Elgar reigns supreme
West End’s Dean Elgar withstood a late charge from Paritutu’s Darren Goodin to claim the Taranaki men’s open singles bowls title at Paritutu yesterday.
Elgar took out the final 21-17, having earlier led 19-12.
It was the fourth time the two players, both dominant exponents of the four-bowl game, had locked horns in the final with Elgar’s victory levelling the count at two apiece.
He triumphed two years ago, while Goodin won the finals in the 2007 and 2011 seasons.
Goodin started the final of the event the better, scoring threes on the first two ends.
However, he was left to rue dropping two fours shortly after.
The first occurred when Goodin was uncustomary astray with all four bowls. The second Elgar worked harder for, trailing the jack for the fullhouse with his final delivery.
That gave the former Vogeltown man the lead for the first time at 11-10 and while Goodin pulled back two shots on the following head, Elgar took control. He won the next five ends to open up a commanding 19-12 lead.
Goodin, however, refocused and put together four ends of his own to make the score 19-17 in Elgar’s favour.
Goodin out-drew Elgar on what turned out to be the penultimate end, but Elgar opened the Results of post section play in the Taranaki men’s bowls open singles: Round 1: D Goodin (Paritutu) 21 K Hill (New Plymouth) 10, B Hall (Vogeltown) 21 M Shaw (Paritutu) 19, R Mayall (Paritutu) 21 J D Linn (West End) 16, K Sellers (Waimea) 21 N Sole (West End) 17, C Johns (West End) 21 L Hori (New Plymouth) 12, N Probyn (Fitzroy) 21 B Walton (Vogeltown) 18, D Osborne (West End) 21 J Roberts (Alton) 12, D Christensen (Paritutu) 21 K Gledhill (Paritutu) 9, S Walker (West End) 21 D Lowry (Rahotu) 18, B Davis (Hawera Park) 21 V Purcell (West End) 17, P Spiers (Fitzroy) 21 D O’Sullivan (Inglewood) 18, J Zittersteijn (Vogeltown) 21 P Warner (Hawera Park) 9, A Batley (Paritutu) 21 D Brunton (Stratford-Avon) 14. Round 2: Goodin 21 Hall 16, Sellers 21 Mayall 10, Johns 21 Probyn 11, J Rona (Rahotu) 21 Osborne 18, Walker 21 Christensen 12, Spiers 21 Davis 12, Zittersteijn 21 Batley 11, D Elgar (West End) 21 J Sexton (West End) 15. Quarterfinals: Goodin 21 Sellers 15, Johns 21 Rona 5, Walker 21 Spiers 14, Elgar 21 Zittersteijn 8. Semifinals: Goodin 21 Johns 13, Elgar 21 Walker 10. Final: D Elgar (West End) 21 D Goodin (Paritutu) 17.
head up with his third bowl and then drew the winner with his last to wrestle the advantage back.
He continued that into the last end where he out-drew
Goodin to claim the title for a fourth time. Elgar now has nine Taranaki qualifying points.
In the semifinals, Goodin held the upper hand throughout to eliminate West End’s Craig
Johns, the defending titleholder, 21-13, while Elgar defeated clubmate Steve Walker 21-10. Of the 78 players who started on Saturday, 29 qualified for post section.