THE 2018 MASTERS REPORT
We have two incredible stories for two incredible Champions who have both had incredible journeys to their Championships.
Sue Cobb Round One
A very encouraging start from our newly crowned Order Of Merit Winner Sue Cobb. 202 was her first offering in Squad B, followed by 3 x 180's and then capped off with a magnificent 220, this gave her a scratch series of 971 (ave 194) generating a total score of 1051. This was the highest score so far from either of Squads A or B, with Manel Hannan and Linda Pray not far behind. Despite rolling the best, Sue was only in third position on the leader-board because the two Dorset girls Liz Griffin and Lynn Squibb had both bowled in squads A & B, so had two lots of scores to show, against Sue's one.
Lynne Walker made her first appearance in Squad C and recorded what can only be described as a marvellous five game series. Lynne was the Ladies benchmark bowler with the highest entering average of all the Lady entrants. As such her average of 197 was deemed to be the scratch score for calculating everybody else's handicaps. Consequently she had a handicap of zero. Lynne's first series was highlighted by a 254 score in game two flanked by a 212 and a 225, with a 237 to follow for good measure. She finally came down to the level of mere mortal with a 162 in game five, giving her a total of 1090 (Ave 218) which despite having no handicap was still the highest handicap score! incidentally this score was 90 pins higher than a certain Mr R Bruce. Val Hopcraft and Angela Steward both recorded one 200 each, but still finished the squad over 100 pins behind Lynne. What this did to the ladies Leader-board was to move Sue down one spot to fourth, but second of those who had rolled only one squad. We had nine ladies grace the lanes in Squad D The finest of whom was Julie Johanssen, whose 898 (Ave 180) series put her top of the leader-board when added to her squad C total. Julie included a 210 in her third game, but the highest scratch series from this squad was rolled by Dianne Johnson whose 932 (Ave 186) also included a 210 scratch score. Sandra Simmonds and Lynn Squibb also included 200's in their Squad D scores. What this did to the leader-board was to give us a 1-2-3 of Julie, Lynn Squibb and Erica Gardner with Sue relegated to 11th, but still with a squad to bowl.
Squad E was where Sue chose to bowl her second block, but her scores failed to reach the dizzy heights of her squad B excesses!, however they were good enough to secure her a comfortable 6th place at the conclusion of this Squad. Lynne Walker was at it again averaging 207 with four scores ranging from 212 to 236, with an uncharacteristic 157 in game two, giving her an unassailable lead for a place in the final. Sue took no part in Squad F, apart from to sit on the sidelines and hope nobody bowled well enough to knock her out of the final. But she was OK and her place in the final was secure.
Lynne Walker made her first appearance in Squad C and recorded what can only be described as a marvellous five game series. Lynne was the Ladies benchmark bowler with the highest entering average of all the Lady entrants. As such her average of 197 was deemed to be the scratch score for calculating everybody else's handicaps. Consequently she had a handicap of zero. Lynne's first series was highlighted by a 254 score in game two flanked by a 212 and a 225, with a 237 to follow for good measure. She finally came down to the level of mere mortal with a 162 in game five, giving her a total of 1090 (Ave 218) which despite having no handicap was still the highest handicap score! incidentally this score was 90 pins higher than a certain Mr R Bruce. Val Hopcraft and Angela Steward both recorded one 200 each, but still finished the squad over 100 pins behind Lynne. What this did to the ladies Leader-board was to move Sue down one spot to fourth, but second of those who had rolled only one squad. We had nine ladies grace the lanes in Squad D The finest of whom was Julie Johanssen, whose 898 (Ave 180) series put her top of the leader-board when added to her squad C total. Julie included a 210 in her third game, but the highest scratch series from this squad was rolled by Dianne Johnson whose 932 (Ave 186) also included a 210 scratch score. Sandra Simmonds and Lynn Squibb also included 200's in their Squad D scores. What this did to the leader-board was to give us a 1-2-3 of Julie, Lynn Squibb and Erica Gardner with Sue relegated to 11th, but still with a squad to bowl.
