Seeds of doubt won’t faze upbeat de Minaur
FNQ LAWN BOWLS
IT WAS the breakthrough tournament in his breakout year but Alex de Minaur’s Brisbane International success could yet cost him an Australian Open seeding.
De Minaur was an unheralded wildcard when he reached the semi-finals of last year’s tournament.
His ranking of world No.31 puts him in position for one of the 32 seedings for the men’s draw of the Australian Open.
Those seedings will be determined after this summer’s Brisbane International, meaning de Minaur has to replicate his success to retain the 90 ranking points he earned.
The 19-year-old is unfazed, however, and was simply excited to revive some memories.
“This is where it all started for me, I gained a lot of confidence from playing here,” de Minaur said.
Not having to go through a wildcard qualifying campaign will ensure he is fit and firing when the Brisbane International starts on December 30.
“If I keep doing the little things and keep getting better, I’m a strong believer that the results will show.” Tuesday November 27: winner R Palin/I Spletter/T Hyland. Wednesday November 28: R Bidewell/R Palin/H Hopkins. Friday November 30: self-selected pairs winner P and M Bielek, 2nd R Johnson/B Titlow. Saturday December 1: Atherton two-bowl open triples: 16 teams drawn from the Tableland and Coastal Clubs competed in this event. Winning team J Phillips/ R Johnson/B Titlow, 2nd G Pritchard/Y Milevskiy/C Leinster; 3rd C Flanagan/N Robson/ S Mann. Sunday December 2: club-selected mixed triples (for Christmas hams) winner K Franklin/T Hyland/J Wray, 2nd J Leinster/H Hopkins/G Webster. Saturday December 15: Club Christmas break-up (names on sheet). Thursday November 22: 21 ladies enjoyed an early Christmas luncheon at Kairi Hotel. Thanks to the ladies for their Secret Santa gifts which were enjoyed by all. Thursday November 29: winners P Hodgkinson/T Hyland, 2nd F Payne/ M Barron. Free game voucher winner: L Kattenberg. Names required for the club’s Christmas break-up and goose club on Saturday December 15. Thursday November 29: winners G Blee/R Omodei, 2nd B Price/Rusty Sunner. Sunday December 2: five-a-side day was enjoyed by 70 bowlers even though it was a hot day. Winners K Foord/A Evans/S Raciti/L Hoskins/M Hooker; 2nd. B Andratta/G Andratta/C Scott/T Williamson/M Weaver, 3rd A Strano/G Buttigieg/J Martinod/R McCullock/H Honhke. Consolation Prize: J. Poplin’s team. Thursday December 6: mixed social, names in by 1pm, play starts at 1.30pm. Friday December December 7: Christmas Goose Club draw, Sam and Nellie are catering, book your tables early, please ring Ron on 4067 2092. Saturday December 2: Max Jamison Challenge Cup 2nd round. With the benefit of a covered rink and with representatives from Tablelands and Coastal clubs, the games commenced at 1pm with 8 rinks of players. West Cairns (G Grolen/G Bunthain/M Sloper/J Johnston – skip) d Cairns (K Wayne/A Nakata/R Borzi/R Whittaker – skip) 69-57. Cairns Ladies (Roz Fraizer/Kath O’Halloran/Christine Populin/Terry Mc Alary – skip) d West Cairns (Sandra Bates/ Tamiko Ischie/Dareyle Hester/Sue Brady – skip) 71-66. In review of the completion of results over the scheduled 2 games, Cairns was rewarded with the shield which was accepted on behalf of the Club Captain, Rob Whittaker. December 2: annual Ham Sunday game at Smithfield with a happy outcome for the winning members. The Cairns Club Pennants are called for nominations of A-Grade, B-Grade and Pairs competitions. Contact Allan Sanderson. Today: social bowls at 1pm, names by 12noon. No bowls played last week due to hot weather. Friday December 7: ladies lunch at the Parkview from 12pm. Today: 1pm club-selected three bowl pairs, names by 12noon. Last week bowlers braved the heat for 12 ends but withdrew after smoko. Coming Events — December 16: BOM meeting at 10am; December 19: Ladies Ham Day (men welcome); December 20: Men’s Ham Day (Ladies welcome); December 21: Special Christmas Dinner at 6.30pm, bookings essential, phone 4056 1050 by Wednesday December 18; December 23: Ham Day, mixed mufti, drawing of the Goose Club raffle and presentation of annual trophies. Wednesday November 28: mixed social winner: G Brown, 2nd Neil Vogler/Guy Birmingham. Thursday