Sport
21 October, 2019
Golf takes honours in bowls derby
THE Cos Fleming Memorial trophy has finally returned to Camperdown Golf’s coffers.
THE Cos Fleming Memorial trophy has finally returned to Camperdown Golf’s coffers.
The Lakes Complex-based club ended a losing streak which dates back to 2015 against cross town rivals Camperdown, recovering from a slow start to storm home and win Saturday’s Camperdown derby 99-89.
President John Molan said his side was thrilled to regain the prestigious silverware on what was a red letter day for his club.
“It was a very pleasing effort,” he said.
“We were behind most of the day and it was only in the last 10 to 12 ends that we got in front and then hung on.
“There was a great feeling around the club when I left on Saturday night, there was a lot of blokes smiling.”
Both sides were forced to battle the elements throughout the day, with rain bringing a stop to play on three occasions while bowlers also had to deal with gusty winds.
Despite the difficult conditions, the standard of bowls remaining a high quality as a close contest from start to finish developed and little separated the two rivals across the four rinks of play.
Golf skippers Glenn Winsall and Craig Skene were engaged in tight battles with Camperdown president Matthew Brewer and his counterpart Len Searle for almost the entirety of their 25 end contests.
Brewer and Searle did enough late to snare four points for Camperdown with 21-20 and 21-19 wins respectively, but Golf was able to claim the remaining four points and overall honours on Kev Conheady’s and Ross Fleming’s rinks.
Conheady clawed his way back from a deficit against Luke Wright to win 33-28, while Fleming controlled proceedings in his 27-19 victory against Mark McDonald.
“Rossy paved the way for us, he won by eight (which was good) and Kev picked up a four on the last end to win by five,” Molan said.
“Glenn and Craig only went down by a shot or two, but they were all very close games.”
Brewer lamented his side’s inability to finish the contest strongly after it was evenly poised throughout the day.
“We were in front at different stages, it may have only been by four or five shots but they finished too well for us overall,” he said.
“Luke Wright had a fair lead but Kev Conheady ran over the top of them, they played well as did Rossy Fleming, they were the two rinks for them (that was the difference in the result).
“They were just too strong for us late and we didn’t finish off like we did last week which was disappointing.”
Brewer said Camperdown’s performance highlighted “a few things to work on” for his side, particularly in the number of shots they were conceding on some ends.
“One rink dropped five fours and a three, so that’s 23 shots, which is big numbers in division one,” he said.
“You only have to halve that and you win the game, so there are a few things to work on there.
“But Lenny Searle had a good win and I had a good battle with Glenn Winsall so we were happy to win at least two rinks.”
In the lower grades, Camperdown’s division two side was beaten 111-85 by Colac Central (2) while their division three side was defeated 102-69 by Cobden (3).
Golf’s division three side triumphed 110-87 over Colac (4), a result Molan was thoroughly pleased with.
“Division three are undefeated and on top of the ladder, which shows we have some depth this year,” he said.
“We have a lot of good bowlers in division three.”