Squad E was where Sue chose to bowl her second block, but her scores failed to reach the dizzy heights of her squad B excesses!, however they were good enough to secure her a comfortable 6th place at the conclusion of this Squad. Lynne Walker was at it again averaging 207 with four scores ranging from 212 to 236, with an uncharacteristic 157 in game two, giving her an unassailable lead for a place in the final. Sue took no part in Squad F, apart from to sit on the sidelines and hope nobody bowled well enough to knock her out of the final. But she was OK and her place in the final was secure.
Robert Bruce Round One
Robert Bruce's 217 was the best entering average of anybody this season. It was decided that handicaps would be based on the highest average of those that entered, and Rob was the top man. With a handicap of zero he had a mountain to climb, and could afford no low scores if he was going to make any progress. And progress he did, but it was far from plain sailing as demonstrated by his first set on Friday. He bowled a total of 1000 pins exactly, averaging 200, for the rest of us mere mortals that would have been a good solid start, but Robert was 17 pins per game below his average, or to put it another way he was 85 pins below par over the five games. This was reflected in the position he found himself in at the conclusion of Squad C, 26th in the squad five places below the cut position, 90 pins scratch and 245 hdc pins behind the leader.
Roberts next appearance was a great improvement, his Saturday afternoon scores reflected what he had learned from Friday and the years of 'luck' started to pay off. The scorecard revealed scores ranging between 207 and 259 giving him a squad average of 231, 14 pins above his entering average, This time he finished third in the squad behind the incredible 1195 (1305) that Ray Lay had rolled and a not to shabby 1114 (1195) recorded by Steve Donowski. His position on the leaderboard improved to 18th. The top twenty places were guaranteed spots in The Masters Final and Robert was only 22 pins inside the automatic place with one more squad to bowl, still 321 pins behind the leader, he needed more of the same and better to secure his place.
It was a slow start for Rob in Squad F, 'only' rolling his average 217 in game one, but then he dropped to 193 and 207 and his spot in the final was vanishing very quickly, he needed something special. His game four performance brought a hushed silence to the bowl, it was one of those games where people started to congregate behind him as he fired off strike after strike, only missing once for a vital 276 which put him right back in the mix, especially with a backstop 240 finale (see what I did there, a little bit of political input). He finished third in the squad behind Tony Imren 1160 (1195) and Chris Smith. Rob's figures were 1135 (Ave 227) and he was up to 6th on the leaderboard. Rob's lowest score over the 15 games was 187, he averaged 219 with only four games below 200, and one game was only one strike short of a maximum!
It is difficult to describe the significance of this achievement. A bowler of Roberts calibre, with no handicap has no room for error, his lowest game was 30 pins below yet he still won through to the final. That was because of his amazing skills, experience, determination and focus, then there was the small matter of his run of 'lucky' strikes!
It is difficult to describe the significance of this achievement. A bowler of Roberts calibre, with no handicap has no room for error, his lowest game was 30 pins below yet he still won through to the final. That was because of his amazing skills, experience, determination and focus, then there was the small matter of his run of 'lucky' strikes!
Sue Cobb Finals Round One
There were plenty of 200's to mark part one of the Ladies final on Sunday, ten of them in fact, the best of which were recorded by Linda Pray and Lynne Walker, 217 was the number entered on the scorecards for them both. The first one was Linda's in game one and accompanied by a 206 from Lynne Walker and a 205 from Sue Cobb. This put Linda top after game one with Sue in second place and Hilary Cooke in third. Manel Hannan was next with Lynne Walker and Lynn Squibb sharing the final fifth spot. Game two saw Hilary top the leader-board after securing a 194 game after her 189 opener. 200's were then scored by Val Hopcraft and Lynn Squibb. Linda Pray and Sue Cobb dropped down a place each to second and third. Manel Hannan and Lynne Walker dropped out of the top five to be replaced by Julie Johanssen and Val Hopcraft. Sue Cobb went to the top of the ratings by 17 pins over Lynn Squibb having scored 203 and 201 respectively after Squad three. There were no other changes to the top five. Lynne Walker put in a last ditch attempt to get into the final but was still 23 pins off despite rolling a 217. So the five finalists were Julie, Val, Lynn, Sue and Hilary.
Robert Bruce Finals Round One
Lane conditions on Finals day were different and this seemed to give Rob a singular determination to beat the lanes, and beat them he did. He silenced his fellow bowlers by rolling the perfect 300 in the very first game, and the crowd rewarded him with rapturous applause. Every bowler to a man/woman wanted to shake his hand, this was the first max recorded since The BTBA took over The Tenpintour, strangely enough this put Rob top of the pile with Ken burton only 17 pins behind having bowled 268 scratch. Michael Pray, Graham Stewart, Neil Highgate and Russell Scott filled the other five coveted spots needed to progress to the matchplay final.
