IN glorious sunshine, Ardgowan Bowling Club recently held their annual gents’ open triples competition which was again generously sponsored by PB Wright and Sons. There were almost 100 bowlers taking part in the competition and these players were joined by many spectators to enjoy an excellent day of sport and camaraderie.

The good weather brought out the best in the players and at the completion of the group stages three teams from Victoria BC had managed to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition along with one from each of Kirn, Old Kilpatrick, Gourock Park, Ardgowan and JG Fleming.

The ties in the quarter-finals were close fought games, with one of the quarter-finals being won by a single shot on an extra end.

The semi-finals were tense affairs which saw Ian Kincaid, of Victoria, defeat Michael Stevenson, of Gourock Park, and JG Fleming, skipped by Ardgowan’s Douglas Barr, defeating George Buchan of Victoria. The team from Victoria — J Sheriff, R Best and I Kincaid, were looking to make it back-to-back wins in the competition for the club. They were up against a team comprising of two players from JG Fleming, K McCance and G McAllister and Douglas Barr from the host club.

The standard of play in the final was worthy of any final that will be played in the district this year.

The team from JG Fleming took three hard-fought singles in each of the first three ends. In the fourth end, Victoria skip Ian Kincaid drew a crucial second shot with his last bowl to bring his team back to within one shot of the opposition. In such a tight game this would prove crucial.

In the last end, with Victoria needing to score, James Sheriff led off with a front toucher which would prove to be the winning shot. Robert Best drew in a second shot to force the team from JG Fleming to chase the game. Ian Kincaid then added a third shot with his last bowl to secure the win. This was much to the delight of the two other Victoria teams who’d stayed on along with many others to support their teams.

At the close of play Ardgowan junior vice president Kenny Morrison thanked sponsor PB Wright and Sons for their continued generous sponsorship, and invited his wife Cathy to present the winning Victoria team with the trophy.

Results: quarter-final — K McCance (JG Fleming) beat S McInnes (Kirn) G Buchan (Victoria) beat C Barr (Ardgowan) M Stevenson (Gourock Park) beat R Turner (Victoria) I Kincaid (Victoria) beat A Roberts (Old Kilpatrick) Semi-final: K McCance beat G Buchan I Kincaid beat M Stevenson Final: I Kincaid beat K McCance