to come over the ropes and finish up.
Perry’s high score had him facing Derek & Jake in game 3. It was a low scoring affair. After 10 ends Andrew was down 9-4 but sitting 4 shots in the head in the 11th with 1 bowl to come. Derek drew the jack to crush the comeback and ended up with an 11-4 win. This gave Derek 3 wins and 45pts to take home the trophy. Bradshaw’s team, on a high from winning the Bounty, took an 18-13 win over Brent B to take 2nd place.
Sitting in the weeds winning with low scores was the Isaac Kerr (Jacob Hyatt) team. After winning the first 2 against tough teams (Wayne Wallwork, Martin Foxhall) they grinded out a 10-9 win over Bill McCollam to take all 3 games.
The Prize-winning teams were:
1st Place: Derek McKie (Woodstock) & Jake Masterson (Heritage) 3W 45pts
2nd Place: Terry Bradshaw, Al Bell, Baylee van Steijn (Cobourg) 3W 43 pts
3rd Place: Isaac Kerr (Belleville) & Jacob Hyatt (Cobourg) 3W 35pts
4th Place: Rick Barnard & George Boersma (Campbellford) 2W 43pts
5th Place: Ben van Steijn & Dan Milligan (Cobourg) 2W 41pts
6th Place: Bill McCollam (Cobourg) & Pierre Vanderhout (Kingston) 2W 40pts
Hi 1 game winner: Ken Bunner (Oshawa) & Ron Kinsey (Cobourg) 1W 38pts
High last Game: Lorne Schiele and Roy Robinson (Pickering) 17pts for 3 against
Other interesting Notes:
We had a late cancellation and needed to quickly find a 20th team to keep the draw even. OJ Kerr (Isaac’s father) was glad to step in. We couldn’t find another man to play but Julie Perry stepped up to the plate and played with OJ. A great big thank you to them both.
The big 50/50 winner was Mary Thibaut. A fitting reward for a hard day’s work in the kitchen.
Thanks
As always, these events wouldn’t be a success without the help of many volunteers. As noted some were there long before the games started.
Others helped during the day running the 50/50 draw helping with parking passes, helping with the games draw, taking photos & taking on numerous other tasks without even being asked to.
A big thank you to all.
Open Tournament Convenor
Bob Bates