There is a tendency for a bowlers score to plummet immediately following a high score, but not Rob who used this as a banker to build the rest of this series upon. I think we would all love to drop 82 pins off our first score and still record 218,but that was exactly what Rob did in game two, but now he was only 15 pins in front of Russell Scott who backed up his game one 223 with a 260. New to the top six were Steve Bose (245) and Suren Johanssen (226) who replaced Graham Stewart and Michael Pray.
The third game saw Rob roll 222, but he still lost his spot at the top of the leader board to Russell Scott who continued his high scoring adventure with a 234 to lead Rob by 10 pins. Tony Imren (269) and Mike Webber (234) displaced Neil Highgate and Ken Burton
In the last game of The Final Round One Tony Imren suffered a spectacular reverse, he followed scores of 274 and 269 with a dismal 149 which cost him his place in the next round. Russell continued his solid uncompromising run unabated and cemented his top place rolling a 259, finishing 20 scratch pins above Rob who don't forget had rolled a 300 at the beginning of this part of the final. Your game has to be in tremendous shape to beat Rob Bruce when he is in the zone, but to beat him scratch when he is in the zone, having scored 300 on the way is something very special, but that is exactly what Russell did! Rob finished second only one pin above his obedient servant Neil Highgate! Lucky OOM Champion Neil only made the final through his turbo game, and then only made the Matchplay final replacing Tony whose demise is described above. Fourth place went to Suren (214), fifth place was occupied by Steve Bose (213) and Mike Webber (189) filled the final place. Skudder and Taaffe both made late desperate lunges for a finals place but their respective scores of 266 and 246 were too little too late, and they finished their Masters Tournament as the top two bowlers to win nothing for all their efforts. It did however, release them to continue their efforts to keep the tournament running.
There is a tendency for a bowlers score to plummet immediately following a high score, but not Rob who used this as a banker to build the rest of this series upon. I think we would all love to drop 82 pins off our first score and still record 218,but that was exactly what Rob did in game two, but now he was only 15 pins in front of Russell Scott who backed up his game one 223 with a 260. New to the top six were Steve Bose (245) and Suren Johanssen (226) who replaced Graham Stewart and Michael Pray.
The third game saw Rob roll 222, but he still lost his spot at the top of the leader board to Russell Scott who continued his high scoring adventure with a 234 to lead Rob by 10 pins. Tony Imren (269) and Mike Webber (234) displaced Neil Highgate and Ken Burton
In the last game of The Final Round One Tony Imren suffered a spectacular reverse, he followed scores of 274 and 269 with a dismal 149 which cost him his place in the next round. Russell continued his solid uncompromising run unabated and cemented his top place rolling a 259, finishing 20 scratch pins above Rob who don't forget had rolled a 300 at the beginning of this part of the final. Your game has to be in tremendous shape to beat Rob Bruce when he is in the zone, but to beat him scratch when he is in the zone, having scored 300 on the way is something very special, but that is exactly what Russell did! Rob finished second only one pin above his obedient servant Neil Highgate! Lucky OOM Champion Neil only made the final through his turbo game, and then only made the Matchplay final replacing Tony whose demise is described above. Fourth place went to Suren (214), fifth place was occupied by Steve Bose (213) and Mike Webber (189) filled the final place. Skudder and Taaffe both made late desperate lunges for a finals place but their respective scores of 266 and 246 were too little too late, and they finished their Masters Tournament as the top two bowlers to win nothing for all their efforts. It did however, release them to continue their efforts to keep the tournament running.
The Ladies Matchplay Final
Julie Johanssen was the lucky lady who had a bye to the next round as a reward for finishing in the top in round one of the final. This left Val Hopcraft, Sue Cobb, Lynn Squibb and Hilary Cooke to battle out the Matchplay elimination final round one. There were only eight pins between top and bottom in this round and Hilary Cooke was the first to go, with Val finishing top. Julie Johanssen replaced Hilary in the next round. Sue Cobb rolled 195 (211) to finish top with Lynn finishing second, Julie and Val tied scratch scores at the other end but both were eliminated. This left Sue and Lynn to fight out the Grand Final.
