By Justin Flynn
OCEAN Grove Bowling Club coach Matt Flapper won the men’s singles state title in Shepparton on Remembrance Day.
Flapper defeated Lee Schraner from Rosny Park in Tasmania in the final. The final score was 21-4 with Flapper dominating from start to finish.
Flapper said he was expecting more success in the triples and pairs.
“I’ve never considered myself a specialist singles player and would always choose a team event every time,” he said.
Flapper made the quarter-finals in the triples and semi-finals in the pairs, but went all the way in the singles and it wasn’t until late in the tournament when he considered himself a chance.
“I was still hanging in there in the singles, but once I got on the carpet at Shepp Park they were coming out alright,” he said.
“It got to the stage where I thought that if someone’s going to beat me, they will have to play pretty well.”
Flapper cruised through the tournament winning by six shots in the round of 32 to start things off.
He then demolished local hope Geoff Franze 21-7 in the round of 16 and then crushed Wangaratta’s Ian Brimblecombe 21-11 in the quarter finals.
Flapper won his way through to the final with a 21-13 victory against Lorne’s Leigh McIlvenny and then never looked like losing the final.
“I exceeded my expectations to get that result,” he said.
“He’s (Lee Schraner) a quality player and I’ve played a lot of bowls with him before he moved to Tassie and we’ve always got on really well, but I put him on the back foot right from the start.”
