Ocean Grove players were well represented in this year’s Victorian Open in Shepparton.
Several Geelong Region players ventured to the greater Shepparton Region for the weeklong event which finished on Friday.
Matt Flapper has enjoyed success at the state’s premier event in the past when he claimed the singles title in 2016 and again was at the business end of the tournament this time teaming up with two Victorian U18 stars in the Men’s Triples.
Flapper joined Glenroy’s Cooper Wescombe and Jarryd Davies to take out the title defeating Melbourne trio Brad Foote, Alex Skilton and Curtis Hanley in the final.
Semi-finalists in the same event last year, the trio claimed honours with a 15-11 win in the decider.
Ocean Grove’s Cal Hanna partnered Tallygaroopna star Mark Ryan in the men’s pair’s event. The pair enjoyed a good run of form advancing to a semi-final before succumbing to Glenroy’s Sam Rogers and Ethan Johnstone in the last four.
Former Geelong and Queenscliff star Luke Wayth made it deep into the event getting to the last eight of both Men’s Singles and Mixed Pairs. Wayth is enjoying the challenge of Metropolitan Pennant playing this year for Essendon.
Pennant
Fine weather finally greeted players in the Saturday Pennant competition as they returned to the greens after the Victorian Open break.
Pennant across Victoria comes to a halt as many players across the state venture to the Greater Shepparton Region to contest the eight day carnival.
Success on the greens for the return match was limited with only divisions three and eight registering the match points.
Dave Mackay, Barry Hair, Marianne Rogan and Dave Stonehouse carded one of the best wins of the day 26-13 which put their side in great shape as they went on to record a 95-72 overall win.
Ralph Skipper, Maureen Brooks, Heather Quilty and Skipper Albert Touwslager dominated their match at Leopold to card a 37-17 result whilst Graeme Constable come back from 7-20 down to get the match points 29-25. Reg Hungerford also chipped in with his rinks three shot margin.
Bellarine Shield
Ocean Grove claimed this year’s honours in the Bellarine Shield.
The event contested by nine Bellarine clubs as well as Torquay has been bolstered in prestige recently by the support of Lifestyle Ocean Grove.
A regular fixture on the Geelong Bowls Region Calendar the event is played in Mixed Fours, Men’s Fours and Ladies Fours.
Gary Burkett, Jeff Howarth, Glenn Baudinette and Will Collihole dominated the Men’s fours to claim the best rink of the day.
Adele Ryan, Lorraine Kirk, Jo Whitehead and Faye Richardson in the ladies fours along with Marg Carroll, Patricia Virtue, Rod Brehaut and Ken Thomas in the mixed fours both
won three games from their five which was enough to combine to take the title by three points.
It was the first time Ocean Grove took out the title since 2013.
Keith Hankin RSL Fours
The inaugural Keith Hankin Memorial Pairs was played at Ocean Grove.
The Remembrance Day event named in the honour of the former RSL president was won by Ocean Grove’s Heath McLaren and his mother Jaqueline from City of Geelong.
Both names will be added to the perpetual trophy in Keith’s name proudly donated by the Ocean Grove Barwon Heads RSL Sub Branch.