The Gentlemens Matchplay Final
Because Rob finished in second place he drew a bye into round three in the match play final. In the first round of the matchplay final (which we labelled Round Two) four of the six finalists bowled a one game eliminator, the other two bowlers finished top and were awarded byes to the latter stages of this matchplay final.
In that first eliminator match Mike Webber scored 208 which converted to 240 with handicap, which was the top score, followed by Steve Bose 223 (231) then Suren Johanssen 203 (214). This left lucky Neil Highgate out of luck and eliminated despite bowling 204 (210).
Neil was replaced in the next round by his friend and mentor Rob Bruce, which saw Steve Bose roll 217 (225) finish top, Suren second with 203 (214) and Rob just pipped Mike Webber by four pins, with scores of 207 (207) and 171 (203) respectively.
The final eliminator round before the Grand Final saw no wavering in the high quality as our top finisher joined the fray. It was Rob Bruce who hushed the crowd with a near perfect 276 (276) cementing his place in the final. Joining him there was the irrepressible Russell Scott whose contribution was 242 (253). Steve and Suren were the unlucky losers who finished third and fourth despite respectable scores of 209 (217) and 203 (214) respectively.
In that first eliminator match Mike Webber scored 208 which converted to 240 with handicap, which was the top score, followed by Steve Bose 223 (231) then Suren Johanssen 203 (214). This left lucky Neil Highgate out of luck and eliminated despite bowling 204 (210).
Neil was replaced in the next round by his friend and mentor Rob Bruce, which saw Steve Bose roll 217 (225) finish top, Suren second with 203 (214) and Rob just pipped Mike Webber by four pins, with scores of 207 (207) and 171 (203) respectively.
The final eliminator round before the Grand Final saw no wavering in the high quality as our top finisher joined the fray. It was Rob Bruce who hushed the crowd with a near perfect 276 (276) cementing his place in the final. Joining him there was the irrepressible Russell Scott whose contribution was 242 (253). Steve and Suren were the unlucky losers who finished third and fourth despite respectable scores of 209 (217) and 203 (214) respectively.
The Ladies Grand Final
After 238 games we reached the pinnacle of the Tenpintour Season, The Ladies Grand Final. With scores ranging from 111 to 254, a total of twenty six 200 plus scores, we were ready for the final game of the season. Both these ladies have a proven Tenpintour history, Lynn won TPT 9 at The Airport in 2016 and TPT 9 at Poole in 2017, followed by a win in The Ladies Plate here last year. Could Lynn follow that by winning The Masters? Sue was also in fine form, having won at Acocks Green two years running in 2017 and 2018. Her form this year has earned her a well deserved first Order Of Merit title. So Sue had a double target of her own to pursue, nobody had ever won The OOM and Masters in the same season, one of these lovely ladies was going to make Tenpintour history! The final was a very close affair until the frame nine foundation frame where Sue was more successful than Lynn, this proved to be the pivotal frame which determined the outcome of this years Masters which Sue won by 19 pins. A very tense and exciting final saw Sue Cobb crowned 2018 BTBA Tenpintour Masters Champion, to marry up with the OOM Championship which she currently holds. A very popular winner whose winning smile brightened up Stroud Bowl.
These two popular bowlers were a credit to the tour and themselves, giving us a final to remember, thank you to both Sue and Lynn
The Gentlemens Grand Final
The Grand Final proved to be yet another high scoring epic. Russell Scott and Robert Bruce were the last men standing after what was a fabulous three days of highs and lows. We all had our own personal high points, there plenty of 'if only's' and 'could have been's' but only two of us could make the final and only one could become 'The Master'. Had Russell repeated his 242 from the previous round, he would have won, but if Rob had repeated his 276 he would still have won so that was a bit pointless! The score in the final was 244 (244) - 190 (201) in favour of the giant kilt wearing, Welsh international who is probably the only player to have bowled for GB, England and Scotland as well! The only difference between these two guys in the Grand final was that Rob was able to keep his game together for that one extra mile. This was a very special win, Rob won this handicap tournament with no handicap, it is going to be some time before that happens again …. or is it Rob?
