First Centre Title for William Murray 
by Crackerjack

Apart from the nuisance gustly wind on Sunday, 19 teams thoroughly enjoyed the perfect weather and excellent greens at Kahutia Bowling Club's last weekend during the Centre Open Men and Women's Triples on 23 and 24 January 2021.  
Down in numbers this year, only 8 teams for the men - 2 teams from Gisborne Bowling Club, 2 teams from Te Karaka Bowling Club, 1 team from Poverty Bay Bowling Club, 1 team from Tolaga Bay Bowling Club, 1 team from Kahutia Bowling Cluband 1 team from Wairoa Bowling Club. The men’s event had four rounds on Saturday and all 8 teams automatically qualified in the post-section on Sunday - based on Seeded format where the top 4 teams played against the bottom 4 teams in single elimination rounds .
One of the favourites were Bob McIlroy (Skip) and his two sons - Brendon McIlroy and Adam McIlroy from Te Karaka Bowling Club. However, they did not make it to the top 4 men's team after losing a game against Ricky Miller (Skip), Mark Walker and Geoff Pinn from Gisborne Bowling Club on Sunday morning. Ricky's team proceeeded to the Semi-Final but lost to Don Williams (Skip), July Williams and William Murray from Te Karaka Bowling Club.
Another favourites were Jamey Ferris (Skip), Charlie Ure and Robin Jefferson from Gisborne Bowling Club who defeated Steve Berezowski (Skip), Bruce Ball and Andrew Ball on Sunday morning. They moved on to the second round / semi-final and faced the trio from Tolaga Bay Bowling Club - Vern Marchall (Skip), Mick Maunder and Murray Duncan. Some very good bowls were played between these two teams but Tolaga Bay Bowling Club proved too strong and made their way into the final. 
A close nail-bitting round of game in the final between Tolaga Bay Bowling Club and Te Karaka Bowling Club - Don Williams (Skip), July Williams and William Murray. Don was so calm throughout the game and it was 12-all after the 18th end.  Extra end or "shoot out" end was needed to determine the rightful winners, and one shot in hand was all that Te Karaka's team needed at the end of the game - made it a well deserved win against Tolaga Bay Bowling Club. Congratulations to Don Williams, July Williams and William Murray. It was William Murray's first Centre title.
A big thank you to David File Decorators for sponsoring the Centre Men's Open Triples. Te Karaka Bowling Club will have their centennial celebration this weekend with dinner on Saturday and triples tournament on Sunday. For more information, please contact Te Karaka Bowling Club at 06 8623830.

Article added: Tuesday 02 February 2021