Mens Competition Report
Submitted by Club Competition Secretary - Paul Hughes
This years Club Competitions Finals Day took place on Sunday 7th September. The fine weather helped ensure another enjoyable and entertaining day.
The Championship Final was between last years champion Lee Peacock and to many a surprise finalist Stuart Taylor. Lee made an excellent start surging into a 9-2 lead, and this proved to be decisive as although Stuart fought hard to claw his way back and did retrieve the situation to 18-15. Lee then ran out a 21-15 winner to successfully defend his title.
The Two Wood final was between Martin Curry and the experienced John Wood. Martin, who had taken some notable scalps on the way to the Final including our Captain and President, was in superb form. Martin started with two doubles and never really looked back from there. Martin took the title 21-8.
The Billy Gibbons final was a contest between our hard working Chairman Mike Keating and Club Selector Jeff Lowden. Many were surprised that Jeff still qualified for this competition but in a hard fought contest Jeff now has the satisfaction of winning the title. It was Mike who made the better start taking an 8-4 lead. But Jeff fought back well to take a 13-12 lead. Eventually Jeff took control and won 21-15. But it cannot be long until Mike takes this trophy.
In the open singles final the opponents were Mike Higgins, last years beaten finalist and our lovable rogue up from Weymouth Roy Burnett, and boy did Roy make a sensational start taking the first set 9-0. It seems this unsettled Mike as Roy also won the second set 9-5. Leaving Mike disappointed to have lost in this final two years running.
And finally to the Pairs Final which featured two of our singles finalist already mentioned. Mike Keating and John Ind did battle with Alan Fursman and Roy Burnett. This final was nip and tuck for the first eight ends with Mike and John leading 7-6 at this stage. Then Mike and John put together a surge, which proved to be decisive. Over the next four ends they scored nine shots to move to a 16-6 lead. Although Alan and Roy fought hard to recover, they never really managed to get close with the end result a 22-13 victory for Mike and John.