Serious stuff this bowling lark, just look at the concentration required by these two talented bowlers as they prepare for
The Grand Final, thanks Russell, thanks Rob for treating us to such an enthralling match up!
The Grand Final, thanks Russell, thanks Rob for treating us to such an enthralling match up!
How the rest of us faired.....
Thursday 22nd November 2018
On Thursday 22nd November The Tenpintour team arrived at Stroud Bowl to enjoy a couple of practice games in preparation for this year’s BTBA Tenpintour British Masters. A couple of Tenpintour wannabe's were already getting their arms in and ‘finding their lines’, after swapping a few tips (everyone’s a coach), we all popped into a Toby for a munch on the way to the hotel. Once the very nice carvery had been experienced the assembly made there way to The Holiday Inn for a much-needed infusion of alcohol. A very pleasant evening ensued and after solving the age bonus and pins on strings issues we all made our way to our rooms for some much-needed shut eye.
We were up bright and early Friday Morning had breakfast at the Hotel and then the team invaded Stroud Bowl. Set up went well and once registration was complete the lanes were opened for practice and then The BTBA Tenpintour British Masters began.
We were up bright and early Friday Morning had breakfast at the Hotel and then the team invaded Stroud Bowl. Set up went well and once registration was complete the lanes were opened for practice and then The BTBA Tenpintour British Masters began.
Friday Squad A
A Shambles of 14 Super Senior bowlers lined up to get their first scores on the doors on Friday morning and it was Chris Smith who set the pace with a very nice 245. Lynn Squibb started her campaign off with a rather special 225 in the Ladies division. The second game saw Chris Taaffe equal his highest ever score of 267 as Liz Griffin and Lynn Squibb rolled 215 and 216 respectively. Not to be outdone Neil Highgate bowled an almost flawless 278 in his third game. Another high scoring Chris, this time Chris Skudder wrote 255 on his scorecard to go with the 220, 222 and 242 he had already recorded. He then went on to get a 247 in the final game of the session putting him top of the leader board with a scratch total of 1186 (237 average) which with handicap totalled 1261. Not much excitement from the ladies in the concluding games of the squad but there were deuces aplenty from the Men, 26 in fact, giving the squad an impressive 199 average.
Friday Squad B
Squad B was highlighted with a sumptuous 270, courtesy of Russell Scott, who seems to have at least one very high score whenever he plays a Tenpintour event. Russell, who won TPT 9 at Poole in 2017 went on to score another three deuces including a 244 and dominated the squad winning it by 66 pins on handicap, and 86 pins scratch. Steve Thornton, who led the OOM early doors took second spot despite starting with a couple of modest 170’s but finished with three double centuries the highest of which was a brilliant 268. Graham Stewart and Michael Pray shared third place on 1097, Graham making his mark with a 244 opener. There were 26 200’s scored in this squad netting an average of 185, compared to the 25 200’s rolled in Squad A. The best single five game series over the two squads was rolled by Chris Skudder with 1261, but the leader board showed Steve Thornton top despite ‘only’ scoring 1117. But strangely he did exactly the same total twice! because he bowled in both A and B squads his total was 2234, but Skudds was second on 1261.
Sue Cobb, our newly crowned OOM Winner started her campaign with a tidy 202, followed by three 180’s and a very solid 220 giving her an average of 194. This gave her top spot by 32 pins over second place. The 1051 total she recorded was the best to date after two squads, putting her top of the leader board. In second place was Tenpintour ‘newbie’ Manel Hannan who finished her first squad with well above average scores of 181 and 195. There were plenty of high profile ladies in this squad including defending Masters Champion Jackie Cooper, but only Hilary Cooke and Liz Griffin found themselves in the heady heights of twohundredland rolling 203 and 210 respectively.
Friday Squad C
Scores from our 'Secret Squad X' have been included in the Squad C Scores. In order to facilitate bowlers who were unable to make Squads A,B or C we opened up a late Squad on Friday evening for them. Not content with equalling his highest ever score of 267 (missed the 7 pin for a 268!) during the course of Squad A, Chris Taaffe achieved a 268, which he book-ended with games of 222 and 243 for his first ever 700 three game score, 733 is now his highest series. Normally Chris would rely on his handicap to experience a rare exposure to the leader board, but on that day, at that moment his 1090 series (Average 218) was the highest scratch score of the squad. This was a high scoring event, with no less than 12 bowlers averaging 200 plus and many more scoring over their own personal averages. The 28 bowlers recorded 62, two hundred plus games, giving the squad an average of 193. Mark Jenkins, the first bowler to win two BTBA Tenpintour events, was second in squad C averaging 214, including three deuces the finest of which was 253. Two other bowlers Chris Skudder and Steve Bose both finished the squad with averages in excess of 210.