November 29: mixed jackpot pairs winners G Birmingham/J Barnes, 2nd Norma Gray/R Keddie. Best of 2nd game Sid Gordios/ Peter Soda. Mixed night bowls: great attendance with 22 players. Sunday December 2: mixed social winners G Brown/B Pitson. Saturday December 8: general meeting from 10am, all members welcome. Date Claimers: Wednesday and Sunday bowls 3pm start. Tuesday afternoon men’s triples: 1st Peter Gill/ Andy Mattsson, 2nd Laurie Whitehead/Gordon Midson. Thursday triples: 1st Manfred Born/Paul Cavanagh/Peter (Crackers) Hamilton, 2nd Bernie Mullins/Gordon Midson/Brian O’Connor. Saturday afternoon jackpot walking pairs: winners of winners Noelene Newton/Dave Parnell. Winners of losers-Graham King/Calvin Twigger. Club Championships: Check boards for play-by dates for games. Coming events — Monday: Happy Hour (cheap drinks 5pm-6pm), Tuesday: men’s triples, 1pm start, dress optional, cards called at 12.45pm; Tuesday night: barefoot bowls, be here by 5.30pm for a 6pm start, sausage sizzle and bowls and cash prizes; Wednesday: ladies bowls (gentlemen invited), 1pm start, dress optional, cards called at 12.45pm; Thursday: men’s triples (ladies invited) 1pm start, dress optional, cards called at 12.45pm; Friday: prize-a-rama, gold rush, 100club, meat tray raffles, draw starts 6.30pm; Saturday: jackpot walking pairs, 1pm start, dress optional, cards called 12.45pm; Sunday: Happy Hour (4pm-6pm). Bowls available free, phone 4057 6931. Note: all social games played, cards are called 15 minutes before start. Saturday December 15: Club Christmas Party, get your tickets at the club. January 7-31: the green will be closed for surface replacement. Saturday men’s jackpot bowls, plus Patron’s Day and presentation day, saw a good field of 36 bowlers. P Worley/Dick Pitt/S McGovern d D Hoskins/R Edwards/C Maxted 19-16, T Pitt/Mr Beaumont/G Tyrer d D Millar/M Plummer/ Donny Cook 20-17, G Henderson/J Fleming/ Dave Cooke d C Tranfield/C Payne/T Holmes 1612, M Radlof/B Smith/M Frese 16 d G Tresize/C Toohey/Doug Pitt 16-9, S Cue/L Phillips/B Hando d J Anderson/G Wilmot/N Tesch 22-10; New bowls Nev/D White/P Busch d J Girgenti/M Boundy/Dave 19-6. Congratulations to all the years winners of the club completions and other events, and well done to all the guys and girls who travelled all over the country representing Mossman Bowls Club. A big thanks to our patron Nev Tesch for Saturday and the great feed of prawns that went with it. It was also good to have Bernie and Eric there to organise things on Saturday, but now we are all a little scared because if Eric’s bowls improve as much as Marshy’s did with a new knee he will be unbeatable. Wednesday November 28: social bowls cancelled due to high temperature. Sunday December 2: social bowls, six bowlers braved the heat. Two groups of three played scrounger. Group 1 Anna Della Bella, Lee Mayell and Jeannette Bucklar. Jeannette Bucklar scored the highest points (61). Group 2 Wayne Mayell, Karin Rastoll and Tony Cates. Karin Rastoll (72) scored the highest points. Remember this year we start our games later in the afternoon to escape the UV rays and heat. Games start at 3pm and play through to 5pm and it is working well. Friday night barefoot bowls is enormous fun. Come along and try our game, bowls are provided, all are welcome. Free bowls coaching on the first Saturday of each month (start 9am). For more information call Denise 0400 791 517. You can follow us on Facebook with all upcoming events. For social bowls on Wednesdays and Sundays, please register and take note of the time (start 3pm, finish 5pm). SJBC Club Champions draw is now out for Men’s A Grade singles. Round 1: F Caltabiano v K Albert, K Foord v A Holder, S Dunne v R McCarthy, C Rowbotham v K Deegan, B Smith v T Edgerton, T Kerrigan v S Ollson, D Leach v S McInerney, J Zaini v L Fedalto. Saturday December 15: South Johnstone bowls clubs invites everyone to the 2018 Christmas Bowls and Goose. The afternoon kicks off at 2pm with a free game of bowls with BBQ at 6pm and Goose raffle at 7pm. Wednesday November 28: Consistency singles winner Frances O’Shea, 2nd Tamiko Ichise. Social: Margaret/Joan/Joy/Fran J d Margaret/ Kay/Kath/Annie.Wednesday December 5: no social bowls due to ladies Christmas lunch. Wednesday December 12: Presidents, Patroness and Presentation Day, names in by December 5. If you wish to come along contact Rosemary on 0409 624 623 or Fran on 0417 720 689. Cards called at 12.45pm, start 1pm (Christmas or mufti dress). Ladies please bring a plate and something towards raffles. Notice is up for the 2019 Championship singles, B singles, pairs, triples and fours (closing date January 29). 