Ocean Grove showed it will be thereabouts come the business end of the Geelong Region Bowls Pennant Division with a hefty win in the opening round of matches.
The Grovers have two sides in the top flight this season and the No 1 team swept aside City of Geelong by 39 shots, 79 to 40.
Ocean Grove won all three rinks on offer with Brad Pavey skipping team two to a 29 to 12 win.
Peter Loe won 21 to 10 and Chris Price had a 29 to 18 victory.
Things didn’t fare so well for Ocean Grove’s No 2 team going down to Highton by 22 shots.
Dan Priddle’s rink of Robin Chambers, Craig Polwarth and Adam Lee enjoyed the biggest win of the afternoon for Highton, a 25 to 15 triumph.
In Division 1, St Leonards defeated Ocean Grove by eight shots with both sides winning two rinks each.
The biggest win of the day came from Barrie Close’s rink with a 24 to 13 win.
Geelong RSL prevailed in Division 3 with both teams winning two rinks.
The closest battle was fought out between Gary Stephen Brookes, who defeated Neil Vivian by one, but it was Geelong RSL in front at the end, 77 to 71.
Point Lonsdale defeated Ocean Grove by six in Division 6.
Kevin Lyons rink of Neale Wheat, Ian Curtis and Allen Carey enjoyed the biggest win of the afternoon, 31 to 9.
In Division 6, the Grovers had a 13-shot win against Portarlington.
Ocean Grove prevailed on three rinks with Ken Harigan’s team of Douglas Wignall, Dean Solomon and Marianne Rogan the stars thanks to a 22 to 8 victory.
Leopold thrashed Ocean Grove in Division 7 in a high-scoring game.
Peter Corcoran got on the board for Ocean Grove, but Leopold was too good on the remaining rinks, winning 104 to 74.
Geelong RSL defeated Ocean Grove by five in Division 8.