Saturday Squad C
Lynne Walker made her first appearance at The Masters in Squad C and wow! what a start, not only did her scores leave her 100 pins clear at the top of the Ladies leader-board, but her scratch scores were better than any of the scores that the Gentlemen's Squad C could manage (except one, and modesty forbids!). Lynne certainly bowled to her ranking, The ladies handicapping for this event were based on the best average of those that were entering, and that average was Lynne's 197 which explains her zero handicap. Apart a blip in her last game all her scores were at least 15 pins over her average. In fact the her game two score of 254 was the highest ladies game of the entire tournament, resulting in a 218 average in that squad. Eight other of Tenpintour's finest females were in competition in this squad, and Lynne did not hold a monopoly on high scores, both Val Hopcraft and Angela Steward reached the heady 200 mark and finished second and third.While it is always good to report on high scratch scores, we must remember that this is a handicap tournament. In a handicap competition we are bowling against ourselves, and the more pins above you normal standard you achieve, the higher up the leader board you should finish.
,At the conclusion of Fridays exertions Angela Morgan, Lynn Squibb and Liz Griffin were holding the top three places in the Ladies section. Angela Steward was the bowler in jeopardy lying in 10th place, with the top ten qualifying for the Final, plus one Turbo. Julie Johanssen was in 11th just outside a Finals place.
In the Gentlemen's section two of our Tenpintour team, the Chris' were in the top two places with Mark Jenkins in third. Mike Pray was on the cusp 20th place, with twenty spots up for grabs and three turbos available for the men's final Mike Webber who was in 21st place had his work cut out to elevate himself a much coveted place in the final.
In the Gentlemen's section two of our Tenpintour team, the Chris' were in the top two places with Mark Jenkins in third. Mike Pray was on the cusp 20th place, with twenty spots up for grabs and three turbos available for the men's final Mike Webber who was in 21st place had his work cut out to elevate himself a much coveted place in the final.
Saturday Squad D
iJulie Johanssen needed something special after a disappointing performance in her first series, last thing Friday night. So she started with a 191 to lay down a foundation score to make her comeback. Julie finished one place off an automatic qualifying spot for Sundays Masters final so a game three 210 did her campaign a world of good, despite a comparatively low 155 final game. However a glance at the leader board showed she had moved up rom 11th place to 1st at the end of squad D. Liz Eyre found herself in second place in the squad and ninth overall after a 168 started her series. Lynn Squibb, Sandra Simmonds and Dianne Johnson all contributed to the 200 pool during the course of this squad. The leader-board put Julie top, Lynne second and Erica Gardner third.
Not content with finishing top of the leaderboard on Friday, Skudder and Taaffe cemented their position by finishing top of the Squad D listings as well. Skudders contribution ranged from a 'lowly' 197 to a near perfect 278 in game five, giving him a squad average of 221, his last three game total was 703 After his excesses from his two squads on Friday, Taaffe was able to bowl without the pressure of desperately needing a good series to qualify because his total from Friday had already earned him a place in the Masters Final. His first two games were below the standard of earlier results but nevertheless well above his 175 entering average. The last three games added up to 700 exactly for Chris to score his second ever 700 after Fridays 733. Enough already about the excesses of the committee, Graham Stewart, Mike Sykes, Suren Johanssen and Steve Bose all had high scores and averages at the same time. Mike Sykes recorded a 264 in his third game of the squad which contributed to the 34 two hundred plus games in this squad, resulting in a squad average of 191. At the end of squad D Chris Taaffe had increased his score by 51 pins and stayed top, with Chris Skudder snapping at his heels 31 pins behind. Graham Stewart and Mark Jenkins were in 2nd & 3rd over 100 pins further back.