2019 memberships are now due. Friday December 14: The Christmas Goose Club will be drawn at 7pm. With over 30 prizes, more donations are welcome and tickets are available from staff. Membership fees are due by the end of December. The decades-old club custom of quality hams for prizes for men’s Sunday morning bowls is in vogue once again during December. The Max Jamison shield played against Cairns club resulted in a win to the visitors with the result decided by margins over two days. Max would have enjoyed the camaraderie on display. NewsXpress Edge Hill MARK Hughes has been sacked as manager of Southampton after just eight months in charge, the struggling Premier League club announced yesterday, despite an improved performance in a 2-2 draw with Manchester United. The Welshman, 55, took over at St Mary’s in March and guided them to Premier League survival as well as an FA Cup semi-final but was unable to inspire a better campaign this season. Former RB Leipzig boss Ralph Hasenhuettl is reportedly the frontrunner to replace Hughes – the new manager will be Southampton’s fourth permanent manager in 18 months.
Temporary Point
RACING Point, the Formula One team formerly known as Force India, will have another name before the season starts in Melbourne in March, team principal Otmar Szafnauer said yesterday. The name Force India disappeared after the final race of the season, as Racing Point F1 appeared instead on the 2019 provisional entry list published at the weekend. “It’s not the permanent name, just something we stuck onto the entry until we go for a permanent name change,” Szafnauer said.
Top Grades for Smith
Former US PGA winner Wayne Grady expects two-time Australian PGA champion Cameron Smith to tussle for a major next year. “His mind is brilliant, it really is,” he said. Yesterday Smith played at the PGA Charity Golf Day at Brisbane’s Keperra Golf Club to raise money for the late golfer Jarrod Lyle’s family..
ATHERTON BABINDA CAIRNS MEN GORDONVALE LADIES GORDONVALE MEN MAREEBA MARLIN COAST MOSSMAN SILKWOOD SOUTH JOHNSTONE WEST CAIRNS LADIES
Tuesday winners Barry Helmuth/Ray Jotgensen/Frank Grainer, 2nd Ric Radigna/ Heath Flannery/Ian Donkin. Fullerton Manufacturing Thirsty Thursday MVP’s Annie Underwood/Phil Buntain/Ted Helmuth. Selectors reports indicate the ladies attending are dominating the men on the greens. Kehoe’s Trophies Friday evening’s Scroungers winner Andrew Mattson, 2nd Steve Bragar. The extraordinary heat did not prevent a large roll up for Westco Motors Volkswagen Sunday morning. Winners Royston/Bevan Reis/Tony Perkins, 2nd Joe Vilalba (in his second comeback match)/Mick Ford/Hairy Mathews. The lucky money back card was drawn by Dave Casey’s team. Steve Ford picked up next week’s free game.
WEST CAIRNS MEN WEST CAIRNS TPI
Twenty four players played social mixed bowls at West Cairns Bowls Club last Monday with better conditions evident than the previous week. A strong breeze had a cooling influence on the players. Winners John Frisch/Dennis Evans/Bill Huddy. As this is the last game for the year we will now be in recess until January 7. A report on the AGM to be held next week commencing at 11am will be provided next week. This meeting will be followed by the endof-year function. We wish all lawn bowlers from all clubs all the best and good bowling in 2019.
YUNGABURRA
Wednesday November 28: mixed social was cancelled due to weather. Friday November 30: Jackpot Pairs winners C Barry/M Pointon, 2nd P and B Mahar. Jackpot $500. Saturday December 1: Ham Days winners John Beu/C Barry/M Sellwood/B Prien, 2nd G Kriesel/M Graf/T Gray/A Zanatta. Men’s Triples Championship Final: winners: A Hogan/G Johnson/C Johnson. Club Championships: Mixed Pairs Final T Whykes/B Titlow v L Thompson/M Pointon (date to be advised).