Picking winner proving difficult

Anyone brave enough to pick a winner of the 115th Taranaki men’s Open fours has received little assistance from the first two days' play.

A number of the top teams have bowled successfully through the first four rounds, posting convincing wins in all the matches. There has been the odd loss one of the guns has incurred, but on the whole, the excellent conditions have generally seen the better-performed teams come through.

The biggest casualty to date has been Cary Pinker’s Wanganui East team. They have featured regularly in the closing stages of the event, but any hopes of repeating last year’s quarterfinal berth evaporated when they lost both games. After a loss on Monday, it meant good night nurse.

Section 1: Andrew Bowden and his Parklands, Christchurch, side emerged as the only four winner. The morning effort came 24-23 over Ian Andrews (Paritutu) and they then sneaked home 26-25 over Mark Skelton (Sunshine Coast) in the afternoon. Andrews got back on track with an afternoon win, as did the veteran Rex Holmes (Paraparaumu Beach), who had fallen 23-22 to Dennis Layden (Sunshine Coast) in the morning. Layden, after two losses on Monday, won twice, but it was the opposite for Bill Barwood (Claudelands).

Section 2: Marty Doak (Far North RSA) has been a long-standing supporter of the Open and that loyalty was rewarded yesterday when his side won both of its game to have four wins. Jeremy Brosnan (Glen Eden) was untroubled once more in both games. Richard Meacle (Sunshine Coast) is doing a reasonable job on behalf of the Australian contingent with three wins.

Section 3: Keith Ansell (New Lynn) and John Carter (Hutt) both maintained their unbeaten records on the Paritutu front green. Ansell had a particularly good morning round win, 26-18, over Paul Matheson (Halswell). Matheson, who welcomed back Kevan Greenwood yesterday, is still handily placed on three wins but doesn’t have an easy road home, including a match against Carter this afternoon. Carter ended the hopes of Cary Pinker (Wanganui East) in the fourth round, the 24-21 result ending the hopes of last year’s quarterfinalists.

Section 4: Being completely dominated by three sides all of whom have four wins – Anton Ferrari (Naenae), Shane O’Hara (Mercury Bay) and Craig De Faria (West End). From a points scored perspective, De Faria has been the slightly more impressive, hitting 30 in all four wins. Of the remaining nine teams in the group, four have two wins but still face an uphill task to advance.

Section 5: The two family teams, Gerry O’Sullivan (Inglewood) – whose team includes Steve “O’Sullivan” Sabine – and Geoff Hawken (Gold Coast) were both untroubled on day two. Danny Watt (Lepperton) and came from behind twice to be handily placed on three wins. The morning effort, after trailing 17-2, was 25-22 over Ray Keen (Blockhouse Bay). Keen’s side, however, kept in touch with a narrow 30-29 afternoon win.

Section 6: Steve Liddington (Frankton Railway) and David Payne (Mairangi Bay) continued successfully through the day to have four wins. Dan Delany (Royal Oak) suffered his second loss, going down in the third round 26-18 to Gerrard Slattery (Tui Park). Slattery led 24-18 when the 1.30pm siren sounded. After both teams had won in the afternoon round, Slattery then completed win number three over Delany. Neil Fisher, pictured right, and his Sunshine Coast team finished the day with three wins.

Section 7: Kevin Smith (Hinuera) continued to give indications that the Waikato side is in the form not dissimilar to that which saw it take the title in 2014. They remain unbeaten. The fourth round saw a 27-21 win over Ian Lowry (Rahotu), a result that ended the hopes of the Coastal team. Bruce Lilley (West End) nabbed two wins, albeit without his father Gary, who injured his leg preparing the greens in the morning. His place in the tournament has been taken by Bryce Koch. Taylor Horn (Mangere) and Denis Ryan (Paraparaumu Beach) also won twice to sit comfortably on three wins, the same position as John Claydon (Masterton) who was tripped up by David Stachurski (Inglewood) after lunch.

Section 8: Two very good visiting sides, Peter Belliss (Aramoho) and Dennis Brewster (Whangarei), remain undefeated, with the Northland team especially being decisive during the opening two days. Leon Wech (Mairangi Bay) and Mike Oldfield (Tauranga South) both lost their perfect records in the afternoon to stay on three wins.

Section 9: Colin Young (Te Kuiti) and Bruce Phillips (Tower) both continued their successful starts and are now just two wins short of qualifying. Daniel Geaney (Blockhouse Bay) added two wins, after Monday’s loss to Phillips, including a morning-round 23-12 effort over Kevin Coombe (Aramoho), who also has had only one loss.

Section 10: Terry Osment (Johnsonville) and Ray Park (Wanganui) have both won the lot but that won’t be the case after this morning’s game. Mike Cavanagh (Pukekohe) is the only three winner, although a host of useful sides are battling on two wins, including Richie Muir (Wanaka), Peter Bovey (Central Levin) and John Sexton (West End).

Section 11: In the bottom half of the section, Ross Thorn (Naenae), Dan Dickison (Tauranga) and Paul Darbyshire (Northern) all have had four wins. The latter two teams meet Brody Dix (Papakura) today, although the 2018 champion kept in touch with two wins to be halfway to qualifying. The fourth round win was a close 20-18 win over Noel Probyn, which ended the hopes of the Fitzroy team.

Section 12: The two unbeaten teams, Garry Banks (Beach Haven) and Darren Goodin (Paritutu), meet this morning at Fitzroy. The duo squared off in the second round of post section last year, with Goodin just sneaking in at the death. Brian Little (Palmerston North) and Don Ramsey (Pukekohe) also notched two wins to sit on three wins.