Saturday Squad E
Once again Lynne Walker justified her zero handicap, bowling four 200 scores the best of which was 236, but there was an uncharacteristic 157 dip in game three, notwithstanding Lynne still finished top of the squad and top of the leaderboard. Erica Gardner was the only other lady to exceed the 200 mark with an opening score of 208. Erica finished third in the squad but dropped to fourth on the leaderboard. Hilary Cooke had three scores over 180 which earned her second spot in the squad and second spot on the leaderboard behind Lynne. it was good to see Manel Hannan bowling so consistently above her 132 average, her 942 total score added to the 1019 she accumulated in her first series brought her up to 5th spot on the leaderboard.
Squad E produced the highest score of the tournament so far, Ray Lay also recorded the best five game series, with scores ranging between 214 and 289 for a scratch total of 1195. He did it in pretty good company as well, because Steve Donowski and a little fella name of Bruce were also giving the pins a hammering. In fact these three failed to drop below the 200 mark in any of their games. Robert Bruce highlighting with scores of 258 and 259, Steve's best was 247and five other bowlers, Mark Jenkins, Robert Steward, Barry Knox, Russell Scott and Tony Imren all averaged in excess of 200 in this squad. The nineteen men bowling rolled 39, two hundred plus games to give a squad average of 192. Over on the leader-board Chris Skudder was relegated to third place, as Ray Lay took over second place after his outstanding performance in this squad. Russell Scott's 1124 total elevated him to 5th place from 22nd. Dave Thornton's 1115 total brought him up to 7th position, two places above his twin brother and early leader Steve.
Saturday Squad F
Julie Johanssen was doing her best to make up for finishing bottom of squad C by finishing top of both Squads C & F, a very consistent run of games giving her a 23pin lead over Hilary Cooke, Julie ended up qualifying 2nd for the Masters Final. Hilary's final set was highlighted by her game two 196 and she finished second in the squad, which with her second and fourth places in previous rounds earned her a well deserved fourth place on the leader board. Angela Morgan took some time off 'The Cottage' and graced us with three opening games which added up to 600 exactly. A good time to bring your 'A' game to the party! her scratch 926 series was the best of the squad and she qualified second for the Jan Steiner Plate. Val Hopcraft's 203 in game 4 stamped her passport to the Masters final. Dianne Johnson and Sandra Simmonds also rolled 200's and both qualified for The Jan Steiner Plate as did last years Master, Jacqui Cooper. Linda Pray got to the Masters final with three 170 + games.
Yet another high scoring squad was realised when the 18 guys who took part in the final squad of round one averaged 194 between them. The best of which was rolled by Tony Imren, who has multiple Tenpintour titles to his name. He started with a solid 218 and never dropped below 210 for the entire squad, the only bowler to do so, his 1160 series was the highest scratch series of the Squad and was also the highest handicap series as well. His best score was the game four 255.The highest game score came from the hands of a little known chappie, bowling under the name of Robert Bruce, a very nearly perfect 278 in game four set all our pulses racing. His total of 1135 gave him an average of 227 and he ended up 3rd in the squad behind a magnificent 1016 rolled by Chris Smith which worked out at 22 pins per game over his 181 entering average. Seven of the guys average over the 200 mark, but a rather special 263 which Chris Ellis rolled earned him a turbo place in the final.
At the conclusion of the two day round one, the Ladies leaderboard showed the top three places were held by Lynne Walker, Julie Johanssen and Hilary Cooke, the turbo qualifier was Liz Griffin. The top three places in the Jan Steiner Plate final were Liz Gove, Angela Morgan and Sandra Williams. The top places in the Gentlemen's section went to Chris Taaffe, Ray Lay and Chris Skudder. The turbo qualifiers were Neil Highgate, Chris Ellis and Kenneth Iredale. The top three places for the Plate Final were Dave Eyre, Steve Donowski and Steve Williams.
At the conclusion of the two day round one, the Ladies leaderboard showed the top three places were held by Lynne Walker, Julie Johanssen and Hilary Cooke, the turbo qualifier was Liz Griffin. The top three places in the Jan Steiner Plate final were Liz Gove, Angela Morgan and Sandra Williams. The top places in the Gentlemen's section went to Chris Taaffe, Ray Lay and Chris Skudder. The turbo qualifiers were Neil Highgate, Chris Ellis and Kenneth Iredale. The top three places for the Plate Final were Dave Eyre, Steve Donowski and Steve Williams.